I was awakened with brekkers in bed today, as it is my umteenth birthday 
, but I was expecting that. What I wasn’t expecting was the funds to order the new and improved head for my Howard Low D! 
Yay! Deposit Monday, order Tuesday!!
… and, the least expected …
…a friend brought her wooden whistle over to get it oiled, and while I was doing that, I decided it was time to go ahead and oil my two wooden fifes - one a Sweetheart, and the other a… hmmm… can’t remember, but it is a nice handmade one from a fellow who regularly sells them on eBay. I like them both, but I don’t play them regularly. I also grabbed my very pretty but non-usable one I had gotten cheap off of ebay a few years ago, but had never been able to get more than about two good notes out of … I had refrained from trashing it just because I couldn’t bring myself to do so even though it was obviously not a usable instrument… I’d rather look at it and remember the lesson that looks are one thing, playability is another (much like aging females 
)
(I do the same thing with books, I just have a hard time getting rid of them, even when I know them to be trash)…
… well… anyway I decided to oil it too … I mean… who knows when someone will happen to be in the living room, notice the poor thing and decide to take it home and make it usable (psst - hey! we’re back to the fife, here)… so, I managed to get the oil chamois up into it, and eventually back out (!!!) and in showing my neighbor how something that looks so pretty can still be useless, I went to prove it, when what should happen but a very nice octave and a half, even with my atrocious embrochure, and … well… wow! 
It takes almost no air, and has a sweet sound. Good thing I didn’t take my assessment of its capabilities too seriously and give in to hubby’s offer to use it for kindling! Also a good thing it hadn’t split in all that time!
Just oiling the bore made all that difference! I had tried playing it repeatedly over the years, just in case something might have miraculously changed, but noooooooo… and then … voila!
So I am one happy older woman! (one more year and I will officially qualify as a ‘senior citizen’ )
Anyone care for some virtual Birthday Cake?
)