HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME!!! 
Well it’s here my paper (1 year) anniversary to playing Irish flute.
I picked up one of those innocuous looking Waltons – Guinness Irish Whistle packs at the bookstore. At the time I had nothing more than a casual curiosity. I picked up the excellent Waltons book and perused it and thought, “I can do that!” So the set was acquired and I occasionally practiced for about a year. During which time my wife passed one of her decrees: NO IRISH WHISTLES IN BED. Somehow she didn’t appreciate being serenaded late into the evening while she was trying to get to sleep.
Well the “climax” of my whistle-playing carrier occurred last summer when we went on a 5-week vacation, on which I took my whistle. This drove my family nuts and I was exiled to playing in the barn or an empty out building (Humph!, Critics). 
Upon our return home (approx. 1 year ago) I decided to try playing the Irish flute. Well actually after having tried low whistles, I choose to start on piccolo (I was in mortal fear of what the air requirements would be for a big Irish flute). Well it turned out my wife thought the piccolo was better than a whistle, but not much of an improvement. So I moved on to fifes and eventually Irish flutes. She still thinks the top of the second octave is to piercing. It’s a game I play, I start trying to play “Devils Dream” and see how many bars I can get through before she asks me to stop. I wonder if she would like my playing if I played a low A flute? :roll:
Well anyhow over the course of the last year I’ve contracted a terminal case of the Flute Bug. I’m now quite obsessed with the playing and acquisition of Irish flutes. Being a proper Irish skinflint I started off with cheap instruments (I use this term loosely here). A real break through came when I first got a Sweetheart Piccolo; all of a sudden I could play. Then I stayed the strait and true course with Sweetheart, obtaining an M-1 fife and an older Irish flute. I might have kept at it “Happy as a Clam”. But, then I started to stray, wondering what different flutes were like. I will claim to be a Scientist not a Collector. I obtain flutes to try them out and conduct my experiments. My goal is not to obtain as many flutes as I can. But, I’ve been through about 20 piccolos, fifes and flutes this year. Currently I have 6 wooden Irish flutes to further my ongoing research and two more on order. I will try to start “publishing” my research results on this forum. Now that I am an Old Salt and Seasoned Veteran! 
I have a dream that one day my wife will actually ask me to play my flute for her! I don’t expect it will happen any time soon, but I’ll keep practicing. 
Keep Makin Music!
Jordan
