I know, it been a while and I will be on to update soon, she says again!!! Its all good.

So yesterday I had a tweak and I fell I need to report it. It kinda took me by surprise.

I have been switched on for about 1 year and 2 months. I have 3 programmes and they have not changed. I have only had my tones/pitch and my volume twiddles with a wee bit. Bloody hell its mad. SOOOOO much wider, i think is the word,maybe not wider, because that what I felt when I had my IDR turned up to 70 from 60 on 1 program , it more…… round, pot bellied . I have my base turned up slightly and my highs lowered a wee bit. I think, but don’t quote me on it, that it feels(sounds) more natural?!

Will take a few weeks to get used to but I’m liking it, in a strange way.

And I thought it was great before…..

Its a crazy world this C.I business

It also has a great effect with social interaction. It a learning curve, for me and my husband. WE are so very used to another way of life. I could not communicate in a group of 4 now I can but I forget that my husband is still in that  mode. He cannot hear the change.  Cochlear implant is such a massive change of life,  for the positive but you have to remember that its not just you that it affects. We can hear it our partners and friends cant.

So many different aspects of it creep up over time, its mad.

I went down to the beach last week, it was cold and grey but my wee camera managed to take a beautiful picture. The sea helps me be relaxed, ebb and flow……..

This Advanced Bionics does seem to be getting better and better. Im very lucky it going smoothly.

I can scarcely believe how much better it sounds after a wee tweak. I’m well aware it could have gone the other way. Its hard to gauge noise in a soundproof room. Always have a list of questions.

Early days but got a good feeling…

Here is a link to my exhibition. My nephew did this video for my mum and dad as they couldn’t make it.

Its fabby!!!

Hope the link works?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL-8cMJAdFA

Life is good.

Tomorrow I am 40 then the next day I have been activated for a year.  What a year its been!!

I have a lot to write up on my blog. Will be doing it right after I have a few celebrations over the next few day….and written some more!

Also I am having my exhibition soon. Another reason for my absence.

It is called     CORNFLAKES ARE NOISY.

Should be good, will post pics once its opened. I’m excited about it, its vibrant and happy.  My first ever art exhibition!

You can see this painting as its on the flyers but that’s all.

                                       whirlwind of noise

The Burgh Hall in Dunoon Argyll is the venue.

From 24th September- 2nd October 2011

Times    12-3pm weekdays     11-4pm Saturday/Sunday

Ferrys run twice an hour from Gourock to Dunoon( passenger only).

Will be back soon!

SMILE SMILE SMILE

RIGHT- I must get this done, been a few weeks since typing the above sentence.

A while back…

Going from being deaf to everything mostly, apart from base, is hard going. You are the same person you have always been but you can hear. Thats so much harder than it sounds.

Its frustrating.

Cant put yer finger on it.

Having to concentrate on sound and work out how not right it is sounding. When you are not even sure how it should sound in the first place.

Would it have been easier to be a baby again and start from scratch rather than picking up where you(think) left off!

So my 9 months tweak was yesterday and I can safely say I’m fairly happy with how the world is sounding.

The radio recepiotn in the living room has thrown a wobbly for a while now. Dont know why. I used to be able to have it out of tune and not notice at all.  Now it drives me bonkers.

PC IS MAKING FUNNY NOISE, DONT WANT TO RISK LOOSING THIS. GONNA SHUT DOWN…….

……….and I’m back.

12 July 2011

Music

I love music, have always listened and had to adjust when my hearing decreased.

You dont miss what you dont know.

NOW….

Is the stereo shit,

Am I hearing shit,

or is the music or singer shit?!

Some old tunes sound great some awful.

Tonight I am sitting in the middle of two guitars. One 12 string and 6 string acoustic

Its beautiful.

I am on IDR 70 – no clearvoice.

The whole sound is just….Oh I don’t want to shed a tear but it is that beautiful, full of life, a round sound.

Thats the great thing when good friends visit, good times happen, beautiful times are had and heard.

I can talk about sound. Oh sound is so important, it can raise so many emotions.

I cant believe just how much of a learning curve this C.I is! Good God, its a whole new world.

I’M LOVING IT.

To feel warm, fuzzy part of whats going on a round you.

might only have 1 C.I but some sounds fill my head.

I still have a lot of auditory memory which now and again is helping me to put my jigsaw together. Now new with old sound.

You couldn’t make this sorta stuff up!

Otter Ferry

10th month to the day for my C.I

I had been keeping an eye on the weather last week as we are to go to Otter ferry saturday night.

It wasnt looking promising…

I had a pre C.I party panic and tried to chicken out. Calmed down and told myself – I CAN HEAR!

Sounds silly but its easy to forget that I can hear in these situations now. Snigger

Sat 16th july- 10 minth since my switch on.

I am partying on a beach in the sun listening to a couple of bands. Beautiful. Was hard not to cry but I managed.  I may never have stopped if id started. Have another beer girl – you deserve it!

I have just been brushing my teeth and pitch and tone have just come alive!

Its a weird thing. Ever since being switched on its been more about volume than other stuff. Pitch and tone are becoming an interesting thing to explore. Guitars… Tonight I heard a fiddle just in front of me. Our friends 15 year old daughter plays. It was amazing. I could cry( I am nearly doing that a lot!)so much at the recent live music I have been lucky enough to hear.

Im totally just gonna get this up just now as I have a shed load of new stuff to write up.

Its been a bit crazy lately, in such a good way.

More soon I totally promise!

This is the year that one of my oldest friends celebrated her 40th birthday.  We came home yesterday after going to her party on Friday night.

I didn’t feel nervous about  how it would sound. Thats just such an amazing thing to be, not nervous! It takes a bit of getting used to. I still think I wont be able to understand/hear people but I can! Its like my body knows I will be able to hear and Im feeling fine but my brain hasn’t quite got it yet.  Im that wired to not hearing, apart from base, its gonna take time. I obviously am going to have to party more!

It was an experiment as well. Im learning how things work, again.  I did a lot of stuffing my finger in the hearing ear.  Just to see how much base I can actually hear. I don’t hear any base at all when its just the C.I doing the hearing. I like base.  I didnt really know how loud the music was either but folk said it was really loud. My hubby says I could probably hear better than most folk in the room.     Now that is a big turnaround!!

Its was a brilliant night.

Yeah…just unbelievable!

In the brief moment when the rain stopped the sounds of the birds became so intense so quickly.

The sound leaves me in a awe.

Then the rain starts again.

11th May 2011

I walked along the beach home and noise of the rain on the beach, the sea and my hood was so loud. I thought there was a singing going on some were, with a possible siren going on too. Sometimes I think Im going mad will all these noises round about me.

1           NO CLEARVOICE  IDR 60

2           NO CLEAR VOICE  IDR 70

3           CLEARVOICE MED  IDR 60

24 Hours have gone by since my last tweaking, mapping or fiddling with my mind appointment.

I have some new setting and my volume has risen once again.

It surely is another brand new world! The cistern when it fills with water,  oh it goes sssssssss and fades out.

P.C hard-drive changed its tune,  as has the hoover.

Saturday 12th March 2011

Got up, looked out he window and we are back to a white snow scape outside again. Oh my poor daffodils.

Did a wee bit of music work yesterday. The C.I choosing the music is definitely become more of a thing on a slightly higher IDR(70)

It lets more music in, more sideways sounding. Wee tinkling instruments that weren’t there at IDR 60.

Monday 14th March 2011

Yesterday was hubby’s birthday so I made him cake, soup for lunch and delicious chilli for tea( thanks Dru). His friend has been visiting all week from Italy. So its been good for me to listen to voices lots. They were playing guitars last night, I clicked over to IRD 70 and WOW how beautiful.  Guitar sounded fine before but now more roundess, richness coming from the body and the strings.

Ended up 5 for tea instead of 3  but it was lovely to have the in-laws round and spontaneously staying fer grub. Clearvoice medium helped me enormously. HAPPY HAPPY,  then chocolate brownies( hot from oven) with ice-cream for pudding.

23rd March 2011

My old noggin is taking some time to get used to my new map. All the ones before were much easier to accommodate. Its not a bad map just different to the previous ones, which it should be.

I seem to have some whole new dimensions to hear now. They sneek in sideways when I’m least expecting them.

Hearing J crunch toast over the telly noise- well that was weird.  Also the cistern for the bog- I had never even thought about that as a noise, if you get what I mean!!

To be able to enjoy oneself rather than feeling worried, nervous, anxious, lonely is truly a lovely experience. Slowly confidence grows. Its not a race, I want to absorb every noise round about me. There is no time limit.

To pencil into the diary, without the feeling of dread, up and coming social occasions is exciting and monumental. Its something before Christmas 2009( C.I idea given to me) I felt I wasn’t going to be able to participate in again really. I would because some things you HAVE to go to but I wouldn’t have enjoyed myself, it was impossible to.

Its still going to take a while, I have a lot of learning to do with my C.I. At least I’m on the road and not stuck down that dark well any more.

April 13th 2011

HOLD THE BUS IM GETTING ON

Would you believe it when I said I went to Edinburgh, did a party, stayed at in-laws and has a brilliant time!! Well I did. The weekend just past was beyond any expectations I thought were possible!

It was my big sisters birthday “do”. We travelled to Edinburgh by ferry, train and bus. My clearvoice medium was on all the time and was working just as it says on the can. Flicked over to ” normal” everyday setting to see just how loud the city is and yes its loud!! I lived there for 4 years and its never sounded so good as it does now( with C.V on!!). Hearing aids and city noise don’t really work with one another, its just freaking LOUD!

We stayed at an old friends on the party night. Did a family meal, 17 of us. Not really sure how much I should be hearing when that happens. I felt OK, didn’t worry or anything. Then party, music, people. I could hear voice over the music and subsequently yaked all night. It was great. I truly cannot remember the last time I had a night out and didn’t come home and be sad or cry about not hearing people and feeling lost and out of place.  Its monumentus. Its only just sinking in now!

Brilliant also to see my family and talk to them about C.I. Was the first time I had seen some of them since becoming a borg.

Sunday headed down to J’s bro’s place by the sea. Great way to wind down and have a few more drinkys.

Another thing was that the temp had soared that weekend up to 21 degrees and it was beautiful. I even took my vest of. All in all it was a very successful excursion to the big smoke over the east.

All seems like a dream really.

3 days was plenty enough and we were glad to get back to the peace and quiet of sleepy Innellan.

Been a long journey but worth it, I had so much fun.

One of the best things is that J doesnt have to worry about me.

Its great to be happy about being happy.

I love being a borg.

Adventures have just begun

Never thought this day would come

To feel at peace with all around me

And hear the sound I so long missed.

30th April 2011

Well its been a strange time for me. I met up with a long out of touch friend from my childhood.

It was fantastic to catch up after so many years and interesting to see if she remembers me not hearing so well…. turns out she did notice. So intriguing to see how she saw me back then. She remembers me saying at about 15-16 years old that sometimes I just couldn’t hear very well.  Also she recalls my many trips to the docs to get my ears syringed. I just don’t remember any of this stuff. Its like I have blocked it out.

We had a great night catching up. Been to long but back in touch now, that’s what counts. I wouldn’t have don’t it before I got my C.I for sure.

Few days later I had a wee freak out about all the stuff I have missed while growing up being dear and not knowing. You only live once and a lot of the time(in the past) I haven’t had a scooby what was going on. Its a brave new world I’m in now, I have to go out and hear it.

This C.I is keeping my going casue before I was ready to stop, game over, I was sooo tired. Now doors are opening and time spent with people is so much more enjoyable and easy.

Sometimes I feel like a child in an adults body.

I hated being stuck down the glass tube of deafness.

I am amazed at the fragility/stillness/silence of being deaf. Don’t know if its the right word…

It’s the really small noises that seem to be the most noisy/intense/annoying with a C.I.

There are so many noises that reverberate all the time. I know I have tinnitus but these everyday noises that people don’t really hear are constant. The sky box, clocks ticking, heating system, P.C, fridge. I don’t think I could cope in the city-yikes no way, traffic, the hubbub and so many voices.

I know I was( am) deaf but all these minuscule non noticeable noises to hearing people are totally crazy and so distracting. The sea is always sssssssssssssssssssssing all the day and night were I live. Took me a while to realise what it was, I hear it all the day.  Breathing, well Darth Vader is creeping about beside me all the time.

I’m not moaning but blimey, its a whole new world out there and in here to me.

1  March 2011

Rapidly coming up to 6 months hearing with this technology in my head

Time surely does fly!

I’m still taking it slow. Listening to music straight into my head at the moment, that’s good but not to loud and not for to long.

Not managed to make it to the city yet but hey I have lots of time in front of me for that to happen.

Have had a few sound moments.

Just a few days ago, I was out with the dog, we went up to the reservoir and sat on the jetty in the dappled sun, listening. I could see movement over the other side, under the  trees and around the inaccessible edge. I had seen a few frogs about, first sign that spring has finally arrived. Well indeedy spring had sprung! We sauntered round to have a gander and found hundreds and hundreds( I really mean it) of courting frogs. Love was truly in the air, the noise was the weirdest thing I’ve heard since being C.I’d!  I wasn’t even to sure if it was the frogs or traffic down on the shore road. Hubby and I went up next day and he confirmed for me. Sounded like lots of motorbikes in the distance, fluctuating in pitch as well. Occasionally a croak could be heard but mostly this strange murmurous, reverberating, continuous mumbling drone. A mass of frog-spawn was in front of us. Hubby says in all his days here he has NEVER seen so many frogs!   I never knew frogs could make so much noise!

My next moment really gave me a fright or shock I should say.

In Dunoon we have a new art/culture venue. I was in having a chat about my C.I and if I could hold an small exhibition about how it sounds. Will get back to that later….

Anyhow

They were showing me round and it just so happened that it was the busiest day for classes for kids. We walked along through the exhibition space to were there was an art class with about 20-25 kids. BLOODY HELL. All my hearing senses were screaming at me to GET OUT NOW – ESCAPE - YOUR HEAD/EAR IS GONNA EXPLODE ANY SECOND. I felt myself slightly hiding behind the woman’s (who is showing me round) shoulder. I said, as  politely as I could, that  I HAD TO GET OUT OF THERE NOW.  Seemingly that was them(kids) fairly quiet!!

I have done a few workshops with kids in the past and the noise was always bearable. Hearing aids didn’t pick up much, as I have just realised!

You don’t know what you’ve got until you loose it, in our(C.I’s) case, when you get it back!   Definitely going to be a Clearvoice (programme for C.I that does exactly what it says on the can) time if I’m working with the wee noisy critters in the future. I must have looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights to tham all. Ha HA.

I  explained how it was with all the noise and they are happy for me to be in there now and again and let my head get used to the sound.

Doing a C.I exhibition….. yeah will be interesting. I hope to get some inspiration from other C.I users also.  All the sounds I hear are so colourful, rather than the greyness of before with my aids. I have ideas of how I can represent this to hearing people and I will try my hardest to do it well.  It will be August time for the exhibition as that will be a year since my operation to become a cyborg.  Oh exciting times!

Today I stumbled across articles about different types of hearing loss.

I have learnt that I started of my hard of hearing journey with a “cookie bite” hearing loss. This term has NEVER entered my ears or should I say hearing aids before. Its something I never even knew existed. I never knew it had a name!

It makes so much sense to me when I think about the sounds I could hear when I was wee.

Basically cookie bite is like someone has taken a bite out your hearing range, in the middle areas, speaking tones. Highs and lows are largely unaffected to start with. It does say its a hard one to get a hearing aid to work well. I do remember the audiologist saying that!

I had 3 years with one aid and then I was given another for the other side. It was so hard casue highs and lows were SO loud with the aids and I still couldn’t hear speech well.

I’m not bitter but I can see just how much has passed me by from school to going to college to making friends. I never had a group of friends and now I know why-I wasn’t weird I was just deaf-cookie bite deaf.

I was classed as dyslexic and put in remedial classes all through my school years.

Often I have wondered if my analog H.A’s  made my highs and lows worse casue of the constant bombardment of  sounds at high levels.

My hearing did gradually get worse. The high and lows slowly succumbed to the constant loudness they endured for so long and said “sod it- we are eating the whole cookie now”.

Got me thinking, its an American term, if it had been British it surely would have been a biscuit bite hearing loss.

Anyone for a cuppa tea and a biscuit?

27th January 2011

Was yaking online to C.I peeps tonight and heard , from the other room, my hubby opening the stove door-creeeeeeek and putting wood in. Ha ha amazing eh!

Its so lovely to not struggle any more. I know I need my C.I tweaked slightly but its going good. I’m a lucky girl. I ate a flake to celebrate hearing the stove. Any excuse for chocolate!

2nd February 2011

OOOOOHHH I’m listening to wind battering of the window frames and squeezing through any gap it can.

Howling wind coming through the cracks.

I’m getting the bus to town soon to see a friend. Will be good to stand( only for a wee while, if the bus is on time)and hear the waves curling their way to the shore with a vengeance we haven’t seen for a while. Even better when the bus comes and I can be warm and dry. Thank the lord(council) for bus shelters!

Wind is a banshee trying to get in the house.

Honest, it sounds like an amazing episode of Most Haunted in my kitchen!

2nd February 2011

This afternoon I walked through the wood when out with the dog.

How can you describe the silence of the forest when you dont know what it sounds like?

My head was a bit sore on the way home. Maybe it was cold, maybe I was thinking to much.

3rd February 2011

I’m sitting on a redwood( I think) log in the wee redwood/beech forest at the end of Velvet Path.

Its blowing a gale and I’m listening hard.

Its a ssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh noise, I think it might be the sea…

I hear cracking, branches fall around me.

I feel alive.

Trees swaying with creaking noises.

Rain pelting my open head with needle-like rain drops.

Wow, sounds like chopsticks bashing together!

I’m looking at the big picture today.

For so long I have looked at the minute.

Today everything is big.

4th February 2011

I have spent my whole life feeling like I was on the edge or just outside what was going on.

Im sad not angry.

Now I live in the sticks and its hard to become a part of it when you have been invisible( but people know your name) for so long.

Its a lonely road being deaf. Very lonely.

In the city you are invisible anyway, nobody stops and chats or knows their neighbours.

Here(were I live) we know our neighbours but I’m still on the edge, just out of reach.

6th February 2011

There is so much the carry through life, its awful heavy and weighs me down but I’m sure the load will lighten soon.

2011, yikes I can scarcely believe its that year, sounds so futuristic.

Been blinking yonks since I have got my self together to get typing about what been going on for the past month. Lots of other unrelated ear stuff has been happening, some good some bad.

so back to the 14th December 2010

My 3 monthly review.

Met C.I Wendy who travelled from Inverness this morn. Long way to come but worth it to hear spoken word. I am VERY lucky that the Scottish C.I centre is a mere hours drive away after coming of the ferry(20 mins) .

Gotta get this on paper before I forget things.

OK electrode 16 is officially defunct.

P1 F120 IDR 60 Clearvoice low(see hoe it goes)

P2 Loop 50-50 – to try hearing aid and kneck loop for music

P3 Normal everyday programme F120 IDR 60

Found out today that I was actually on HiRes and I was supposed to be on F120! Am now and was before last map. Audi fecked up as the the settings on the screen are the other way up from what they are on the processor.  Its not to much of a sound change but enough to give my brain another workout. Talked about music, as its a bit of a thing for me.

So basically at the moment people are thinking – oh they say I should hear music, in reality its not true. We have to build up the layers of different instruments etc and let my brain adjust, slowly. A lot of music I used to listen to is to complex, to many instruments for me to make sense of. One day maybe but I’m starting small and working my way up. I love Suzanne Vega-beautiful voice and vocals are up front not drowned by the music.

I understand a C.I is primarily for hearing speech-everything else is a bonus.

After we had tweaked my sound tolerance and done my 3 new programmes the audi switched my C.I back to the map I came in with. BLOODY HELL – it was sooo quiet and muffled. How did I cope with that! Brain is amazing at how quickly it adapts to change.

I’m not thinking about the C.I,  just letting my noggin have time and space to go at its own pace. I’m sure it will tell me when it wants more input or a bit of a challenge.

I feel OK with how it sounds but will be different tomorrow when I place it on my head first thing!

Not due back now for 3 months. If I feel I’m not happy then I can get in touch and they will fit me in.

I have to go to bed it’s late, I was up early early for me this morn – 6.30am -eewww and it was dark. We didnt get home till it was dark to.

More soon.

22nd December

I seem to have eased into this new map like nothing has changed.

Christmas is just a few days away and I have been busy baking cakes. It has been far to cold to be outside working. SO COLD- crazy low temps and mental fog across the Clyde.

It’s(C.I) definitely louder and sharper than before but nothing bad. Tinnitus still trying its best to drive me bonkers.

Trying music- slowly and surely I will get to know new tunes. Old ones sound new anyway!

On Sunday we went to our local(pub) for a friends birthday. It was really good, I could hear OK. Was still very hard but managed great, didn’t freak out or anything!

NOTE TO SELF-TRY MORE PUBS!

Lots to do tomorrow.

Night night.

Merry  Christmas

Oh, been one year today since my C.I journey began. The E.N.T doc said” I think you are a prime candidate for a C.I, lets get you an assessment”.

I cant believe I have been switched on for 3 months!!

I cant believe its been a year since I thought the rest of my life I was gonna be trapped in silence.

Every morning I put my C.I on I am AMAZED at how much I was missing and how much I hear.  I really(am) was deaf.

30th December 2010 late at night.

Im sitting listening to some music(injected straight into my C.I). My sister gave me an mp3 player.

Tears are rolling down my face. To hear music and understand the lyrics is just ….to much to bear. I dont have to rush. I can just listen to it. There are all sorts of tunes on this thing. I dont know half of it. What I do know sounds so different but somewhat familiar - like your favourite t shirt, ironed(well I dont iron things!) It just makes me weep. Relief, joy, a years worth of emotion flowing out my eyes. And my nose but I dont want to talk about snot.

January 3rd 2011

Time fly’s.

It seems like ages since I have put pen to paper. Been so much going on xmas, being ill, car, baking cakes, blah blah blah, snow, ice and getting to see family. Now the new year is upon us and I had a magical time at new year hearing friends talk, sing and get very drunk. Its so good to be able to hear laughter and know what they are laughing at!

My C.I is doing good. Not being weird or anything. I am more than lucky it is(so far) going smoothly. It is LOUD and that kinda freaks me out now and again. My tinnitus is still a pain in the butt. Hope to sort something with my brain on that front. We will need to have a big chat. Its very loud and still creeping, seeping through the C.I.

I know it could be a whole lot worse.

Its odd to see family and hear but its just as  though someone has turned the light on. There are no WOW , its almost like I have walked back into the room after watching through a window for so so so long. Everyone looks the same, its the same just the volume is turned up. Its so easy to forget how isolated I once felt. Others will never quite know.

I have shed many tears in the last month. Mostly of joy but still I don’t look good with snot and puffy eyes.

My sister gave me and mp3 player with tunes on. I was nervous to say the least but I know her taste in music ain’t bad. Well- direct link into C.I is the way to go. Oh AMAZING weep weep snot snot. There are songs I don’t know and songs I remember form the past. Not all music sounds good-some is to much, some is just noise but I will only learn what my C.I likes to hear by listening to many.

Years ago I went to visit my sister when she lived In Austin, Texas. One night we went to see Janis Ian at the university. I had 2 hearing aids. The gig was intimate, maybe 35-45 people in a large room. She talked between songs, I didn’t catch the craic. I know the songs, sort of (the tunes). Anyway there I am listening to my new mp3 player and Janis Ian comes on- I can make out every word, every note –  weep weep, snot weep!!

I am amazed at how much someones eyes can cry.

Im dancing on the ceiling a lot of the time. The dog thinks I’ve lost the plot. You see- to FEEL happy – I had forgotten how good it can feel.

Its hard work though. You really have to look into yourself and give to the C.I , to help it fulfil the sound you want to hear. Having hearing before is a help but also a hindrance as I expect things to sound like the used to. Its not gonna happen, C.I is a new way to hear. I have to embrace a new world.

5th January 2011

These pages I scrawl are about being honest and sometimes close to the bone. Sometimes I have to write it down to see how I feel. Its easy to feel emotional without noticing how you are dealing with it.

I have definitely overloaded my brain with music, of many genre, for the past few days. Today was white-out. Maybe not as bad as it could have been but enough different noise for me to see wee warning lights coming in. Hearing was just a jumble, music on radio was noise, no more no less. Johns voice, oh so hard to hear, that’s a first. Tinnitus not helping.  I’m ok now, I see how I’m feeling. Tomorrow is another day so will be differnt and I dont now what it will bring.

I have been pushing C.I to a few limits in the past few weeks soits fair my brain would like some time out.

We have been living silent life for a long time. We will creep back to so more noise slowly and surely.

Yesterday 7th January 2011

Heard a new sound today, a wee wisp o wind frolicked through a tree today, an oak tree whos leaves were still on its branches, cold and crispy. The sound caught me of guard, it was a tinkling, crinkling, swishing melody whispering through my C.I.

It sounded beautiful.