"Our" Ukulele

We bought the tiny, colorful ukulele on the Cook Islands in 1992 on our holiday. Cook Islanders usually climb up a coconut tree, drop a few, drink the juice, hull the flesh, and keep the shell and make a ukulele. Just like that. The strings are fishing lines of one width, controlled by hand-carved wooden pegs. But they know how to make beautiful music on the Cooks, and I had to have one.

We asked around where we could buy a uke and folk looked at me like I was a half-wit because nobody buys one, ergo nobody sells one. We took a wild guess, though, and visited the gift shops in the large hotels, and of course there was a hotel that sold ornate ukes, and this was the loveliest of the three. I can't remember how much we paid, but I know it was pittance, and still the receptionist/Lady Friday at our small accommodation thought it was highway robbery.

It made funny noises when I tried playing, so we had it as a decoration for 15 years, but when I tried to learn to play the uke in 2007, teacher Jane had a go, and it made that lovely balmy Island sound. Except this one has even more tentative pegs and one hole seems much too large so you can almost feel it going out of tune while you play. That needs remedying.

Most everybody else's on the Cooks weren't as ornate as this one, but well-used and well-loved.
The green, standard-sized one was a loan while I was in the 2007 class.

Steady rain today. Builder Ryan comes later today, around 8; Builder Shane moves house (as in, his own family home) and has the day off; I hope the rain clears or eases for him and his.

I get to go back to my regular figure drawing class and escape the house for half a day!