“From the start, when it was the instrument of the wood-god Pan, the flute has been associated with pure (some might say impure) energy. Its sound releases something naturally untamed, as if a squirrel were let loose in a church.”

–Seamus Heaney

“Flute music is love music from the heart. It must not stop, lest the pulsing of the heart be broken.”

–Judith Redman Robbins, in Coyote Woman

Well it’s time again to answer a few of those questions that you folks over and over……never ask. A number of you have never asked… “Why do some flutes have no price, stating instead, ‘Email for price?’” Good question. I sell flutes to people all over the planet. Some folks want to pay for their flutes with goats, baseball cards, rocks, lumber, E-checks, and the ever popular 3^rd world bank draft. So until all the dust settles, one way or another, I have to temporarily suspend the potential sale of the flute to someone else. Another reason for doing so is that flutes occasionally go to art exhibits. There is no sale pending, but it’s a little vacation for the flute, and I get to drink free wine, and eat little cheese squares with toothpicks. Again, the offering is suspended for a couple of weeks.

Another frequently never asked question is, “Why don’t more people view this blog?” Wow, this one is easy. “I have no idea.”

Another good one, “Are you Native American?”… No. Not even close. 3^rd generation Californian by way of Tennessee and Scotland. …..and a natural extension of that never asked question would be… “So your flutes aren’t Native American?” … They’re Native American style flutes, although as of late, I’ve been pushing that envelope to where they are probably best characterized as North American woodwinds, or paint mixers, depending on what you folks do with them. And lastly, I’m constantly never hearing this question… “How old are you? Sometimes it sounds like you’re about nine.” I’m 60. The website shot of me was taken three years ago @ 57, and about two hours before I accidentally destroyed the flute I’m holding in the picture. Ok then, that pretty much wraps up this segment of endless questions that you folks never ask.

On another high note, I mentioned in my last entry that pricing would be going up, based primarily on the cost of materials, and the time I’m taking to do what I do with those materials, which is true. HOWEVER, as I mentioned in Nov. of ’06 and which prompted my first Holiday sale, the speed of your computer on my website, particularly for dial-up folks, is inversely related to my current inventory. More flutes on MY website equals slower behavior on YOUR computer. It has something to do with being on a local server, I think, and I don’t even know what that means. Frankly, my Black Friday/Holiday sale this year could have been better in terms of making room for more flutes, but like Citigroup Inc, or Proctor and Gamble, I am a victim of lower consumer spending. So, I’m reducing the prices on ALL of the currently listed instruments, so I can keep building them since it seems to keep me out of trouble. We here at Querencia are just trying to do our part to move this recession train onto a new track. In the meantime, have a Happy, and Healthy New Year. Rich.