This is a Civil War fifer. It's my dear hubby, John. Yep, that makes me a fife wife, LOL

Playing the fife isn't easy. The first lesson includes learning to get a sound out of the instrument. This can take weeks in some cases. It is said that if you can get a sound out of it right away, you have talent as a fifer. That's not entirely true. Both John and I were going to do fifing together. I could get a sound out of the thing immediately and the fife group was impressed mightily. However,I couldn't play it because I'd run out of breath due to allergies--and we didn't know it at the time, but I was developing Sjogren's Syndome, which made me really, really tired. So John's the only fifer in the family but I get to march in parades anyway, with the civilians. And you know, that's not so bad, either. I figure that I represent the women of the Sanitary Commission, or the nurses, or the viviandiers who also served on the Civil War battlefield. Besides, I do like my hoop skirts, haha!

And this is Katy, scrunched down hugging a little pal.