impromptu backyard xylophone

as I was tying together bamboo section after bamboo section for our little bee-fence to be, and papa was hauling wood from the driveway to the woodshed, and Claire ran around doing a pretty good job of entertaining herself while we largely ignored her, I though 'hmmmm, bet papa could make some pretty music with this'.  he is a great drummer, and in my opinion, a stellar random-objects music maker.  one night over a decade ago, when we were maybe 20, stands out in my mind quite vividly.  I was working for the summer doing an internship with the park service on the outer banks (watching shorebirds and marking sea turtle nests) and he was down (we lived in nj at the time) for a visit.  we found ourselves at the house next door to mine (all multiple-tenant park service housing, a mix of park service folks, lifeguards, etc) at a table with many glasses and bottles spread out, all with varying amounts of liquid in them.  he picked up a spoon or two and put on quite the show.

anywho, back to the yard, and the (um, splintery) bamboo bee-fence project... I called him over and handed him some makeshift bamboo drumsticks and he and his girl went to it.  fun, fun, fun!  I may just have to create a little permanent musical structure out of some of the bamboo we've got on hand.  in fact, I think I will do just that.