While hiking in the Smokies, I was able to take a break and meet two women in the world of Native American flutes – Rona Yellow Robe and Geri Littlejohn.

I heard Rona in concert, performing a variety of her music, including “Turquoise Blues” A favorite song of mine – and many in the audience – was “Caterpillar & Butterfly.” Before playing the song, she talked about the transition of the caterpillar into a butterfly being like the process most of us go through in making transitions in our own lives.

Geri is the only woman flute maker that I’ve met so far. She had a display of her flutes, many of which were branch flutes.  For our group, she played a beautiful low elderberry branch flute she had made.