Persistent waters would mean her move to Iowa with friend Jackie Blount could be delayed, something she would not be sad to see happen. The waters receded, however, just as the two were ready for their move.
Despite her hesitation, the Southern-trained blues and folk musician came to Ames and is making her life here.
"It's just been an amazing time for me to live in Iowa and make my life among Iowa musicians," Fleming said. "There's a wonderful community spirit here in this town with music."
Fleming got her start as a piano student who took to writing her own songs quickly. Fleming eventually picked up the guitar, but the blues would come only after the death of a friend.
"I started playing blues, because I was so heartbroken," Fleming said. "He had one of these bluesmen deaths; he was murdered in his farmhouse.
"I don't think I would have otherwise."
Raised in North Carolina, Fleming started her days as a touring musician in Texas, playing with her then husband and living a transient lifestyle at times.
"We did a lot of staying with parents and staying with friends out on the road," Fleming said. "It was a very vagabond life. I loved it."
She eventually moved back to North Carolina, where she met Jackie Blount, who helped draw her to the Midwest when Blount accepted a teaching position at Iowa State University.
Fleming has been a member of some other Ames bands through the years but now plays by herself and with Crimson Mahler, a group that includes Blount Buzz Dudley.
"Buzz came into our band and immediately played things that were appropriate to us," Fleming said. "This is really a good fit for us."
Dudley also plays with the Ames band, Otter, a more progressive-rock band.
Fleming said she writes mostly original music. She has released three CDs and has filled three others with enough material to release a fourth CD. She often gets inspiration from something she sees or reads, she said, or by watching other bands perform. She can often be seen listening in at local concert series.
"I don't always know what the songs are about when I start; then I sort of discover that as I write," she said.
Constant themes of Fleming's songs are those about her life as a musician and her experiences with other musicians.
"I have given myself to the music, and I'm full of gratitudes and regrets," she said.
Fleming said she has made mistakes and knows it, but no matter how many times she toys with the idea of leaving the life of a musician behind, she just can't do it.
"It's what we do," Fleming said. "But we can't and won't give it up.
"That's all I've ever learned to do, is continue on the path and hope for the best."
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or cweishaar@amestrib.com.
