The Lone Elm

Pileated Woodpecker Appearance

Photo by Vicki's Nature, Flickr.  CC License.

Last night our heatwave finally broke, and this morning we woke to fresh, cool sunny weather.  The calm was pierced by the raucous cry of a large bird.  I peered out from the screened porch and saw our resident male pileated woodpecker on a nearby tree.  What a sight!  Marcia Bonta describes the pileated to be like a miniature pterodactl, not a bad comparison. It is the largest woodpecker. The pileated is also a loud bird.   Ms. Bonta's description: "Pileateds are also the big mouths of the woodpecker world, their demonic-sounding laughter echoing from ridgetop to ridgetop as they keep in touch with their lifelong partners. In addition, both male and female pileateds are master drummers, and frequently proclaim their dominion over the territory that they hold until they die. And, when one or the other partner does die, the surviving mate holds on to their territory and waits for another mate to appear."

An Anti-Terrorism Islamic Pop Music Video, Finally

INDC Journal and Belmont Club bring my attention to a hot new pop song and video that is making waves in Pakistan and is now global titled Yeh Hum Naheen.   It's quite a catchy little tune with major Pakistani artists in the video.  Hang in for the very last frame, which is the bottom line.  As Wretchard points out, maybe this expression by popular public figures will help other, regular folks have the strength to stand up to terrorists. I think it may also help all of us to keep in mind who we are supporting in this war.

Death and Life

Everytime someone near to me dies, I consider life and how I am
living.  My aunt passed away last weekend, and tomorrow I am going to
be with family for her funeral. I have one more direct blood relative in the
generation before me, which is cause for reflection.  Thanks to Old Poetry for
providing the opportunity to browse through a number of Walt Whitman poems!

Walt Whitman
On The Beach At Night, Alone

ON the beach at night alone,
As the old mother sways her to and fro, singing her husky song,
As I watch the bright stars shining—I think a thought of the clef of
         the universes, and of the future.

A VAST SIMILITUDE interlocks all,
All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,
         comets, asteroids,
All the substances of the same, and all that is spiritual upon the
         same,
All distances of place, however wide,
All distances of time—all inanimate forms,
All Souls—all living bodies, though they be ever so different, or in
         different worlds,
All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes—the fishes, the
         brutes,
                                           
All men and women—me also;
All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages;
All identities that have existed, or may exist, on this globe, or any
         globe;
All lives and deaths—all of the past, present, future;
This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann'd, and shall
         forever span them, and compactly hold them, and enclose them.

Paris - The Organ at St. Sulpice (Part 1)

At about 9am on Sunday morning, The Sapling and I headed out to l'Eglise (church) St. Sulpice.  We worked our way through the Marais to a bridge crossing the Seine to Isle St. Louis, then down to Isle de la Cite, past Notre Dame, and then across to the Left Bank and the Latin Quarter.  Then we wended our way to Boulevard Saint Germain, a throughway created by Baron Hausmann, and finally over to St. Sulpice.  It was another beautiful morning, and the city was just waking up.

The Grand Orgue, l'Eglise St. Sulpice: Paris, France

We were intent on getting to St. Sulpice by 10:15am, because the organist begins the prelude for the first Sunday service then.  And St. Sulpice is home to one of the finest pipe organs in Paris. (For specific information regarding this organ and more pictures, see Les orgues de Paris.) Even more exciting is the fact that after the postlude for the first service, visitors can go up to the organ loft and see the console and organ up close.  And then, one can hang out and watch the organist play for the second service!  I had found the specifics on this in an article by Steve Fox on Rick Steve's travel website.

The Console of the Grand Orgue, l'Eglise St. Sulpice: Paris, France

The organ is set in a loft in the back of the church.  The console faces towards the nave just behind the pipes below the clock (see the picture above).  We sat ourselves down, along with a number of others who were clearly there for the music, not for the service!  The organist, who we later found out was Daniel Roth, Organist Titulaire (the head organist), played a stunning improvisation for the prelude that showed off the capabilities of this massive five rank keyboard.  We then sat through the service, some of which was supported by a smaller second organ in the front of the church.  At the conclusion of the service, Roth played a spectacular postlude.  We wandered around the back of the church trying to figure out where the door to the stairs going to the loft was.  Slowly, a group of people gathered on the left side (facing back). And, sure enough, after the postlude was finished, we were invited up. 

We climbed up a stone spiral staircase.  Then we walked past the original hand bellows.  On the right, Roth's program for the day was posted.  We then came around and were able to meet Roth and admire the organ.  He was remarkably gregarious and happy to talk to everyone.  (More on Mr. Roth and the organ in a subsequent posting.)  We hung out through the second service and had a wonderful time watching him play.  The photo below was taken on the right side of the organ loft facing the nave as we were leaving.

l'Eglise St. Sulpice from the Organ Loft: Paris, France

1909 Model O Steinway Piano

Steinway 1909 Model O, Restored March 2007

My mother passed away in July 2006.  Her Steinway grand piano was a prized possession.  Her parents bought the piano for her in the 1940's when she was in college. They lived in Queens, New York and it is hard to imagine how they fit the piano, two adults and three kids into the one floor of the house that they lived in.  Her brother and sister recall that they took out a loan to buy the piano.  My mother was an accomplished pianist and organist, and obtained a Master's degree in Sacred Music from Union Theological Seminary. 

When my mother moved to Oregon, it took a while for the piano to follow.  However, in the late 1950's there was an exchange of the Steinway grand for the spinet my mother had acquired.  The story is that the same truck driver took the Steinway out to Oregon and brought the spinet back to New York City to my grandmother's house.  Eventually, my parents decided to move to Prescott, Arizona, and of course, the Steinway came along, moving through several changes of housing.  Sadly, as my mother's health deteriorated, she played it less and less, but it stood in a position of honor in her living room.  In the last few months of her life, others came and played it for her (and for themselves, as it is a fine instrument).

My mother fussed about what was going to happen to the piano, and talked about donating it to a local organization.  However, The Sapling and I knew we wanted to bring it back to our home in New Hampshire.  It turns out that while my mother thought it was a 1925 Steinway, the piano is actually a 1909 Model O.  All Steinways have serial numbers, and from the serial number it is possible to determine the date of manufacture and the specific type of piano.  I wrote to Steinway to see what they knew about it, and they told me that the piano had been sent to a retailer in Syracuse, New York, and then sold to an individual, which didn't have a city attached to the address.  They had no other information.

Steinway 1909 Model O Keyboard with Serial Number before restoration

So, we moved it back to New Hampshire, and took it to Peter Mohr at New England Classic Piano Restorations in Manchester NH.  We were happy that we did not need to replace the soundboard, and that Peter was able to repair it.  The restoration work took about 5 months, including a complete refinishing.  Interestingly, the piano may look better than it did when it emerged from the factory almost 100 years ago.  Peter showed us how the harp (the metal part of the insides that the strings are attached to) was not very well finished.  Apparently, Steinway was rushing out the Model O's and didn't apply quite as high a degree of finish to some parts.  This also explains the difficulty we had in finding the serial number, which is normally inked in a pretty prominent location.  The restored harp and new strings are shown below.

Steinway 1909 Model 0 Restored Harp, Soundboard and Stringing

Paris - Walk to the Marais

The Sapling and I opted to walk after our long plane ride, dragging our bags, all the way from the Arc de Triomphe to our apartment near the St. Paul's station in the Marais.  Yes, we knew that we could have hopped on Line 1 and gotten there in quite a bit less time, but, we weren't supposed to arrive before 9:30am and we had plenty of time to kill.  Besides, it was an utterly gorgeous morning. 

As we walked down the Champs Elysee, our main companions were joggers and the sidewalk/street cleaners.  The walks were getting brushed and washed.  A few of the store ownere were starting to straighten up for the coming day.  The air was quite stunningly clear -- most of the days we were in Paris suffered from a fair amount of air pollution that reduced views considerably.    We (or maybe just I) were amused to see a plaque for Alberto Santos-Dumont, the namesake of a local coffee house back in southern New Hampshire.  Santos-Dumont was a Brazilian and an early aviation pioneer.  He studied in Paris and developed various lighter than air vehicles that circumnavigated the Eiffel Tower.

We progressed past the store fronts, including the ubiquitous McDonalds, and continued through a park to the Place de la Concorde.  We swung left and then headed down the Rue de Rivoli, a straight shot to the Marais. In the Marais, the Rue de Rivoli is one of the oldest streets in Paris, dating back to Roman times, and is not a product of Baron Haussmann's reengineering of Paris in the 1800's.   However, first it runs past major sites and products of later times such as the Jardin des Tuileries and the Louvre. Then, the street becomes very commercial with stores, cafes, restaurants and various other shops.

At long last we arrived at the St. Paul's station, and headed for our apartment on Rue de l'Ormesson and across from the place du Marche Sainte-Catherine.  We discovered that the apartment was seriously fortified, with a strong door and lock on the street, plus a substantial lock on the apartment. We struggled for sometime to figure out the key and lock on the apartment, which was unlike any U.S. key we had ever seen! 

Paris - Arrival and the Arc de Triomphe

The Sapling and I took a one week trip to Paris in March, 2007.  We were blessed with especially fine weather for all of the week up until the day we left.  We chose to stay in an apartment in the Marais, and then developed our own scheme of touring each day as our energy and interests dictated.   Coming from the U.S., we arrived at Charles de Gaulle (CDG) at 6:30am Saturday morning, that compressed the night time into about six hours.  East is my least favorite direction to travel!   CDG was a fascinating place, with  travelers coming from all around the globe, including cities in Africa that I did not recognize.  Our bags took forever to emerge. We then took the Air France bus into the city (about 12 Euros per person).  The bus dropped us at the Arc de Triomphe. It was a spectacularly clear and brisk morning.  We decided to walk to the Marais, hauling our bags.  As we headed down the Champs Elysee, I turned around and captured this shot.  The Arc is luminous and in sharp contrast to the deep blue sky.

Valentine's Day Snowstorm

We are getting our first significant snowstorm of this year today.  One of my favorite things to do during a snowstorm is play Judy Collins' song, The Blizzard.  You can find this song on her Fires of Eden album.  Here are the words.      

The Blizzard (The Colorado Song)
Words and Music by Judy Collins
Universal Music Corp. (ASCAP)/ The Wildflowers Company ASCAP)
(Administered by Universal Music Corp.)       

Colorado, Colorado
When the world leaves you shivering
And the blizzard blows,
When the snow flies and the night falls
There's a light in the window and a place called home
At the end of the storm.        

One night on the mountain I was headed for Estes
When the roads turned to ice and it started to snow,
Put on the chains in a whirl of white powder,
Half way up to Berthoud near a diner I know      

And the light burned inside, shining down through the snowfall
God it was cold and the temperature droppin',
Went in for coffee and shivered as I drank it,
Warm in my hands in the steam as it rose.

Sitting there at the counter was a dark headed stranger,
Me and the owner and him keepin warm,
Nodded hello and I said it's a cold one
Looks like there might be a blizzard tonight.       

And "yes", said the owner,"
There's a big storm on the mountain,
Good thing we're open, we could be here for hours
There's nothing for miles and it's too late to get to Denver,
Better not try for the summit tonight".      

And the snow fell
And the night passed
And I talked to the strangers
While the blizzard blew.      

Me and the stranger, you know I don't talk to strangers,
I'm a private sort of person but a blizzard is a blizzard,
And somehow I found myself saying you'd left me,
Tellin' him everything I wanted to say to you.      

You know how it is when you can talk to a stranger,
Someone your quite sure you'll never see again -
Soon we were laughin', and talkin', and drinkin'
He said "you must know you're too good for him".        

And the snow fell
and the night passed
And I talked to the stranger
while the blizzard blew.      

The stranger said "Love it can cry you a river -
Me, I'm a loner cause I can't take the heartache
And sometimes I'm a fighter when I get too much whiskey -
Here have a little whiskey, pretend you don't give a damn -      

My cabin's up here on the side of the mountain
You can go up there and sleep through the blizzard".
I put on my parka, said goodbye to the owner
Followed the stranger through the snow up the mountainside.        

Woke in the morning to the sun on the snow,
My car was buried in six feet of snow drifts,
They dug me out, just the owner and the stranger,
Sent me on my way when the snowplow had been by       

And the roads were all clear and the sun on the mountains
Sparkled like diamonds on the peak to peak highway -
Then I knew that I would get over you, knew you could leave me
But you'd never break me.       

Colorado, Colorado
When the world leaves you shivering
And the blizzard blows,
When the snow flies and the night falls
there's a light in the window and a place called home
At the end of the storm.

Wildflower Records
WWW.JUDYCOLLINS.COM
212-749-7221

Its Time to Say Goodbye - Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocellli

For some reason, this weekend I was exploring YouTube, and ended up watching Andrea Bocelli.  That led me to the wonderful (and famous) duet that he does with Sarah Brightman, Time to Say Goodbye or Con te Partiro. (According to Wikipedia Brightman has a three-octave vocal range that extends to an E above Soprano C.)  The version below is particularly lovely with the interaction between the two singers. 

More "Fauxtography"

It is worth taking a close look at what is in the news these days.  Michael Totten shows a clear example of a photoshopped result that is being used to help fan the flames in Lebanon.  The worst is that the image of the man with the machine gun is taken from another photo of very questionable nature. 

Winter Poetry

"Covering the land..."
by Paul Verlaine and translated by Norman R. Shapiro
One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine: A Bilingual Edition
Copyright 1999 by The University of Chicago

Covering the land—
Dismal, endless plain—
Blurring the terrain,
Snow haze gleams like sand.

Bronze the sky, with no
Glimmering of light:
Is the moon to grow
Dim, and die tonight?

In the woods, close by,
Billows the fog, cloaks
Gray the cloud-like oaks
Floating on the sky.

Bronze the sky, with no
Glimmering of light:
Is the moon to grow
Dim, and die tonight?

Scrawny wolves, and you,
Wheezing ravens, when
Winds blow sharp, what then?
What? What can you do?

Covering the land—
Dismal, endless plain—
Blurring the terrain,
Snow haze gleams like sand.

Thanks to Poems for a Long Winter's Night.

Do You Daydream?

Reuters reports this morning that scientists have been able to observe the brain's activity during daydreaming using MRI technology.  Specific parts of the brain appear to be dedicated to activity during "down" time.  Wikipedia defines "daydream" as "a fantasy that a person has while awake, often about spontaneous and fanciful thoughts not connected to the person's immediate situation."   According to WebMD, psychologists have found that we daydream for one-third to one-half of our waking hours. Daydreaming also serves valuable functions, including helping us get through tedious tasks and stimulating creatvity.  soul food cafe has guided imagery to stimulate the creative you.

Ramen Inventor Dies at 96

According to FoxNews, the Japanese inventor of instant noodles, Momofuko Ando died at the ripe age of 96.  Mr. Ando introduced the first instant Chicken Ramen in 1958. Ramen is a Japanese noodle dish of Chinese origin.  The Japanese Convenience Food Manufacturers have an interesting background about instant ramen.  My son prefers a very spicy Korean version, Shin Ramen.

Showdown Time?

This morning the London Times reports that Israel is prepared to use small nuclear warheads to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment capabilities.  Because of the underground fortifications that protects the Iranian complex, this will require special "bunker-busting" types of bombs. The Times has more on the nature of such a mission.  Ralph Peters makes a pretty good case that Bush has tapped a Navy man for the Middle East CentCom position because of the Iranian issues.  A sidebar to the Peters commentary notes that ships from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia are all steaming towards the Middle East to beef up our force there. There is more on the buildup at Debkafile.  Jules Crittenden points out the domestic division of opinion, and concludes that if we withdraw now, as Ms. Pelosi and Sen. Reid recommend, "I predict a dark age, in which brutal second-rate powers such as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea do what they choose to whom they choose without restraint. An age of modern warlords, with no over-arching, feared power to keep them in check. We can watch the sick man that is Europe slowly succumb. We can watch small free nations try to fend for themselves. We can await the inevitable nuclear crisis."  And of course, Israel faces potential destruction.  There is no choice but to try to get Iraq stabilized, fortify our friends and try to back Iran off.

Basque Music

Last night we were treated to an unusual concert of choral and orchestral Basque music at the Putney School.  In addition, there was a folk dance just before intermission, and the audience got to sing along at the end!  The music is complicated in rhythm and harmonics, and lush, rich and dynamic.  The group did a very credible job. This is certainly a type of music that is not played or sung much in the United States, so it was a very interesting evening.

Composers included J.C. Arriaga, who evidently was born exactly 50 years after Mozart, Jesus Guridi, and Lorenzo Ondarra.  Amazon has recordings for Arriaga and Guridi.

Some general background and links (not all of which work) on Basque music can be found at Buber's Basque Page: Music.  There I found the tune and words for one of the Christmas songs that was done last night - "Hator, Hator" or "Ator, Ator".

A link from Buber's takes one to a fascinating group, Xarnege, that plays the music that merges the music of Gascony and the Basque Country (click on the door to get into the web site).  To get a flavor for their music go to the MP3 tab.  I tried out the  song titled  Sorlekuaren minez which starts out with voice and a drone of some sort, and then ends with a perky dance tune.  Their CD is titled Gaueko lan musika - Musica de contrabanda (Pyrene-2004).

Of a completely different nature is another link of Buber's to recordings that an American made in 1940 of songs sung by Basques living in California.  These are now held by the Library of Congress and can be listened to on the internet. A search in Amazon for Basque music shows that there are also Alan Lomax recordings in Basque Country from the early 1950's - one is for Navarre and the another is for Biscay and Guipozca.

6,000 BC Tsunami

Power Line refers us to a story about scientists' conclusions of the impacts of the eruption of Mt Etna  some 8,000 years ago.  The huge, resulting tsunami wreaked havoc across the Mediterranean  Sea and Northern Africa.  A video is on the entry showing the wave action.  Very cool!  Interesting comment line on Power Line as well.  Other info at Science Daily and an overview of volcanic activity in the Mediterranean in Time Europe.

Litvinenko Poisoning

This morning, the Times of London is reporting that Litvinenko's guest for sushi dinner the evening of December 1, is suffering significant pulonium poisoning.  The amatuer sleuths are going wild, and have some very interesting analysis.  TRex at Firedoglake discusses what it would take to deliver the pulonium; bottom line is that this is a method requiring considerable sophistication. Also really interesting is Larisa Alexandrovna's idea that the pulonium might have been delivered via cigarettes. AJ Strata thinks this is a "botched nuclear contraband effort."  If the pulonium was being brought into Britain, what did the conspirators plan to do with it?  Wretchard at Belmont Club (see comment interchange) suggests that the intent was to engage in a mass poisoning (looks like they had plenty of material for that!).   The additional commentary is also interesting.  Litvenko had recently converted to Islam and appeared to be quite wealthy.  Wretchard's conclusion is pretty depressing:

"Effectively we've just stumbled on a new weapons system with absolutely wonderful properties in the realm of terrorist warfare. I'm going to speculate that the bulk supplies are under positive control in Russia. They won't let the merchandise out until its ready to be used. It will be delivered just in time for the same reason nukes are kept under strict control until they are ready to be used. Even murder has logic.

But since any reasonable mass radioactive poisoning scenario will be effectively the equivalent of a unclaimed small tactical nuke or dirty bomb, the incident reveals our lack of a doctrine to deal with such threats. And if thousands of kids were poisoned with polonium tomorrow, would Blair nuke Russia? Or Pakistan? Would Pelosi even countenance the suggestion? Not as far as I can see.

We are in a war for our lives, whatever alternate universe certain people think they live in. And as Karen Carpenter said, "we only just begun"."

Trojan Horse Video

I love YouTube. This video done in Australia really hits my funny bone and made me laugh.

Election Reflections

Well, while I am disappointed, I can't say I am surprised about the electorate's decision to send the Republicans a message, with the result that the Democrats now control both the House and the Senate.  However, I think it would be a big mistake for the liberal arm of the Democratic party to think that it now has carte blanche to implement its radical policies.  The key reason that the Democratic party gained control is because they put up moderate candidates.  The most obvious rejection of the moonbat wing of the party was the resounding decision of Connecticut voters to send Joe Lieberman back to the Senate, despite his running as an Independent.  And Lieberman claims that he intends to remain a Democrat, presumably to counterbalance the more whacky aspects of his party's inclinations.

So, what particularly interests me is the psychological issues that underlie the voice of the people.  I am particularly impressed with Gagdad Bob's dissection, hat tip to The American Thinker. To quote:

"So a national opinion poll -- including an election -- doesn’t necessarily provide much in the way of objective information about objective circumstances, but subjective data about how it “feels” to be part of a historical group at a particular time. In fact, deMause turns the presidential approval rating on its head. He doesn’t believe that it actually measures approval but disapproval about how effectively or ineffectively a fantasy leader is “containing” the public’s anxiety. Since the group is largely driven by fantasy, it naturally follows that they will look for a leader who can reassure them about the world and diminish their anxiety."

Thus, the public has lost confidence in the administration, including the "leader" -- President Bush.  The President's failure is closely tied to the corruption and failures exhibited by the Congress, and in my view, the President's lack of strong moral leadership to identify such behavior as unacceptable -- note that he was quite able to state the clear moral standard relative to the rogue nations of Iraq, Iran and North Korea, and at that point had far stronger support.

Deep, Deep Denial

Sister Toldjah reports on a post at Huffington Post (HuffPo) about what the liberals/Democrats are going to do when they lose in October (again).  The poster attributes the predicted loss to the nefarious and devious conduct of the Republicans, led by the evil Karl Rove (George Bush is too dumb to accomplish an electoral victory).  Well, first, the outcome of the election remains in doubt as we have a couple of weeks to go.  The poster should be out working on getting out the vote and generally working to ensure her party does as well as it can do -- that's the way the system works.  But, even more disturbing is the idea that when the Democrats fail to achieve their goal of winning over both houses is that "If for whatever reason we don’t win back Congress in November the only real answer will be to take to the streets."

Yup, that sure is a mature answer.  These people are in serious denial and, more importantly, are unwilling to take responsibility for their failure to develop a political stance attractive enough to the American people to result in a victory at the polls.  Rather than blame Karl Rove, how about going back and doing some hard thinking about what their party stands for and figuring out how they can win back the confidence of Americans?  That process might force them to try to understand what we all want, which isn't the liberal agenda.

Riehl World View reports: "I had a conversation similar to the one below with a moderate Dem recently, one who has hated the Iraq war since the start. Without selling any ideology, at the end I simply asked them, so come November what is it you are going to do? I detest the war, they said. But the Democrats are going to raise my taxes and they don't even want us spying on these people who want to come here and kill us. I'll be voting Republican in November."  Yes, when sane people get to the ballot box they will vote against the tax-and-spend left, and hope that we can get the Republicans back under control.

The New Editor reports that the author of the HuffPo post is the wife of Norman Lear, hardly someone who is scratching out a living each day on the minimum wage. She and Barbra Streisand can go out and lead a demonstration!

The reader may find it worthwhile to review Dr. Sanity's Psychology 101 posting discussing the various functional and not so functional ways of dealing with life's challenges.

For the myriad of serious questions to consider as you go to vote, see Dan Scott's post at The American Thinker.