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| Here is a link to a wonderful article - accurate and thoughtful reporting - and a slide show that celebrates an extraordinary instrument and some of the people who brought it into being. The console will be dedicated to a parishioner's father, who, for the sheer love of it, was a church organist for 50 years. There could not be a finer, more loving tribute. There will be three artists offering dedicatory concerts: Paul Jacobs will play back-to-back concerts on Saturday, May 17; Nigel Potts will be playing on October 25; and Thomas Murrary will be giving two concerts on November 22.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/nyregion/23organ.html?scp=2&sq=&st=nyt
The Times may ask you to register with them (for free; no strings) in order to read it; I'm not sure if that is the case. It is worth it.
Praise the Lord.
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| I picked this up from abcnews.com this morning, edited it down, and added the web site addresses. I went to the donotcall website to verify that our various phones are indeed registered and received an e-mail response for each number, showing the date of registration. The 8 suggestions from the Federal Trade Commission are very worthy of attention.
Receiving spam on your cellphone can be VERY expensive; your cellphone bill could be charged anywhere from, say, $10 to $80 if you open a spam text message; it can take months battling the charge with your carrier.
Protect yourself and prevent spammers from finding your wireless phone number.
Register both your home and mobile phones with the National Do Not Call Registry. Once your phone number is entered into the system, you may call the following number or check via the internet to verify registration:
1-888-382-1222
https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx
If you continue to receive calls, you can file a complaint on that web site.
BUT: Putting a number on the Do Not Call Registry is designed to stop telemarketers, not spam.
If you continue to receive unwanted spam, tell your cellphone carrier AND file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Take a look at the FTC’s information page dedicated to informing consumers about spam prevention. Here are some of their suggestions:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/consumer.htm
1) Distribute your wireless number sparingly.
2) Don’t display your wireless phone number or e-mail address in public. This includes newsgroups, chat rooms, Web sites, or membership directories.
3) If you open an unwanted message, send a stop or opt out message in response.
4) Check the privacy policy when submitting your wireless phone number or e-mail address to any Web site. Find out if the policy allows the company to sell your information.
5) Before you transmit personal information through a Web site, make sure you read and understand the entire transmitting form. Some Web sites allow you to opt out of receiving e-mail from partners – but you may have to uncheck a preselected box if you want to do so.
6) You may want to use two e-mail addresses – one for personal messages and one for newsgroups and chat rooms. Also, consider using a disposable e-mail address service that creates a separate e-mail address that forwards messages to your permanent account. If one of the disposable addresses starts to receive spam, you can turn it off without affecting your permanent address.
7) Try using a longer and unique e-mail address. Your choice of e-mail addresses may affect the amount of spam that you receive. A common name like “mjones” may get more spam than a more unique name like da110x110. Of course, it’s harder to remember an unusual e-mail address.
8) Use an e-mail filter. Some service providers offer a tool that filters out potential spam or channels spam into a bulk e-mail folder. You may also want to consider filtering capabilities when choosing an Internet service provider.
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| The raw, unvoiced sounds of our new Schoenstein organ are incredible. In three weeks the organ will be voiced, and the music will be magnificent; a great gift from the people of Christ & St. Stephen's and from people who love music will be given to our city and to the glory of God.
These photos, taken on Monday, March 3, 2008 from different angles in the nave, show the woodwork, the stencilled dummy pipes, and the console. The longer views are in the next post.
Remarkably, the gold-leaf stencilling on the corner pipes is taken from the stencilling on the east wall. Some elements are from stencilling done in 1880, when the church was the Chapel of the Church of the Transfiguration (E. 29th St. and 5th Ave.).
The flowers at the pulpit were in honor of Elizabeth Brina, whose funeral service took place that morning. Elizabeth was an extraordinary woman, intelligent, gracious, loving, courageous, and of unswerving faith. May she rest in peace. | | |
| To make cucumber sandwiches, you need:
Cucumbers, perhaps 2 good-size regular (not hothouse) cucumbers per loaf of bread; peeled and sliced very very thinly; it's best to slice them the night before you need them, then let them drain in a colander overnight.
Pepperidge Farm Very-Thin-Sliced bread, white or wheat; one loaf makes 16 full-size sandwiches, each of which is then cut into 4 triangles
Hellmann's Mayonnaise (don't use any other kind of sandwich spread) (Absolute purists would use unsalted butter rather than mayonnaise, but it's not to my taste.)
Fresh dill, if you like; or dried dill, or perhaps dried marjoram or dried parsley. It's very much a matter of taste; I usually omit herbs but will add a sprinkling of dill for a change of pace or something more festive.
Plastic wrap
A sharp knife
A wide and long spatula
A long and narrow spatula
A large cutting board
Paper toweling - lots
A source of water
A table to work on
An aluminum lasagna-type baker, if you need to transport the sandwiches
Aluminum foil, if you need to transport the sandwiches
1. CUT & DRAIN THE CUCUMBERS: The night before you make the sandwiches, peel the cucumbers and slice them as thinly as possible either by hand or on a mandoline. Put them in a bowl with paper toweling at the bottom, or in a colander; cover with more paper toweling, and then with plastic wrap. refrigerate. Cucumbers are filled with water and it's important to the taste of the sandwich (and to avoid it becoming soggy) to drain off as much as possible.
2. TIMING & ORGANIZATION: The sandwiches should be made no more than, let's say, 3 or 4 hours before they're to be eaten; you don't want the bread to get soggy. Purists would say no more than 1 hour before, but that's not always possible. Arrange everything you're going to work with on a large work surface; cover the work area on which you're going to place the bread slices with paper towels. I set it up so the cutting board, knife, large spatula and aluminum container are on the left; the paper toweling is laid out in two rows lengthwise in front of me; the roll of paper toweling is on the far side in the center, as is the dill, if it's being used; the mayonnaise and thin spatula are to my right; and the cucumbers are in a bowl and then on layered paper toweling, immediately to my right. It makes a difference in making the sandwiches if everything is set up beforehand.
3. MAKING THE SANDWICHES: Put the heels of the bread to the side (I reward myself afterward by toasting the heels and eating them with some cheese or just butter.) Lay out the bread slices in pairs; there will be 16 pairs. Using the narrow spatula, apply mayonnaise to the tops of each pair. A thin layer is fine, but it must cover the bread all the way to the edges (otherwise you could get dry spots). Too much mayo and it will ooze out unpleasantly later on; I don't really skimp on the mayo, however. This is one of those things you learn by trial and error. My sandwiches are never as neat as some others, but they seem to have a good balance of cucumber and mayo. I usually have to pick up the bread slices to do properly slather on the mayo. Before you add cucumber slices, take a large bunch of the cucumbers and put them on paper towels and then squeeze the whole thing to wring out more water. You'll have to keep dabbing at the cucumbers as you go. Place 6 large slices on one side of each bread pair. This is the ideal; obviously the slices will be of different sizes and some will be sort of shredded. You don't want to get mounded sandwiches; the finished sandwiches really need to be flat and thin. Fill in gaps with shreds. Again, this is a trial and error process. If you are using dill, snip it over the cucumber slices or dust the slices with dried dill. When one side of each bread pair has been covered, thinly, with cucumber slices, turn the mayo-side of the other half of the bread pair onto the cucumbers.
4. CUTTING THE SANDWICHES: Using the large spatula, transfer several, say 4, sandwiches to the cutting board and cut each sandwich twice on the diagonal to make 4 triangles. If you feel the need to make them tea-party special, trim the crusts on four sides before you cut the triangles.
6. TRANSFER TO A PLATE OR TO A CONTAINER: If you're going to serve them within an hour, arrange the sandwich triangles attractively on a serving plate or tray and cover them with paper toweling that has been wetted through and wrung out. If you are going to transport the sandwiches, put a layer of damp paper toweling on the bottom of the container, use the large spatula to transfer a layer of sandwiches (don't break up the triangles yet) on top of the toweling, then cover them with more damp toweling. Repeat, ending with a final layer of damp toweling. Cover with foil to seal and store in the refrigerator until you're ready to transport them. Once you've set the sandwiches out to serve, keep them covered with damp toweling until you're ready to eat them. The extra paper toweling that you used to cover the work surface and to wring out the cucumbers can be used in layering the completed sandwiches. If you have leftover cucumber slices, serve them later as a cucumber salad (mayo and white vinegar, with perhaps a touch of Splenda and maybe a dash of paprika).
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