Eine kleine Orgelmusik

Today, I visited Our Redeemer Lutheran Church here in North Platte, Nebraska, and played their marvelous Bedient tracker organ. This bright little instrument is Opus 6 and was their first tracker. Built in 1973-74, it was recently rebuilt/refurbished in 2006.


Here is the stop list:

Great, 56 notes
Principal 8
Rohrflote 8
Praestant 4
Octave 2
Sesquialtera II
Mixture III-V
Trompet 8


Pedal, 30 notes
Subbass 16
Octave 8
Octave 4
Nachthorn 2
Fagott 16
Trompet 8

Swell, 56 notes
Gedeckt 8
Spitzflote 4
Principal 2
Quinte 1 1/3
Cymbal III
Regal 8

Couplers
Great/Pedal
Swell/Pedal
Swell/Great
Tremulant

This organ cost $24,000 when it was installed in 1974. I hate to think what it would cost today.

I decided to play a little Buxtehude, Ach Herr, mich armen Suender (always good to focus on how sinful you are when you are in a Missouri Synod Lutheran church) and his Passacaglia, which I just love to play! I also played a couple selections from Frescobaldi's Fiori Musicali, namely Per la Messa <> (Cum Jubilo), Toccata avanti la Messa della Madonna, a kyrie or two, and , Toccata per l'Elevatione.


Rumor has it the organists at this church are not paid. My guess is the organists pay the church for the privilege of playing this delightful instrument.

Flowers Ancient and Modern

These Gerbera daisies bloomed all summer long in my garden and continue to bloom through the autumn.

Daisies are the friendliest flower, or so says Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail.

They're also an ancient flower, judging from the fact that Chaucer wrote of them back in the 14th century:


Of all the floures in the mede,
Than love I most these floures white and rede,
Soch that men callen daisies in our toun.

Here's a gorgeous yellow Gerbera, equally prolific this past summer:

An American Hutong

This little lovely was found in my alley, poking out from the logs along my neighbor's fence. Reminded me of Tennyson. (Fear not; I did not pluck it.)


Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower -but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.

Mums Galore!

Thought it was time to share pictures of some of my garden's flowers. I use a Kodak EasyShare CX7430. I'm not a photographer and I don't need or want a fancy camera. The Kodak suits me just fine. I will try to add more pictures in the coming days.