Another Year is Dawning - 2013

Old Pianos Die Hard

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Will your piano end up in the dump?
Many old pianos are now being dumped, abandoned, neglected, smashed - even burnt. Why is this happening, and should we care?

The advert is up, her husband has spread the word at work, but 12 weeks on and Karen Harper from Baltimore, Maryland just can't find a taker for her piano - not even free of charge.

"I've had no calls - nothing whatsoever," she says matter-of-factly.

But her husband is starting to lose patience, and has threatened to take the thing apart "bit by bit" if they don't find a new home for it soon.

The piano in question - an upright Wessel, Nickel & Gross built in 1927 - is in good condition, she says, and still plays well.

Karen bought the piano when her children were young, but now she just needs the space.

"My daughter loves it - if she knew it was going to a good home it would be easier."

The thought of it being destroyed would devastate her, says Karen. "It's a hard decision to make over a piano."

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

There are more and more pianos reaching extinction, needing to go to the graveyard”

John GistPiano restorer and seller

Unceremoniously upturned in a rubbish tip, and picked away at for pieces, was the sorry end for the Windsor Baby Grand piano at Sandy Spring Friends School, also in Maryland.

A local piano restorer had hoped to take it, says teacher Cathryn Carnevale, but the cost of repair would have been much greater than its value. It would have been for love not money - and when a big tax bill came in, he just couldn't afford it.

"It's like a human, it slowly goes downhill in terms of its health," says John Gist, of Gist Piano Center in Louisville, Kentucky, which sells and restores pianos.

"There are more and more pianos reaching extinction, needing to go to the graveyard.

"I get 10 to 15 calls a day from people saying 'So how much is my piano worth?'"

But the reality is, says Gist, sentimental value aside, many old pianos are worthless, though a top-name brand like a Steinway will hold its value well.

Restorers often make the analogy with vintage cars - it is usually cheaper to buy new than rebuild, and keeping an old model going is more a hobby pursuit than a practical one.

A piano has thousands of moving parts, making restoration a very time-consuming, and specialist business. Just polishing a piano can take 70 hours.

Continue reading the main story

88 keys...

• ... That's how many there are on a standard piano, and it's also the name of a non-profit foundation set up by pianist Lara Downes to try to match unwanted pianos with schools.
• "There just seems to be a big need," she says. But the pianos need to be in good condition. "You can't resurrect every instrument - they do need to be retired."

88 Keys Foundation

"It becomes a money pit," says Gist, and so often the best advice - and advice he doles out several times a day - is just to get rid of it.

In the UK, it is a similar story.

"You see some dusty old wreck, and you know it's not going to be tuneable," says Stephen Willett, who runs SW Piano Movers in London, and has recently branched out his business to include piano disposals.

"I used to try to keep them - I had a shed full of pianos."

These days - though it's not something he enjoys doing - he regularly goes to the dump, unloads a ragbag collection of old pianos, and tips them.

Few would have foreseen this sorry scene at the tip in the piano's heyday at the end of the 1800s and start of the 1900s.

That is the era when piano production went into overdrive, and it is the instruments made then that are now, 100 years on, collectively on their knees.

Camden Town in London was the heart of the piano-making industry in the UK, with around 100 small-scale factories and workshops, employing 6,000 people at its height in 1920. New York was the hub in the US. Between them they churned out a flood of pianos to meet the burgeoning demand.

The piano was hugely popular across northern Europe too, especially in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany - home of the Bechstein.

"Every home had to have a piano," says Alastair Laurence, chair of John Broadwood & Sons, the only UK piano maker from the era still in operation.

In the early 19th Century, the piano was the preserve of the upper and middle classes - doctors and lawyers for example - but by the end of the century, pianos were common in the homes of English coal miners, says Laurence, with pianos sold on instalment plans to make them more affordable.

Continue reading the main story

Piano tales

• "Looking at the social history of the piano is like putting your eye to a well-cut jewel": Michael Goldfarb on the BBC's Piano Tales: A Social History of the Piano

The piano was an important source of home entertainment, as well as being a sign of status, and was often put in the best room in the house, ready to show the neighbours - even attract suitors. A young woman who was good at playing the piano was regarded as better marriage material.

Because pianos were being made in such quantities at the time, the quality was not always the best.

"In the 1920s, they were made for the mass market. They were not made to last, they were made to sell," says Marcus Roberts of Roberts Pianos in Oxford.

He says, much like a house, a piano needs to be built with good foundations if it is to last.

"When you are making cheap pianos to sell, you are going to cut corners. Those pianos were never put together properly."

And it is this glut - for want of a better word - of mass-produced pianos that are now finding themselves on the scrap heap.

Also, the piano is just "not as culturally relevant" as it once was says Brian Majeski, editor of The Music Trades magazine.

The number of pianos sold in the US has halved over the last 10 years, according to figures gathered by his magazine.

Continue reading the main story

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It doesn't make any sense to me to have wood and metal in the dump - banana peels go in the dump”

Matt HirschfelderPiano restorer

US sales of digital pianos, on the other hand, have gone up 50% in the same period.

"They've really hit their stride… and found a ready audience," says Majeski.

Digital pianos were once scoffed at by piano connoisseurs, but the quality has improved a lot, he says. They have the advantage of being reasonably priced, they take up much less space and you can plug in headphones, avoiding disturbing the neighbours.

But there is one market where the piano is booming - China.

Around 300,000 pianos were made in big factories in China last year, as well as a large share of the world's piano parts for repairs.

The vast majority of these pianos - as many as 250,000 - were for the domestic Chinese market, which has seen piano playing and ownership rocket over the past few years.

"It's like an atomic explosion and just keeps going and going," says Julia Kruger, vice-president of the National Guild of Piano Teachers, which works in over 70 countries around the world.

The success of pianist Lang Lang has added to the appeal of the piano in China

During the Cultural Revolution, the piano was seen as perhaps the most dangerous of all Western instruments, but now many Chinese families are buying a piano for the first time, and see piano playing as a way their child can get ahead.

The standard of the pianos varies, just as it did 100 years ago in the US and UK. Some are much like "peas in a pod", says Alastair Laurence, though there are some good quality pianos coming out of China, he adds.

But as for the old pianos in the West, "as a culture, we don't know what to do with them," says Matt Hirschfelder, a piano restorer in Salem, Oregon, who was recently awarded a grant to look into recycling options for old pianos.

"It doesn't make any sense to me to have wood and metal in the dump. Banana peels go in the dump," he says.

On the other hand, it's not that easy to salvage parts from a piano.

Because of the tension in the strings, it is dangerous to dismantle a piano if you don't know what you are doing - and a slow task if you do.

Continue reading the main story

Piano as Art

• Shauna Holiman and Penny Putnam turn old pianos into art. They have made more than 35 pieces - using wood, keys, strings and wippens (the mechanism that joins the key to the hammer). "The insides of pianos are really beautiful," says Holiman. "Every key is unique," says Putnam, as is every pedal. "Sometimes the toe has tapped on those brass pedals so many times that it has worn a hole," she says. "It seems everyone has an old piano they want rid of," says Putnam. However there is only a limited number of pianos they can take on. They encourage people to save the ivory keys at least.

• Piano as Art

Loosening the strings, and separating the wood from the metal takes around 10 hours, says Hirschfelder.

If a piano has really been neglected it might have attracted rats or mice, who like to eat the animal glue used to hold it together and nuzzle up to the felt, meaning that hantavirus - a deadly disease spread by rodents - is a danger.

But it is well worth the bother, argues Hirschfelder. The strings for example are made of high grade steel, and are so strong they can be used as cables for airplanes.

The keys are made of ebony and ivory, which he has seen made into jewellery, artwork - even exclusive tiling around swimming pools.

Pianos are often not made of solid wood, but have a thick wood veneer instead, and this is still worth saving and re-using.

Some people make furniture of it, but this is usually done on a small-scale piece by piece basis.

Where Hirschfelder lives wood recycling services are not available, so it is often burned or turned into wood chip to scatter on gardens.

But even recycling doesn't always seem right to a piano's owner, who typically associates it with music, the memory of a child or parent, moments of emotional intensity, and the finer things in life.

Even those who take a business-like approach to piano disposal, don't always feel happy about it.

"I'm not going to tell them I'm going to chop it up and put it in a hopper," says Blake Cooper at Cooper Piano in Atlanta, Georgia, who regularly throws out pianos which are beyond repair.

"It's an emotional thing," says Cooper, whose family has been in the business for four generations.

"The piano is like a form of expression, and all of a sudden, you're dealing in a strange situation.

"All those pianos had somebody happy at some time. All those pianos did that. They really don't owe us anything.

"People were happy, even if only for a moment. Did the piano smile?" he asks. "I don't know - it might have."

Read more here ---> BBC News 

Sam's Club Tires

I spent 3 hours of my morning at two of these places. The waiting is never fun. But there is something about memories of my childhood; and  the "sweet" & intoxicating-to-me aroma of these new tires that I.Simply.Adore.  

Weird, I know.

They Will Heel Your Soles

Keep this place in mind.  I've met the owner's wife, and know his Mother-in-Law.  My son has talked about getting himself a pair of Cowboy boots; and I could sure use his shoe services! It's too bad they are located out-of-state from me. 

Blessed is the nation...

Happy Independence Day!

♥ ♥ ♥

Dads ♥

Happy Father's Day

to All Dads ♥

"...Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it."

Joy and Laughter

Praying through Psalm 30: 10-12

 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be thou my helper.

 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;

To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

I'll Have Another: (funny) philosophical quote

I’ll Have Another, the horse,  won first-place in the Kentucky Derby, and the Preakness; but cannot run in the Belmont Stakes because of an injury. No Triple Crown this year. Here was Patrick Morley’s status update after the Derby race: 

In case you missed it: owner of Kentucky Derby winner a former philosophy professor at USC.

When Costas asked him for a philosophical comment in winner's circle he quipped, "Ludwig Wittgenstein said, ' When all philosophical problems have been solved, nothing of any real importance will have been accomplished,' so we went into horse racing."

Gotta love it....

pic source: Google images

The last "Platter"

Herb Reed, the last original member of  the 1950s singing group, "The Platters", has died.  Here are The Platters (Reed is on the left), performing  ♥ Only You  ♥  

His vocals can be heard on The Platters' biggest hits, including Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, The Great Pretender, Twilight Time and My Prayer. -- wikipedia

Communication --- which level are you?

Got this from a friend's FB status:

The five levels of communication (each one goes deeper but each level is necessary to go through to get to the deepest level):

1. Greetings or surface questions (example: Hi, how are you?)

2. Facts (example: "how your children are doing", etc)

3. Opinions (it is at the third level that becomes risky because people can disagree with levels three through five and you can either make the relationship stronger or lose it all together)

4. Feelings 

5. Rebuke or Deep Encouragement

Come Saturday Morning

After my early-morning walk with Mr Bubbles, I take the kids to their Piano Lessons. The Music School has free WiFi, so my time waiting is spent on the internet, reading magazines, reading books, memorizing verses ---some of the above, all of the above. 

A 30-minute drive after Piano lessons results in our arrival at yet another Music School for Choir. By the time that's over and we drive home, we're just about ready for Chow Time. Bathroom cleaning and general cleaning follows soon after. Then, it's time to relax, whew.  A busy season of life, indeed.

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10 Ways to Really Love A Woman

Spring Daffodils

by Patrick Morley

Ten Ways to Really Love a Woman

Note: This is an excerpt from my new book Man Alive. I wrote Man Alive because I'm tired of watching men go to events, get all amped up, charge out determined to do better, soar briefly, then glide (or crash) back to earth. In my experience these men are deeply frustrated that they can't sustain the change. It doesn't have to be that way. So what's going on? There are seven primal needs that, when met God's way, can stop the spiritual roller coaster. If you know a man like that, or if that's you, order a copy of Man Alive today and let me walk you through a process to become "alive through Christ" (Eph 2:4-5). Or start a small group to discuss the questions at the end of each chapter.

No need is more primal than to love and be loved without reservation. I've been married to Patsy for 39 years and I love her more today than the day we married. I mentioned this to a single female lab tech yesterday and she wanted to know the "secret." I told her several practical ideas, but at the end I said, "We're Christians and each of us have given Jesus the first place in our lives. When Christ is first, everything else just seems to fall into place." I watched as comprehension slowly spread across her face.

Here are the ten most practical marriage ideas I've picked up over four decades of working with men. Discuss these with your single men too!

1. Pray with Your Wife

Shaun from Bozeman, Montana, asked his men's group, "How many of you pray with your wives?" Only one of the eight men said that he did. They started holding each other accountable. Here's what Shaun said about it a year later:

The benefits when we are obedient in this area are amazing. Here are some comments from the men about what happens when they pray with their wives on a consistent basis:

"I feel a closeness to my wife that wasn't there before.""Communication between us is better.""The petty things are just not a big deal anymore."

And I'll tell you this, it's pretty hard to be upset with your wife or to be arguing and still come before God with a clean heart. It forces us to communicate and humble ourselves with each other before we do something as intimate as praying together. It just permeates through the rest of your family and day.

Ask your wife if you can take some time each day to pray together. Patsy and I always start the day with prayer for one to three minutes, and then we pray again when we're together for dinner.

2. Pray for Your Wife

Not long ago I wrote a book called The Marriage Prayer with David Delk. The book is titled after a very specific sixty-eight-word prayer that we believe captures the essence of what the Bible teaches on marriage.

One day, a few months after I had started praying the marriage prayer myself, I was settled into my favorite chair and deep into a book when I saw Patsy walking by with the trash. I literally leaped out of my chair and said, "Here, let me get that for you."

Immediately I stopped. What just happened here? I wondered, since I was pretty sure I had never done that before!

And then a phrase from the marriage prayer popped into my mind: "I want to hear her, cherish her, and serve her -- so she would love You more and we can bring You glory."

This prayer has also been transforming for other men. One man said he started putting his empty Splenda packets in the trash instead of leaving them on the counter. You have to start somewhere.

Here's the whole marriage prayer:

Father, I said, "Till death do us part"-- I want to mean it. Help me to love You more than her, and her more than anyone or anything else. Help me bring her into Your presence today. Make us one, like You are three-in-one. I want to hear her, cherish her, and serve her -- So she would love You more and we can bring You glory. Amen.

Think about this: you are likely the only person in the whole world who will remember to regularly pray for your mate. Tear out or copy this prayer, pray it every day for your wife, and watch God work. Learn more about the Marriage Prayer--including a version for a wife to pray--at www.themarriageprayer.com.

3. Spend Time with Her Alone

How we spend our time reveals what is really important to us. Successful couples spend time together. They develop shared interests, such as bowling, reading, hiking, Bible studies, board games, or walking around the neighborhood. Patsy and I have always kept a weekly date night as a top priority.

Early in our marriage, I started hanging out at the table after dinner for about twenty minutes just to be with Patsy. We've done this for decades. A few years ago I also started rubbing her feet with lotion as we talk. I can guarantee you who she'll say is her best friend!

4. Listen to Her Deeply Without Giving an Overly Quick Reply

Communication invariably shows up as the number one problem in marriage surveys. And the greatest weakness in communication with our mates is the problem of giving an overly quick reply. We attach high value to our mates when we listen sincerely and patiently to each other. Listening deeply requires that we don't respond too quickly, don't criticize, and don't give advice unless the other person asks for it. (Everyone dreads being "fixed.") Listening lubricates marriage and cuts down on friction.

5. Touch Her

Successful couples touch each other. They hug, squeeze, embrace, pat, hold hands, put their arms around each other, and sit close enough to touch when watching television. Nonsexual touching leads to genuine intimacy. Touching her is like recharging her battery.

6. Accept Her Unconditionally

Happy wives don't feel like they have to perform to be loved. They don't feel like they will be rejected if they don't meet a set of standards. For Pete's sake, if your wife has fat ankles, don't say something stupid like, "Why don't you do ankle exercises?" Jesus accepts each of us "just as I am," as the old hymn says, and smart mates accept each other as is too. Intimacy means that I know who you are at the deepest level and I accept you.

7. Encourage Her with Words

Your mate has an emotional bank account into which you make deposits and from which you make withdrawals. If you're grumpy when you get home from work, you are making a withdrawal from her account. When you encourage your spouse when she feels down, you are making a deposit. (Make sure to keep track of the account balance!)

We all need to be lifted up when we feel blue, but the most successful couples go one step further--they create a positive environment. They verbally affirm each other at every opportunity. They try to catch each other doing things right. They pass along compliments others make about their mate. They never pass up an opportunity to express appreciation: "I love the way you fix your hair." "That was a great dinner." "I love having you for my wife." "Thank you for running such a smooth home."

Encouragement is the food of the heart, and every heart is a hungry heart.

8. Take Care of Her Financially

Money problems create more stress on a marriage than any other outside threat. Here is the money issue in a nutshell: is it right to spend so much on a lifestyle today that your wife would be forced into panic mode if you were not around anymore? Successful couples have resolved to live within their means. They do not live so high today that they fail to provide for retirement and premature death.

9. Laugh with Her

The antidote to boredom in marriage is lively humor. If your partner says something even remotely funny, laugh! Keep track of what brings a smile to her face and what makes her laugh 'til her sides hurt. If neither one of you is funny, watch funny movies and make some funny friends.

10. After God but Before All Others, Make Your Wife Your Top Priority

Once I called three friends to pray for a difficult challenge I faced the next day. One week later I called each of them to let them know how it turned out. "Oh yeah," every one of them said, "I've been meaning to call you."

Sure.

Men, you and your wife are the only two people who are really in this thing together. Everyone else will phase in and out of your lives -- even your children. One day soon the party will be over and all your golfing buddies will have moved to Florida to live in little condominium pods and drive around on streets made for golf carts. And there will be only two rocking chairs sitting side by side. One for you, and one for her.

Doesn't it make sense to invest today in the person who will be sitting next to you then? Be your wife's best friend.

An Easter Egg-hunt Hint

Our church has had an Easter Egg Hunt for the Sunday School students for as long as I can remember. The older kids hide brightly-colored plastic eggs filled with candy on trees, bushes, pretty much anywhere and everywhere the church grounds. The other children are then dismissed from their classes and let loose to find as many eggs as possible.  The event is a highlight of Spring and a no-fail squeel-inducing great time for the kids. That time of the year is fast approaching (this coming Sunday).  For a change of pace and to make the event a little more challenging,  I have a suggestion ---

Easy-to-Find Eggs of years past

versus

Camouflaged Eggs 

The camouflaged eggs are much harder to see. They'll prolong the fun and add to the thrill and challenge of the hunt.What do you guys think?

P.S. Choosing the right-size egg is a must. Too small of an egg will make it a chocking hazard. 

A special trip for Mrs E

I kid you not, this is what I got from Hubby on Valentines' Day:

my favorite candy/mint

Perhaps, my true-blue Ilocano (read: frugal) husband felt a twinge of guilt, though there was not a peep of complaint out of me (I happen to ♥ Mentos). He got crackin' to repair the "damage" ( IRL, he is a true-blue Carinioso --affectionate one -- when the mood hits);  and told me a couple of weeks later that he had a surprise, and sent this email:

“Hello lucky Mrs.  E,
You have just won a two day, one night getaway package with a very handsome gentleman (me). The date is April 5, 2012,at the French Country Inn ....  Check-in is at 4:00 pm and check-out is 11:00 am. The room has a KING-SIZED BED … 

The room suddenly felt very warm. He had my full attention at this point.  Finally, a chance for the two of us to get away on a romantic weekend. Hoorah! I continued reading…

“…and a sleeper sofa. The 2 younger kids are free and our 16 year old costs only an additional $10.0 for breakfast...

Whoa...The kids are coming along?! WTH.  Say, it ain't so, Mr E.
Talk about a true-blue letdown, sigh...






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My Philippines: The good, the bad, and the ugly

♥ Love ♥

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PARSLEY: Clean your kidney

CLEAN YOUR KIDNEY IN LESS THAN P20 (I CARE FOR ALL OF US)

Years pass by and our kidneys are filtering the blood by removing salt, poison and any unwanted entering our body. With time, the salt accumulates and this needs to undergo cleaning treatments and how are we going to overcome this? 
It is very easy, first take a bunch of parsley (MALLI Leaves)and wash it clean 
Then cut it in small pieces and put it in a pot and pour clean water and boil it for ten minutes and let it cool down and then filter it and pour in a clean bottle and keep it inside refrigerator to cool.
Drink one glass daily and you will notice all salt and other accumulated poison coming out of your kidney by urination also you will be able to notice the difference which you never felt before.
Parsley is known as best cleaning treatment for kidneys and it is natural!

GMOs: I'm really starting to worry over here...

"What happens when you consume plants that have been altered, artificially concocted in a laboratory... ??"

Wikipedia link ---> GMO -- Genetically Modified Organism

Shih-Tzu Dogs' Former Home

Cause of fire: Wood-burning Fireplace explosion.

During our daily morning dog walks through our Subdivision, our usual route takes us past this formerly beautiful house. It is home to two, lively and barky Shih-Tzus and their owners. The Puppies were faithful to let the whole neighborhood know of our presence as we walked by. Thank God everyone made it out of the house okay; but they will live elsewhere for a while. It will take approximately 8 months to fix-up the place. Thank God for fire insurance.

front view

back view

ETA: after renovation

pc: realtor.com

18.11.6.18

H.S. Candle in the Cemetery

H.S. meaning Holy Spirit...as in Holy Spirit perfumed candles. Found these on my parent's cemetery plot. I think the gift-giver was thinking of a verse in the Bible:  "And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints." (Revelation 5:8)

The gift-giver is misinformed: Leaving a burning candle on a grave does not cut-it as far as the above verse. The resultant smoke from these candles is not the PRAYER of a saint (biblically defined as a human being, not an inanimate/stone object; one who believes in Christ, and is His follower) which is the main ingredient of the collected "odours" in the above verse. 
The candles certainly smell good; and make great room fresheners when lighted. But that is all.

A note of encouragement:  the prayers of God's people are cumulative.  God knows and remembers people's prayers, collecting them in golden vials or containers. 
Caveat: they do not get anyone into heaven (only Christ can do that through his atoning death on Calvary and must be individually believed by faith alone), but they DO amount to something. God's answers may be instantaneous, or a long-time coming. 

dear Pup posing with them, LoL

23.11.24.17
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