Organs I've Played: St Stephen's, Durham

When I was in high school we lived in Durham, NC. By that point I was very interested in playing piano and organ. I was taking piano lessons with one teacher, but really wishing I could study organ too. She suggested I move on to another teacher for organ. I did and was hooked. By the time I graduated high school Duke Chapel had installed its Flentrop organ in the rear gallery. Also about that time St Stephen's Episcopal Church installed a smaller but no less impressive Flentrop in their west end gallery.

It was remarkable for its French classical inflection Dutch builder for an American congregation). By this point my organ instructor was Kathy Cain whose husband was on the faculty at Duke. Through Kathy I met husband Bob Parkins, and through him others in organ culture in Durham. Ultimately I was introduced to Joe Kitchen at St Stephen's. I managed to score an invite to play the Flentrop there. It's remarkable too for the placement of drawknobs above the keydesk, at the player's head.

When Eli was traveling back and forth to Durham for glaucoma treatment this year, I knew I wanted to get back to see the organ anew. These picture are from that cloudy day visit in October.I also saw Dr Kitchen, who had no idea who I was from 30 years ago or so. But I really enjoyed seeing the instrument, even if (to Eli's frustration) I didn't play a single note!

Sam's Knob Hike, December 2016

 

I took Calvin and Briggs up on the Parkway today for a short hike. I had heard of Sam's Knob for a while, but we had never been. Over the weekend a Facebook friend went with his family; I was inspired. We went at midday to Brevard for a fast-food lunch. We ate that on the final leg of the trip: up US 276 to the Parkway. The access to Sam's Knob is just a few miles south. We were on the trail at about 130pm. The trail cuts across a glen before heading up the small-ish mountain.

 

We missed a switchback and found ourselves scrambling almost vertically! We picked the trail back up and made it the rest of the way with no trouble. On the way back down I realized that some of the tree trunks and limbs were arranged in such a way (at the point we missed the turn) to try to indicate the right direction. We had missed the signs on the way up. The view from the top was great. The past few days had been cloudy, typical December weather for us. But this day had really blown clear, prompting me to blow off a meeting at the office and spirit us away. After descending we headed back toward Asheville via the Parkway, seeing some places that we had visited before. The tunnels were a big hit (again). We got home about 430pm.