Long time no blog...

... but it's because we've been busy. Our friends Rob and Viki from Scotland arrived for a visit, and we had a whirlwind of a time with them and with Rob's cousin and her husband and their two kids; they have been living here in Brussels for almost six years now since leaving the Toronto area.

Maggie has been remarking on her desire to get a blog entry out, so I'm going to merely summarize a few of the recent activities, to come back to later in more detail after she's had a chance.

• we did a walking tour of some Brussels places, such as the Grand Place, Place Royale, the Palais de Justice, Notre Dame de Sablon church, the Royal Museum, etc.
• we took the kids to a children's opera by Benjamin Britten called The Golden Vanity, and then a few days later I went to see his opera Death in Venice
• we took a train trip to Gent to visit the Gravenstein Castle, and
  
• we had a Robbie Burns supper with lots of haggis, mashed root vegetables and beer and whisky, recitations, songs and graces and good company.
  

All this along with the usual stuff like schoolwork and singing and so on. Malcolm's hard work is paying off, as he achieved a 9/10 on his french dictée last week, a real triumph, and his whole class was excited about it. He's doing swimming and judo every week and doing well at both. Duncan had his report card, and academically he's doing perfectly well, and can move up into primary school next year, although his teacher has suggested that he get into some sort of team sport to tire him out, as he's got (ahem) "too much energy"... oh really, I hadn't noticed... we're thinking maybe speed tractor pulling?

I haven't been swimming much in the last week or two, but have been keeping active by all the walking, and doing some strength exercises. The singing is going well, although when guests are around I do take a break from my usual routine to spend time with them. Actually when I think of it, we've had far fewer people as guests this year than last.

I've found out a little more about the church in Antwerp that I've been offered an "artist's mass" in; it's in the Saint Carolus Borromeus, a baroque church that was attended, designed and decorated by Rubens. I'm really excited about that but haven't fixed a final date yet, or chosen repertoire. Probably Bach, I'm thinking... I want to try some selections from the Passions that I haven't sung before, Betrachte meine seele (St. John) and maybe Mache dich, meine Herze, rein from the St. Matthew, and then something that I've done before. The Mystical Songs of Vaughan Williams, maybe, or something from Messiah? We'll see.

Tomorrow night Maggie and I have arranged for a babysitter, and are taking advantage of having a car (thanks, Cambio!) to go to Liège to see Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos. Then Sunday evening we're having a pizza dinner here with friends Denis and Florence and their three kids... looks like a busy weekend.

As I said, I am waiting for Maggie to do her blog entry, but next time I'll write about the most significant and emotionally challenging event of the last couple of weeks: our visit to the first world war battlefields near Ypres...