Happy Canada Day

So we've had some fun celebrating the beginning of summer, and doing some reconnecting with our friends here. We had a barbeque with Bryan and Kiana, met their new baby, and got to know Bryan's father Mike, visiting from Ohio. Then we had a nice lunch with fellow Canadians Kim and Claudio and their boys (above), who after several years in Brussels are moving on, most likely to Singapore.


It's interesting that we've already been here long enough to see more than one family from our immediate circle of friends leaving to pursue new adventures... Simonas' family is also leaving, which will be tough for Malcolm in particular. We had a lovely picnic afternoon with them a few days ago (see above), and we've been offering to take care of Simonas while his parents have been packing up the house. Sleepovers, days at the beach, and afternoons spent together have been on the agenda, and they both appreciate the time together. On Canada Day itself we took Simonas with us to the beach at De Haan together, which was great.


On Friday we spent some social time with our guest Greg, on his last full day in Belgium. We took advantage of the twice-yearly sales to do some shopping, and went out for lunch of moules frites at the Café de l'Opéra just next to the opera house. Duncan gave Greg lessons in how to eat moules - including the soup - using the shells for utensils.


Yesterday morning we saw Greg off on his way back to Canada, and then in the afternoon Duncan had a play date with his friend Hugo. That went very well, and it bodes well for the future. Hugo, Duncan and their friend Valentin are in the same class next year, and the other boys from that "gang" will be in a different class, so hopefully that will help keep the boys' energy level under control.


Yesterday was the birthday of Bruce's mentor and my singing teacher on this side of the ocean, Pierre Fleta, and coincidentally I happened to receive a delivery of a record I'd purchased on ebay, of Pierre singing four arias, recorded in the 1960s. I'll have to wait until Jonathan and Kristin get back from their holiday to listen to it (J. has a turntable) but in the meantime it's great to have it to look forward to. Pierre and his wife Claude are likely moving to Paris soon, which is good news for me; Paris is an inexpensive 1h22 minute train ride from Brussels, so we'll get to see them more frequently.

Today is a relaxed day after a very busy, social week. I'm going to try barbequeing a leg of lamb on the charcoal rotisserie for dinner this afternoon. We'll see how that goes!

Happy Sunday!