Departures

We are out of Bruce's house and on our way, having met Heather and Oren at the airport and returned their car. We arrived for that reason a few hours early, and the check-in desk for our flight didn't open until 14:30, but it was no hardship as we sat down at a cafe and had a leisurely lunch together.

We were able to arrange everything and get through security before it was busy, something that makes travelling a lot easier. Now the boys are reading or ipodding, and Maggie is off doing some browsing while we wait.

We stopped off in Perth to visit with Shelley and then continued on to Kingston to arrive in time for the afternoon swim club, and a great weekend with Peter and Lynn, TJ and Erica and families... As before, when we've met again after a long absence, it was just as if no time has passed, and we soon were reminded of those days of 1994/1995 when we all met in Kingston.

Not only is it great to have such constant friends, but it is a real bonus to have the children get along so well as they all did over the weekend. A favorite game is "Loup-Garou" or "Wher-Wolf"' and they played many rounds of that when they weren't busy swimming or sharing a meal together.

Saturday evening we retired to our cousin David and his wife Melissa's new home, and spent the remainder of the weekend with them and their three kids. Their house is luxuriously appointed with lego, toys and games to boggle the mind of kids and adults alike, and we also took advantage of the extensive library to check out some new and funny books and BD's.

Sunday we took a tour to Fort Frederick, located within the grounds of the Royal Military College on a point of land midway between the Kingston downtown and the hilltop Fort Henry. It's a beautiful little 19th century Murney tower enclosed within a moat and wall, and we had a lot of fun exploring the many levels of the tower.

There was an extensive collection of medals from a variety of campaigns, including rather soberingly, some medals from the Afghanistan campaign, with bars for the battles of Kabul and Khandahar... from the late 19th century! There were medals from other campaigns, even one from Waterloo, Belgium.

It was great to spend time together with David and Melissa in their own home, and to enjoy their company in a more relaxed setting... in large family gatherings it sometimes gets difficult to have enough time to talk with anyone at length, so we've really enjoyed the smaller visits we've had with family members this trip.

On our way back to Toronto we stopped in in Belleville to wish my parents well on their way; they have loaded up the truck and trailer and are off on a six-week road trip across Canada and the United States.

We spend the last week in Toronto catching up on a variety of urban activities, including trips to the Ontario Science Centre and Olde Spaghetti Factory (Bruce and Duncan), jumping off the five metre board at the Sutherland pool (the boys and I), Value Village fashion hunts (Maggie) and many good dinners, including Dim Sum at Gerrard and Broadview (all of us +Bruce).

For our wedding anniversary on Thursday, Maggie and I checking into the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel at Harbourfront, and had a nice italian dinner at Modus restaurant, while Bruce took the boys to see a Jays game.

We also spent some time going through the basement of our Toronto house and having a look at a couple of maintenance issues that our tenants had identified. Both boys found lots of books that they can't get from the Waterloo library, and Maggie was able to clear out a number of old boxes from the basement, and we have a much better idea of what is still packed away down there.

I continued to coach Le Nozze di Figaro with Don Tarnawski, and I think we're going to be in good shape for rehearsals to resume on Monday in Brussels. The first of the performances in Sint-Truiden is already sold out, so that is a good sign that we'll have an interested audience in September. I also had a lesson with Bruce on the Lucia di Lammermoor "Enrico" aria, and that's feeling good enough that it will soon be part of my audition repertoire. I'm really getting very excited about this coming week's Schubert recital, and the Orff Carmina Burana and Bach St. Matthew Passion that will fill out the rest of the season to come.

Another event of note was the reception of the summer edition of Opera Canada, with a very positive review of this spring's Die Fledermaus. There is no primary online edition but it is quoted here. High praise indeed!

So while we all seem to be mentally halfway across the ocean already, we are very grateful for the hospitality and generosity of friends and family during our eight weeks (and for me, almost eleven weeks) in Canada. Thank you for a lovely summer, and come visit us in Brussels!