Up, up and away...

Flown the coop

This morning we got up early and had a quick breakfast together, and then I drove the boys to the airport and we passed through the Air Canada check-in service.  There is an unaccompanied minor programme that is mandatory for passengers under the age of twelve to travel without an adult, so Duncan had to be given into the care of someone from Air Canada, while Malcolm's participation was optional.  As it was I was very lucky to be able to come through the security check with them, and then wait at the gate until they boarded.  They were the last ones on the plane, but the Air Canada staff informed me that I needed to stay there until the plane took off.  It was delayed by 45 minutes because of a luggage door problem but finally took off, and with it went our two sons.  It left a disquieting amount of anxiety about the whole process, but I am hoping that will disappate as soon as they are on the ground, which should be sometime around 13h EST.

Trepidation

To rewind the tape a little, we had Duncan's delayed birthday celebrations at the Brussels Bowling centre a couple of weeks ago.  This establishment is loud but fun, and they offer optional bumpers for the little ones so that there is no danger of the dreaded "gutter ball" syndrome.  The father of a friend brought along a new Polaroid style camera and took some instant shots, which was kind of cool.  Duncan enjoyed himself a lot and we all had a great time.

 Birthday bowling

Little Red Devil

Belgium in general, on the other hand, is completely crazy about the World Cup.  Les Diables Rouges of Belgium is in the running for the first time in twelve years, and so far we have had two games, both of which they won.  The hooting and hollering, and horn honking has been pretty extreme each time; I can't even begin to imagine the reaction should they continue this streak of good fortune... but not everyone is crazy about FIFA in a positive way; the billboards that were put up for the European Elections were commandeered by a collective of artists that have criticized "Foot-Manie" and illustrated some of the negative consequences of a World Cup for the host country.  There are some serious questions about who benefits from such and event, and who ends up paying, and it would seem that Brazil may suffer greatly.

 

World Cup worries

Interestingly our landlord Michel is in Brazil at the moment; he is someone who has worked for many years in developing countries, for the UN and the European Commission, on micro-finance initiatives and other programmes to improve the lives of women and children particularly, and he has been traveling around Brazil with a film crew, documenting some of the societal aspects of hosting the World Cup, specifically, initiatives that are designed to fight the sexual exploitation of women and children by the many tourists now visiting Brazil.  His website is here: http://www.michelfalisse.com/carnets

If you don't speak French of Portuguais, some of the video segments are also subtitled in English so you can still follow along.

A Benoit Meule-Stef harp guitar in process

For me back home in Brussels I have been taking the opportunity to take a break from music.  It was great to have the successes that happened this past season but it has left me pretty tired out mentally and emotionally.  Fortunately I have had that opportunity, to rest and do other things.  There are many interesting diversion in Brussels.  One day I stopped off at Ben's Guitar Repair Shop in Ixelles, and had a nice long conversation with Ben on a wide range of topics, while he was cutting out patterns and working on several guitars at the same time, like this harp guitar pictured above.

Bloomin' Brussels

As well there are many flowery meadows and park areas this time of year.  The city seems to enjoy leaving much of park lawn area to grow flowers, and it's really pretty.  But it's not the only thing that's growing here these days...

Garden Allottment

I am on a dedicated mission to eradicate slugs... everyone's vegetables are suffering from them.  One of the conditions for membership in the potagers association is that we avoid poisons, so I decided to try the barrier method, and constructed a raised bed with greenwood planking, and then applied copper adhesive tape to the top surface.  The idea is that slugs dislike the copper because it sets up an uncomfortable galvanic response, so they don't cross it.  As well as the copper I have put out half a dozen small tubs with beer, and these caught an unbelievable number of large slugs for the first couple of days.  Now that rate has slacked off almost entirely, and now I am catching only the tiny slugs.  These are the real threat to my strawberries, however, so I am still trying to catch and kill as many as I can.

As well as the many found strawberry plants, and a couple of volunteer potatoes, I have planted two different hot pepper plants, three tomato plants (one Roma, one Mini Roma and one Tiny Tim), six snow peas, six pickling cucumbers, two rhubarbs and some coriander.  As well I put in a delphinium, an Arizona kobold (which looks like a daisy crossed with a marigold) and eight lavender plants, spaced out around the periphery to discourage slug encroachment.  We'll see how it goes.

Slug-free strawberries

I have had a pretty good crop of strawberries even with the slug problem; the best was last Monday following a sunny weekend, where the garden had been undisturbed for a few days.  Malcolm got the news that he had passed his examinations and was moving into the next grade, so he decided to celebrate by making another favourite recipe, carrot cake.  That boy has a sweet tooth but it it leads him to take an interest in food and cooking, that can't be a bad thing.

Celebratory carrot cake

Atelier vitrines

WE met up last Tuesday after his last exam and went clothes shopping; along the way we discovered a beautiful atelier for stained glass repair and restoration as well as new creations.  This piece here is a c. 1905 piece from the ceiling of a public swimming pool somewhere in Brussels, and it is huge; they had laid it out on the driveway for a look following the restoration work.  I picked up a brochure for Maggie; they offer stages in the lead or copper foil technique, and she will most likely take one this summer.

We also spent a nice weekend camping with our friends Bryan and Kiana.  They have a large property in Wavre that I've written about before; we were invited along with a few other families to come and camp out last weekend.  As it happened we were the only ones free, but we were excited to try out the tent we bought in the UK a couple of summers ago, and to build a campfire and have a cookout.  We had a great time with lots of relaxing games and conversation, and steaks grilled on the coals of the wood fire.

Hammerpalooza panorama

Duncan and Malcolm will both miss out on the end-of-year parties and so forth, but it's okay.  They said their goodbyes and will need us to go to the schools on their behalf to pick up their report cards.  We know a bit about Malcolm's results because of his exams but I hope there are no further surprises...

Bonnes vacances mes amis

As an epilogue, Malcolm and I stopped in at the Troc (Value Village / Goodwill / Oxfam equivalent) and found this Weber gas bbq for only 69 Euros.  It is true that it is only a two-burner one, and is a little on the old side, but I took it apart and inspected the burners, and there is no rust.  The grille itself is okay but could stand to be replaced with cast iron, but I found a blue bottle of butane at the local Shell station (the BBQs here run on butane which burns a little hotter than propane) and was able to get it up to over 500 degrees F.  It should be very convenient for Maggie to BBQ something quickly, or to BBQ in the wintertime, and I am looking forward to rotisserie chicken with a drip tray with potaotes and lardons... the quest for the perfect homemade BBQ chicken continues...

Cooking with gas

finishing up the season

Yesterday it was Malcolm's turn to do some end-of-year performing, and he presented two passe-pieds from the J. S. Bach Overture in the French style in b-minor (BWV831), arranged for piano and flute.  Here's a recording of Sviatoslav Richter playing the keyboard version on piano; Malcolm's pieces come in at the 21:14 mark.

He worked a lot on this piece and we did a number of rehearsals and mock performances ahead of time.  He wasn't too nervous and I think he played well.  Next year he will be in the final year of formation musicale, and he very much enjoyed the performances that came after him, by the more advanced students who are in their final year and have moved to the qualification level, and said it was worth sitting through the more childish pieces to hear the more experienced musicians perform.  I wish they had these concerts more often throughout the year but perhaps we will make more opportunities for him to play as part of the church service, perhaps, or in the academie orchestra.

Duncan has been doing lots of LEGO building recently... he received a number of LEGO sets for his birthday, and so has been not only building them but also creating new types of vehicles and buildings from his imagination.  He hopes to add to his collection this weekend; we delayed his birthday celebrations with friends until Malcolm and I were both home, and we have scheduled this Saturday to go bowling and eat cake together.  He hopes to receive some more LEGO from his friends to add to his collection.

The weather here has been nuts: it has gone from completely sunny to a downpour four times today.  At the moment the rate of change seems to be slowing, but the incredible speed at which the weather changes here always astounds me.  The moisture is good for the gardens though.  I still have yet to plant everything that I wish to in our allotment, plagued as I have been by a persistent flu with coughing and fatigue, but at least the terrace plants are still happy.  Here is our Wisteria, which has been growing in a large pot for the last five years or so, but has yet to bloom... we are hoping to see that happen soon, and are also wanting it to spread out across the unsightly metal I-beam that passes from the back of our house to the one across the terrace.  I hope that will also provide us with some much-needed shade; as the terrace is protected on three sides and faces south, it gets quite warm.

I have been talking with an agent that I sang for in Toronto, who proposed me for some Bach work... that has prompted me to go through my list of singing repertoire, and write down all of the stage roles and concert pieces that I have already performed and so could be considered for.  It's a bit of a surprise to see that I have done eighteen complete stage roles in opera and operetta, and have performed twenty-five different Bach works, most of them here in Belgium.  As well there are nineteen other major oratorio/concert works that I have in my repertoire, and at least eight major song cycles.  It's a pretty good list, I think, and when I look forward into the coming season, it will be very interesting to present pieces that I have already done before.  As I was explaining to a friend, there is no stress, only enjoyment involved in the presentation of these pieces, and I feel lucky to have new opportunities to revisit them.  On the list for 2014-2015 so far are The Creation, Carmina Burana, the Mozart Requiem, the Brahms Requiem, the Vienna operetta concert tour in China, the Johannes-passion, and the Matthäus-passion.   Then on the horizon for 2015-2016 is a duet recital with Bruce at the new hall in Kingston, Ontario, mostly of things that we have done before, with a few new pieces, and then a new production of a role I have partially performed, that of Belcore in L'Elisir d'Amore, here in Belgium.

I think I will also send this repertoire list to another Belgian agent that I know, and to my sometimes agent in Toronto, just so they know what I am available for, even at short notice.  The good part about having a relatively easy beginning to the season next September is that I can really throw myself into an audition tour.  The situation has changed a lot for me since I last did a big series of European auditions several years ago, and I think now is the time to push on again, and give France another try.  Peter going to Berlin means that I should try to do some auditioning there if I can, and there are also Bach contacts in the Netherlands that I mean to pursue further.

But enough music talk, I'm supposed to be on vacation now... I'll close with a bit of food writing... I found a nice half-leg of lamb on sale (30% reduction) at the Carrefour today, and so I think we will have that roasted in the oven, along with some broccoli, and baked sweet potates garnished with sour cream and chopped green onions, a nice little side dish that Timothy Vernon and I prepared with roast beef during a visit to London to see Bruce sing in Madame Butterfly there a few years ago.  It's quite a yummy dish and easy to do.  The leg of lamb is best with fresh rosemary, thyme and lauren from the garden, as well as dry mustard, pepper and garlic, and I sometimes mash up some anchovies as well and brush that over the roast.  It ends up making quite a nice deeply flavoured roast lamb without tasting at all fishy.  A number of my fish-phobic friends have raved about my roast lamb without ever knowing that they had anchovies as part of the marinade.  Try it and see!  I'm not the only anchovy enthusiast out there... and here's a brand comparison as well...

the closing of the season

Yesterday was the performance of the Fétis Requiem with the Metropolis Choir and Orchestra, in Wilrijk in Antwerp.  A nice piece, with eight vocal soloists, but I am very happy that it is done, because it brings to a close a very, very busy 2013-2014 season for me.

Now there are a number of other things that can fully occupy my attention.  There have been a great many things that have fallen into disrepair, partly through simple wear and tear and partly because there are two rough-housing boys in this house.  They managed to knock down the antique chandelier, so that had to be re-attached to the ceiling.  As well some mysterious damage has been made to the plastic tablecloth, so that needs replacing.  The front window/door that leads to the juliette balcony was broken and couldn't be opened, so that required many telephone calls until I found Mohammed, a very nice man, who agreed to come and fix it on a sunday morning.

Mr. Fixit 

The chiming clock in the dining room wasn't broken after all, it just needed adjustment, but there are other things that have been blown up by the little hooligans, and dad has been busy.  As well there remains some things in the kitchen that need attention; the electric oven keeps blowing the mains, and so I really need an expert electrician to come in and figure out why.  At the same time I think I'll have him change the switch on the main chandelier so that it can be equipped with a dimmer.

The back terrace garden is looking fine though; my irises came back with vigour, and roses and clematis are flourishing.  We need to get at the garden allotment, as the strawberries are being choked out with weeds.  If I don't start cultivating it I might lose it; there is apparently a waiting list for people interested in gardening there.

Rosebush and clematis

There was a sporting goods store having a clearance sale last weekend, so Duncan bought a new basketball, and he and Malcolm and I have been hopping the fence on the weekend and evenings and going to play in the court around the corner.

 shooting hoops

We've also had quite a number of required attendance events.  I went to Duncan's karate demonstration very shortly after arriving back in Brussels, but that has been followed by his dance spectacle, where he danced a Shostakovich piece, and then helped the older girls by playing the menacing slow-motion hunter in a piece choreographed to the music of The Dark Knight soundtrack.

 

Duncan as hunter

 a still moment

 Shostakovich

sketch comedy

As well the theatre arts class had their end-of-year spectacle, and he played in several of those sketches.  The performances were held in a charming little art nouveau/art deco theatre, and the kids did well, although they need to speak more slowly and loudly and face into the house a little more.

Apart from the rehearsing for my last concert, we took the car in and had a removable trailer hitch put on.  I was able to rent a nice covered trailer for only 16 euros the half day, and on Friday past Maggie and I went off to Waterloo to pick up a leather sofa and an armchair for our salon.  Ascension holiday was thursday and she also had the "bridge" day of friday off, so it was nice to have some time to do something together, and have a little road trip.  The old sofabed I gave away on Craigslist, and we are much happier with more flexible furniture in our living room.  Everyone is competing for the armchair though, and kiki the cat slept on it all the first night, laying claim I suppose.

Meanwhile Maggie has been finishing up Joelle's wedding dress.  Her marriage ceremony with Zack will be held at St. Andrew's in early July, but Maggie, Joelle, and her mother Karen were all eager to see the finished product.

Maggie sewing Joelle's wedding dress

Now I am off to have lunch with Andrew, and maybe smoke a cigar to celebrate the close of my season.  Malcolm is writing his first exam today, and should be back soon.  This was latin, which should be a fairly easy one.  Tomorrow is chemistry, which he has been spending a lot of time preparing, and then he also has history/geography, french, and netherlands this week.  Math is a trouble spot but it isn't until tuesday and he has pentecost monday off, so he has three days to bone up on that.  Wish him luck!