Leaving this weekend for Canada

A quick post late on the eve of my departure...

It's been a good autumn here.  The weather has often been sunny or at least clear, something that the Belgians appreciate.

Speaking of the Belgian appreciation for good weather, I had a conversation recently with a woman from Peru, who married a Portugese man, and who now lives in Portugal, on this very topic.  As it turns out she bought the Volkswagen Eos hardtop cabrio, while we opted for the Golf softtop cabrio.  She said that while everyone expects that she enjoys frequent drives with the top down in Portugal, the truth is that it is either far too hot, or far too windy to do so there.  She herself suggested that the rainy climate of Belgium, with its sudden beautiful "flemish primitive" sunsets, is the idea place for a cabrio.  I agree.  So many days are grey and dreary, but then you suddenly get a warm day with incredible views, and it's like driving through a Breughel painting...

Today was cooler but still in the teens, much warmer than Toronto at this date, but still I took the opportunity to bring in the cold-sensitive plants from the terrace.  The aloes were still doing very well, as were the clivia plants, and the fern is huge, and the as-yet-unnamed succulent that we were given by the neighbour has exploded.  One of my three orchids is sending out three shoots and two of the banana plants look promising.  But I knew that if I didn't bring them in today there was a chance that they'd get frozen, so that was one task on the going-away list.  The geraniums are still blooming, but at the first sight of frost they will go into the cellar to hibernate.  Strangely I picked and ate a dozen strawberries today; the wild plants on our terrace have literally been producing berries since april, and I imagine that they would continue if the frost doesn't knock them back, given the southern exposure and lots of rainfall.

So what has been going on since my last post?  Apart from a great deal in the political world, the following, briefly:

A lovely birthday celebration for me... my request to Malcolm as part of my present was a Viennese Sachertorte, and he delivered.  He shopped for the ingredients that we didn't have on hand, and baked the cake while Maggie and I were out.  The chocolate fondant icing was masterfully executed, and the cake had a very fine crumb.  My only criticism was that he could have been more liberal with the schnapps.  We are all looking forward to his next Sachertorte!

Just after my birthday was the first wednesday of the month, and on that day the main museums are all open after 1:00 pm for free, to coincide with the half-day off that the schoolchildren enjoy.  I took Duncan and his friend to the Cinquantenaire Museum, where we enjoyed viewing the sarcophagi from Egypt, before doing a brief tour of some of the permanent collection.

Duncan and his friend Arthur spotted a Lamborghini and a Ferrari outside the car museum; unfortunately it is not free to visit, but as we had already explored two collections and the day was getting on, we hung around instead, and pressed our noses to the windows, and explored the gift shop a bit.

Other than that the month has been largely taken up, for me, in preparation for the upcoming set of concerts in Canada.  Rehearsal at home hasn't happened so much; Maggie had her week holiday of Toussaint prior to the boys, so I wasn't really alone (as I usually am) for that two week period, but in fact for the first week she spent much of her time in the empty school, as she had lots of space to work on her latest piece, which is a patchwork/embroidery altarpiece for the Church of Scotland here...

Maggie was asked to make a fabric art piece to commemorate the founding service in this building, held on November 15th, 1925.  The anniversary sunday was this past weekend, to the day, and the moderator of the Presbytery of Europe (our own Alec Grant) and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland himself (Angus Morrison) were there for the service.  Here's the senior choir (with a Certain Person in the bass section) rehearsing before the service.

It was quite a success.  We are all very proud of Maggie, now that she has a piece of textile art hanging permanently (this idea is that it will be displayed each year in the period following the harvest service in late October, for the duration of the memorial month of november, until Advent begins) in a European capital.

This wednesday I knew that it would be the last lunch I'd have with the boys for a couple of months, so I was excited to find jumbo netherlands mussels on sale at the Carrefour.  We had a bang-up lunch, and the boys ate their fair share of a kilo or so each of these delicious and easy-to-prepare morsels.

Lastly, I was in a bit of a quandary as I have lost a bit of weight recently, and the kilt that I had made to order in 2012 is of a size that it won't quite stay up, even on the tightest buckle.  Alec Grant had some wise advice about kilt braces, or "suspenders" as Canadians would call them... apparently most antique kilts are fitted with buttons for suspenders, and the idea of wearing a kilt belt with a waistcoat or vest is rather a new idea.  So I did a little research myself, and found this photo of a Canadian regiment from the first World War...

That was enough to convince me.  I already wear braces/suspenders on my white tie and tail trousers, as I do on my tuxedo trousers, and Maggie was very kind to apply some buttons to the kilt as well.

I expect that given enough time it will (ahem) shrink back to the proportions under which I purchased it... I don't think I'll be wearing it for the Toronto or Halifax performances of Messiah or l"Enfance du Christ, but Scotland's national dress will show up in a number of events, if I have anything to say about it.

That's it for tonight.  I must get to sleep as we have an early wake-up tomorrow so that I may make it to the airport on time.  Good weekend to you all...