Final performances of 2018; NYE in Wavre

rehearsing in the Kapucijnenkerk in Bruges

On the 27th I left here around noon to drive up to Bruges.  Fortunately the traffic was relatively light, and so I was there in plenty of time.  We ran through all of the solo movements, and then to my surprise I wasn't called to rehearse in the evening.  This was great, because I had expected to have a full general rehearsal after the solo rehearsal, and so was anticipating a very long and tiring evening.  I had already developed a bit of a throat tickle, which turned out to be the first rumblings of a cold.  So I was happy to just go to bed early.

I was billeted with the very nice family of Sylvie and Rik.  She sings in the choir, and is a French teacher at a local secondary school, and he is also a teacher of physics at that school and at university.  They have three children who are very nice and polite and friendly, and they were super nice hosts who fed me delicious meals while I was their guest.

The next day I had lots of time to be on my own before the raccord (warm up) at 18h, so I drove the short distance into Bruges and parked near the old city wall, not far from the church.  I walked first to the Groeningen museum, which I have visited before, most recently in 2012 when Patrick and Anne Costello were here for a visit.  It's one of my favourite museums, and I particularly welcomed at least ten uninterrupted minutes, spent standing twenty centimetres away from Hieronymus Bosch's The Last Judgement, painted in 1486.  I could look at that painting all day; it's filled with creepy images of demons and damned souls.  It's my own personal companion piece to Breughel's Fall of the Rebel Angels from 1562, which hangs in the Brussels' Museum of Fine Art, and with which I have a similar relationship.

I really love these paintings, and we have collected a few Christmas ornaments that are made in the form of figures from them....

Bosch "Tree Man" from (The Garden of Earthly Delights)

Bosch Funnel-headed man on skates (from The Temptation of St. Anthony)

Breughel pink demon (from The Fall of the Rebel Angels)

I also walked by the town square, where they have built a temporary skating rink, and a big Christmas market.  I opted not to climb the belfry steps, as I've already done that a couple of times already, and wanted to save some energy for the evening.

I also visited the brewery De Halve Maan, which makes a blonde and a brown version of Brugse Zot (which translates as "the Fool of Bruges") as well as a few varieties of Strafe Hendrik, which are quite intense and highly alcoholic beers.  I opted not to drink anything there in advance of my concert, but bought a few sociales (750ml sharing bottles) as gifts.

post-concert reception

The concert in the evening was a big success, and the conductor was very pleased.  I think that nearly all of the soloists who performed in Messiah will be back again in March for the Matthäuspassion, so it will be good to work again with the same people.  And yes, at the reception after the concert, I did manage to taste my special Bruges beer!

The next day I drove home, and had a quiet day, with a relatively short run with Yoshi, the 5km route with 1,5km walk before and after.

Yesterday was Andrew Gardner's last day at the Brussels church, and at the end of the service he officially said goodbye and stepped down as the minister.  He had asked me to sing something in the service, so I thought of Franck's Panis Angelicus, which I had performed recently at a memorial service.  I have a few arrangements of it on hand, including in F major for two voices, and since Malcolm knows the piece from his time in choir, decided to ask him to sing it with me.  He accepted and we rehearsed it a bit at home, ran through it Sunday morning before the service with Heather Charlton on the organ, and then performed it as an anthem.  I think he sang rather well!  It was really quite cool to sing a classical piece with him in a public performance.  Duncan felt a bit left out, so I need to find something that is a duet for us to do together, or maybe find a trio arrangement of something for next time... 

Tonight we are making a tourtière from minced Ardennes pork, minced beef, and some chopped bacon.  We're using the recipe from the Globe and Mail of last year, and I hope it will turn out fine.  Maggie is an absolute whiz at making her own short pastry, using only vegetable shortening, ice water, salt and pastry flour.   So while she was making and rolling that out, I took care of cooking the filling.

the baked pie, resting now

Malcolm has gone into town tonight to have a jam session with his band and some other friends... Maggie and Duncan and I are going to spend a quiet evening at home.  We were invited out but I am still feeling terrible with my cold, and have to get better soon, as I have some big things musically that I need to prepare quite quickly, including a high-profile concert in Luxembourg City on the 12th of January.

Well that's about it...  I must stop blog writing and spend time with the family... but I also should say that with this post I have tied my record for the most posts in a calendar year, with 75, last met in 2011.

I'm sending a few more bonus photos:

Clyde wanting to help with the embroidery

some Doctor Who ornaments

trying out some moves while ice skating in Wavre

Maggie Kiana and Kenzo

post-skating Glühwein

candy apples

lots of video and audio calls with family and friends

The Rose-Zadows

wish you a very happy, healthy,

and successful New Year in 2019!

Christmastime!

Christmas arbour

Happy Christmas to one and all!  We were reticent about putting up a Christmas tree, as the kittens are still fairly young, around seven months of age, and they are curious about everything.  There was every possibility that they would go totally mental if we put up and decorated a tree, and as we have quite a nice collection of Christmas ornaments that are rather valuable (to us), we'd rather they not get destroyed by the demon cats.  So Maggie and the boys went down the street to the tree seller, and bought a bunch of mistletoe (which we promptly hung up in the front hall) and the seller gave them as many off-cut nordmann tree branches as they could carry.  We wired them together with tie-wraps and then I hammered some finishing nails to the wall, and we hung the completed half-arches up with florist's wire.  As it turned out we had more than enough LED lights and ornaments to fill it up nicely, without having to use absolutely every last one.  The smell in the house is nice and as they are Nordmann the needles haven't fallen off.  The remaining branches were hung outside on either side of the front door, on the iron plant hooks.

Christmas movies - The Little Drummer Boy with Bing and Bowie

We had a pretty relaxed Christmastime.  On the 23rd we went to a cool party at Craig and Deborah's, a sort of farewell for Andrew and Julia who are moving back to Dundee.  It was a great time with lots of spirited people of many different ages, with good food and drink and dancing and conversation.

Here at home we had our traditional seafood dinner on Christmas eve... this time we didn't do the lobsters but had a Thai red shrimp coconut curry.  It was sufficiently hot to make us all perspire, or perhaps it was the warmth of the woodstove?  Really we have had a pretty mild December so far, with only a few days with the night-time temperatures dropping below freezing.  I have been able to continue with my running routine of going every third day, and I've been up to 16 km distances at the most, with a kilometer and a half walk before and after.  Yoshi wants to stop and sniff every lamp post on the way to the forest, so I will allow him that as long as he is on the leash, but once we hit the treeline, off comes the leash, and he has freedom to run as far ahead or back as he likes.  So far I have had no issues at all with him in terms of aggressive behaviour with other dogs; I put him on the leash if we come upon another dog that is leashed, and if they are running free then they usually say hello briefly and then move along.  He is quite responsive to verbal commands even from a distance, so that for the short sections of my route when I am on the roadway, and a car appears, a simple command to sit will be obeyed immediately.  He usually does so at the side of the road, and then he stays until the car has passed. 

lazy cats

Christmas morning was very calm and peaceful for us; both of us were up quite early, long before the boys, and we had to kick them out of bed using the smell of breakfast.  I had mixed up some english muffin dough the night before and so rolled it out, cut it into square muffins, and let it rise another 45 minutes before stovetop baking them in frypans.

I did them in a square shape because I had picked up some square sausage at the British store while doing my Christmas shopping.  For those of you who don't know square sausage, it's a staple food in Scotland, but relatively unknown elsewhere.  It's a bit like the Bob Evans sausage patties that you get in the USA, but these ones are square.

 

They turned out really well, with a square of sausage and half a scrambled egg, with some mexican salsa.

My Christmas cactus has timed it perfectly, and all of our other plants seem to be doing well out in the veranda.  It is usually around five degrees warmer than the outside air, so it's been fluctuating between perhaps five and twelve degrees for the last couple of months.  The verandah also doubles as our outdoor refrigerator; I actually think that vegetables and lettuces last longer out there than they do in the refrigerator; I'm not sure why that is but it might have something to do with air circulation.

Later on Christmas Day afternoon we packed up our Christmas-y food (Haggis cranberry apple stuffing, shredded brussels sprouts with bacon and worchestershire sauce, roasted parsnips with parmigiano, and a pineapple glazed smoked ham, above) and drove to Bryan and Kiana's.  She had made truffled mashed potatoes, roast butternut squash with sage, and a big roast turkey with dressing.  We had a good time together and stayed over until the next morning, the 26th.  We all got up and had a beautiful run in the forest together (or at least, the four parents did, with the dogs), and then headed home.  The Hammers had to pack for their departure on the 27th for a few days in London, and I had to get home to warm up and sing through Messiah.
 

Yoshi herding the chickens at the Hammers'

I'm sure that Yoshi was sad to say goodbye to his friend Osa, but also to have to leave the chickens;  he has developed a habit of herding them into a group and then moving them into the chicken coop.  Bryan is hoping that some of the would rub off on Osa but so far, no luck...

next: final performances of the year, and NYE...

Christmas concerts finished until the 27th/28th December...

Minimes Bach concert

some challenging arias

This weekend was a busy one.  I had rehearsal for the Bach BWV 57 and Christmas Oratorio Part 2 on Saturday afternoon, and as Malcolm was in town he came to that rehearsal so that he could hear it.  His old flute teacher Francoise Windall was playing in the concert, so it was a real pleasure for both of them to catch up with each other.  She is thrilled that he is doing well and very happy that he is making a creative life for himself as a luthier and musician.

In the evening after dinner we all got bundled up and walked downtown to see the Parade of the "Chasseurs des Etoiles" or the Star Hunters.  They are all made up in a kind of magical fairy-like way, which has gives a pagan kind of feel...

I guess they are evoking the spirit of Laplanders, or the Sami people who live in the north, or maybe a kind of Inuit feeling.  At the end of the parade there was a fire-breathing and acrobatic demonstration at the square in front of the church.  We were really cold and Yoshi was a little nervous around so many people, and the loud music freaked him out a bit, so we went home.

Christmas Tree at the town hall

spectacle at the church

flowers after Bach

Sunday morning started early with a trip into Brussels.  Duncan was in the nativity play, and he played the part of Doctor Who (or at least one of the parts, as there were two different "Doctors" in this pageant).  You can watch the whole thing here on Youtube!

It was a good success, and we went out to lunch together to celebrate.  Malcolm's rock band rehearsal was cancelled so he opted to stay and rehearse with the St. Andrew's Choir for the evening service.

Meanwhile I went to Saint-Jacques-sur-Coudenberg to do my last rehearsal and then performance of  Bach.  All went pretty well and I ran out of there as fast as I could to get to St. Andrew's for the Nine Lessons and Carols service.  I made a small contribution to that service, singing "Why do the nations so furiously rage together / But who may abide the day of His coming?" from Messiah.  Heather Charlton was great on the simulated harpsichord, and I felt good to sing both a Christmas Cantata of Bach and some Handel on the same day.  Malcolm sang every carol and the choir anthems, including his first time singing in the choir for the Hallelujah Chorus, which was a highlight of the service.  We all appreciated the mulled wine and mince pies afterwards though!

Yesterday was clear and bright and so I went out to Lawrence and Tiffany's with Yoshi, and we ran a good 16km through very muddy fields.  Afterwards, Yoshi was still up for lots of tennis ball throwing.  He is really impossible to tire out.

As you can see he was very muddy, and since those farm fields have lots of cow manure in them, I opted to give him a bath when we got home.  The water was incredibly dirty.  I don't think he enjoyed it very much, but I did my best to keep the water lukewarm and to be gentle with him.  He is certainly much more handsome now that he has had a bath.

Today we expect Malcolm to come home sometime this afternoon, as his classes are finished until the new year.  I am just heading out to buy something good to cook for our dinner.  I am lucky to have a full Messiah to sing in Bruges on the 28th December, but until the rehearsal on the 27th, I have some down time to rest and enjoy the holidays.

Christmas concerts; staying in and staying warm

William-Adolphe Bouguereau "Song of the Angels" (1881)

It's that time of year again... Christmas concerts are coming up...

This week was a relaxed one after the final Mozart Requiem.  Maggie is always happy when I am singing concerts because there are always plenty of flowers in the house.

Post-Mozart flowers

You may notice that there is a script on the dining table, and also a fez.  Andrew Gardner, the minister of St. Andrew's Church of Scotland, will be moving back to Scotland with his wife Julia at the end of the year, and so as he is a huge Doctor Who fan, the Sunday school has written a nativity play script with a Doctor Who theme.  There will be at least two incarnations of the Doctor, and Duncan will play one of them, so we've been running lines.  Please keep it a secret though as Andrew doesn't know that it's a Doctor Who theme..

As well Duncan has been doing some weightlifting...

exercising

eggs-cellent

Egg production continues very nicely.  The chickens don't seem to be too upset at staying behind the little improvised fence at the back of the garden.

first frost

It has been nice to be close to the fire...

Late night reading by the fireside with Messiah, The Princess Bride, and the sleepy menagerie

It has been nice to make stews and soups during the cold weather.  Maggie brought home this strange Romansesco broccolo, which I call a "fibonacci vegetable" because of it's interesting geometric structure.  It was quite yummy!

The "Fibonacci" vegetable - looks like an alien pod

Yesterday I had a lot of rehearsing to do so got up early and went into Brussels on the bus.  First I went to St. Andrew's to rehearse the Messiah excerpts with Heather Charlton.  I will sing those in the Nine Lessons and Carols service on Sunday at 18h30.  Then I took the tram and then walked to get to Julius's house, where we had a much longer rehearsal for the Bach concert, also on Sunday, but just before the other one; this concert has a rehearsal at 15:30 and then the concert at 17h.  So Sunday will be a rather full day of singing for me.

The weather was lovely and crisp as I went through the forest to Julius's house, past an old chateau that has been converted into a secondary school...

frosty morning by the old chateau

part of Julius's 'cello collection

As always it is great to get some advance work with Julius; he's been playing or conducting at least two cantatas a month since 1981, and I've learned a tremendous amount from my collaborations with him and the ensemble since I first sang for them back in November of 2010.

After my rehearsal I had some time to kill before the bus left to come to Wavre, so I stopped at the ADEPS athletic centre for a half an hour.  They have Tripel Karmeliet on draft at the restaurant there, so after a quick beer and some reading, I hopped the bus; I have discovered that the flemish bus line goes from Auderghem straight to Wavre station.  It's about a 40 minute trip, and only costs 1,60!  A happy discovery as the other transit methods are considerably more expensive.

While walking home from the station, I stopped by the Oxfam thrift store, and spotted this tuxedo in the window.  It's obviously bespoke and has rarely been worn, and fits really well.  The cut is more modern than my old one, so I grabbed it.  Pretty good for 15 EUR!  Plus I found three bow ties and a pair of cufflinks in the pocket, so that is a serious win.

Today it's sunny but cold so I am bundling up and heading out the door for a run with doggles... he has been patiently waiting all day...