relaxed weekend

snowy drive from Bousval to Namur 

This last week or two has been very snowy and cold by Belgian standards; unlike Ontarians they don't have the plows or workforce to clear roads quickly as they so rarely get snowstorms. No one here has missed work or school yet because of the snow - much to Maggie's disappointment - but it's been chilly enough that we have kept the wood-stoves rolling.  I have managed to return to my routine of running every third day, and despite the cold and snow have lucked out with some really beautiful views of the forested countryside.  On Thursday I managed a quite fast 5:59 per km 8k, given that it was just below zero, and today in +3 weather I took both Yoshi and Osa out for the usual 8k Bousval circuit.  I can't swim because of my shoulder so running is pretty much all I have as a meditative exercise, so I'm glad that it can still happen.

Maggie and I were house-sitting in Bousval this weekend because Bryan and Kiana had a brief London trip, so we have been here most of the weekend, and also had Malcolm and Duncan here for a curry dinner this afternoon.  I'm the only one here at present as everyone else has to go back to school tomorrow morning, so I took Malcolm to the train right after an early dinner together, and Maggie and Duncan have gone home to Wavre.  The Hammer kids are farmed out with friends, so can take care of themselves, so it's just the dog, cats, and chickens to worry about.  K. gets back tomorrow afternoon so I will meet her at the station and then head home around dinner time.

Tomorrow morning I also have my first shoulder physiotherapy session... the MRI confirmed that there is a small tear in the supraspinal tendon in my shoulder, and the acromion bone pushes on the lesion when I try to lift my arm.  It's not something that requires surgery but rather intense anti-inflammatory meds, and nine sessions of physio, so that begins tomorrow morning at 8:30 in Wavre.  I should get a frequent-flyer card for the physio department!

Speaking about disabling non-crippling injuries, Yoshi was feeling a bit poorly this week as he scraped his paws pretty badly on Tuesday.  Lawrence and Tiffany have a tennis court at their place and the surface is so abrasive that if a larger dog runs on it, especially one that chases the ball as aggressively as he does, there is a good chance that that old pebbly court surface with act like sandpaper on his foot-pads.  That's what happened on Tuesday, to the point that he left bloody footprints on the tiles when he came inside, so "Doggles" has been benched from running all this week, which felt a bit weird.  To compound matters he also had a trio of vaccinations in his hindquarters at the veterinarian's on Wednesday, so he wasn't moving too nimbly for the remainder of the week.  I took him for a cautious 8km walk on Friday, and he seemed ok, so today I thought we'd try a run after I got back from church, and of course he was fine.

In music news, the Vaughan Williams is moving forward.  I really don't have that much to do in it but what I do have sits up in a high register, and VW often wants it sung piano, or softly, which means that one really has to have it in a good vocal place as there won't be an opportunity to just sing forcefully, which would actually be easier... it's hard but if one can manage it then the effect can be quite magical, so that's my task for this coming week.

As well I realise that Elijah also needs to get sung through soon.  Of course I've performed it before but that was some time ago, and when I start to look at what lies between now and May 5th, I don't actually have that much time to work on material, so I had better get cracking.  The good news is that after Dona nobis pacem and Elijah, the other material that I have to prepare is much more recently learned and performed, so it should already be in a decent place.  I'm still trying to figure out when I will go to Berlin to re-coach the Johannespassion.

Yesterday was La Chandeleur, or in North America, Groundhog Day.  I hope that wherever you are you noticed the return of the light... for us, it's been a dark winter so far.  December 2018 that was the darkest month since 1934, and in January we had 26 hours 59 minutes of visible sun, whereas the average is around 58 hours and 24 minutes.  I'm hoping that February will be brighter!