The heat wave seems to be broken...

Bonnie having a stretch on the summer quilt

Today's weather is much cooler, in the low 20s, so it would seem that the heatwave that has hovered over most of Europe for the last ten days has broken.  There has been no rain for many days, but at least the heat has subsided.

locking the door in Wilrijk

On Monday I went up to Wilrijk and helped Malcolm move out of his kot.  We borrowed the trailer from Bryan and Kiana and cleared the place out, also taking his bicycle, and then we cleaned the place from top to bottom.  Fortunately a lot of his stuff could be moved down the highway to his new apartment share in Boom itself, but we brought quite a few things back here as well.

We had a nice early dinner with Bryan and Kiana that same evening, and enjoyed soaking our feet at least in the cold water of their "hot" tub.  The rest of the week was also filled with lots of social activity: we had a BBQ with Christophe and Isabelle next door, and also went out for a dinner with Dirk and Romy, two colleagues of Maggie, and the librarian Dawn, who is leaving St. John's to move to Spain for her retirement.

Given the heat it has been hard to find a cool time to run, so Lawrence and I had planned to drive to the Foret des Soignes very early on Thursday morning, but on Wednesday I started to come down with body aches and a very sore throat, and by Thursday it was a phlegmy cough and fatigue, so I had to cancel.  I am still sick with the congestion symptoms, but felt well enough yesterday to finally go out for an afternoon run of 6.5km with Yoshi, for the first time in over a week.  I felt fine, although he couldn't really handle the warm temperatures of a relatively cool 24 degrees... "Border" Collie in his case obviously refers to dogs bred for the Scottish borders, where it rarely gets very hot.

Clyde from a good vantage point

On Saturday Maggie and I got up very early and drove to the Brussels MABRU wholesale market, and stocked up on lots of fruit to make preserves. 

It was pretty inexpensive: two flats of Raspberries, two of yellow peaches, one of strawberries, one of apricots, all for 77 EUR.  For example the strawberries were only 0,90 EUR per 500g box, so the whole flat of strawberries was only 7,20 EUR.  The total weight was around 20 kgs of fruit.  We split the stock with the Hammers, and Maggie did most of the boiling and jarring of the jam.  For efficiency's sake I also set up a second boiling station outside, and Kiana also got into the process.  Here we are checking the boiling time on the big batch of strawberries...

Bryan and Kurt (Kiana's brother) enjoyed a variety of beer and conversation, while the Hammer kids went to check out the midway that was set up at the town centre.  I set up the charcoal barbeque for the first time this year, to grill the picanha, a cut of beef that we bought at the VDS wholesaler up the road.  It's a great value to buy meat there; they always have Irish-raised Angus beef from Kildare, and probably half the cost of buying steaks already cut up at the Delhaize.  It's also much more flavourful than the blanc-bleu-belge beef that is sold here.  Here's a little online article about this delicious cut of beef and how to grill in properly.

the happy griller

the whole gang trying to stay in the shade

Saturday evening was the torchlight cavalcade that ended at the Hotel de Ville, and like last year it included a very impressive fireworks display that lasted eighteen minutes.  It was spectacular but very loud, as the brick and stone buildings at the town centre mean that there are lots of reverberations of the explosions.  Malcolm stayed at home with Yoshi, who seemed to not be too upset by the loud noises.  I love fireworks but the more that I read about them, I wonder if there isn't a more environmentally friendly alternative, as this article from the Globe and Mail suggests...

just a few of the scores for this coming season

Yesterday was Canada Day, and I received some nice professional surprises.  Firstly, I received an email from a couple of choral singers asking for voice lessons.  They were referred to me by their conductor Joris Derder, a fellow baritone, with whom I have performed many times.  It's great to have that vote of confidence by a fellow artist, and I look forward to teaching them if it all works out.

Then I was emailed by Currende (the polyphony group that I wrote about earlier) about some concerts in August; Maggie and I have already booked our week-long holiday in Les Contamines, France, near Mont Blanc, for the same period, so I had to say no to those three performances.  But it's nice to feel wanted!  The good part is that I will perform with them in September anyway, in the Abbey of Tongerlo and now they know that if they want me, they have to give me more notice.

Lastly, I received the schedule for next years' Minimes concerts, and called Julius Stenzel to let him know which ones I wanted to do.  I'm already down for a B-minor Mass in November with Jacques Vanherenthals, and the big Christmas Oratorio concert is booked for late December, but the February concert was my choice: it has a lot for the bass voice: BWV 157 is fantastic, starting with a tenor-bass duet, a tenor aria and recit, and a bass aria, recitative and arioso.  It is quite virtuosic and sits fairly high, which will mean more clarity in the new church, which has a less good acoustic than the old one.  The second cantata for February, BWV 14, also has a nice bass aria in it, so I will have something good to chew on.  If you are curious about what else I'm singing this year, then have a look at the schedule on my website.

Also this week I was happy to get our Piaggio scooter back from the mechanic.  It wouldn't start after sitting for several months, so in this beautiful weather it's going to be nice to have the option to take a ride...

Happy Canada Day from Wavre!