Busy weekend before departure

The past week the bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau were released, and we tried the Georges Duboeuf, which was quite nice!

Also it is the beginning of Advent, so of course the Belgians have their own special advent calendar...

I can't help but feel that it is a little early for Christmas decorations, but I suppose that depends on the type of decorations... I saw a nice example of a new style of Christmas tree that I liked very much...

*disclaimer: not my collection

I put the Hello Dolly project to bed this week by erasing all of my markings from the rented score; they insist that the score be returned free of any notations.  It took me quite a long time and created a ton of eraser crumbs. 

This weekend was busy: on Saturday I drove Duncan into Brussels as he had his karate examination, the last one needed to complete his brown belt.  He did a good job and so will progress towards his studies for his black belt, which should take him another couple of years.

While he was warming up I went to a music store closing sale, and snapped up a ton of Bach Cantata scores that I didn't already have in my collection, for around 2 EUR apiece.  I probably won't sing every one of these cantatas, but I can hope.. of the roughly 212 of them that are in publication so far, I've performed maybe 25% or 30% of them.  It's good to have something to work toward.

After Duncan's successful karate exam we went to the Hammers, and Bryan and I did a quick run in the evening... it was dark enough to require headlamps for the last section, which makes it a bit more challenging.

Maggie and India made fudge, and Bryan and I cooked a New York Times cheezy eggplant rigatoni bake for dinner, which turned out rather well.  We made enough that both families could enjoy some the day after.

I didn't have time to try this dish a second time, as I was up early to pack my bags and head off to the airport for 7h30.   I left Brussels a little after 10h, and made it to Montreal in lots of time for the transfer flight to St. John's.

I knew I was in Canada again immediately when the corner store had Hawkins Cheezies, salt and vinegar Pringles, and Clamato on the same shelf!

I have a day or two to recover from my flight, so now I'm going to enjoy a "come from away" beer at the Yellowbelly Brewing Company in St. John's... it's delicious!