Soaking up the Canadiana

We are now well and fully moved out of Toronto, and living with my parents until the 20th of August when we leave the country. It's great to have some extended time with family prior to a long absence; I'm sure that the boys will especially benefit from the extra time with their grandparents. We also plan some time at Skootamatta Lake, so that we can visit with Maggie's parents as well.

Maggie and I spent a tranquil and relaxing four days in the interior of Algonquin Park immediately after moving out of 26 Endean Avenue. It required a day to load the car, travel to the access point, load in and canoe to the cosy little cabin on Tattler lake, at the bottom of the Opeongo River, but once we were there it was wonderfully relaxing. We spent our days reading, fishing, canoeing, watching wildlife and doing the chores of wood and water collection, firemaking and cooking. We both really needed the time to "decompress" after the frantic rush to get out of our house in time for our tenants to move in.

That was followed by four days at Ronda and Adrian Franco's cottage on Lake St. Peter, near Bancroft. We had a great time catching up with Ronda and Adrian and their daughter Amelia, and we fished and swam and ate and drank very much to our satisfaction. We had fireworks on Sunday night, and those and a bonfire drew the neighbors over to have an impromptu party, complete with shared bottles of wine and lots of toasted marshmallows.

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We have had the good fortune to secure an apartment from a good friend for the period between our arrival in Brussels on August 20th, and moving into our Brussels house in the first week of September. Michel Cloes lives in Paris, but his parents and siblings live in Glons, near Liège, and a few years ago he purchased a 17th-century brick barn close to the village that he then converted into several apartments, as well as a large three-story high loft apartment for himself and his family. This is an amazing place, with many interesting design and architectural elements. It should be a low-stress introduction to Belgian life for the kids, and it will offer a chance for Maggie and the boys to spend some time getting to know the Cloes extended family, who live in the village nearby, and which includes a number of children around the same age as our boys.

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In other music news, it looks like a second Toronto performance in November is going to happen for me. The Mozart Requiem will be performed at 4:00pm, Sunday November 11th, at Christ church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge Street, Toronto. Bruce Kirkpatrick Hill Conducts the orchestra and combined choirs of Christ Church Deer Park and St. Mary Magdalene. The other soloists are not yet confirmed.

It's going to be a lot of fun to sing such beautiful music. Mozart and Brahms in November, what could be better? My only concern is that it doesn't interfere with auditions, or even better, with performances. Actually, I'd welcome that kind of scheduling trouble, if only because it would be evidence of progress in getting myself established in Europe.

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Tomorrow I'm heading to Duncan Holt's Concept Audio studio to listen to his live recording of Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin that Dina Namer and I recorded back in June. I'm quite eager to see how it sounds, and I'll be sure to post some samples here when it's ready.

Living out of a suitcase...

The children left yesterday afternoon to go to stay with my parents; we'll join them on Saturday, after we've loaded up the car with our remaining things. It has been extremely stressful, packing things up, because we are trying to figure out what we will need for the next month-and-a-half, in several different environments. After Saturday we have to plan for:

• eight days canoeing/cottaging
• seven days working from my parent's home office
• six days with my parents, after finishing work
  
• flying to Brussels
• 17 days in a beautiful country loft in Glons, near Liege
• and then finally moving into the house at 122 rue des archives on the 7th of September

So as you can imagine, it can be exhausting to try to think ahead that much. For example, I need to consider what I will be taking from a work perspective, but also need to think ahead about sample recordings, photographs, CVs and Bios, etc. As well, we are trying to get a number of administrative things done before we leave the house. It would appear that some of them, at least (the certification by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of my medical certificate, for example) will have to wait until I come back to Toronto in early August.

We've found the social schedule very enjoyable but also very exhausting; the personal pressures to connect with friends and family, and the pressure to complete certain tasks prior to leaving, are to some extent in competition with each other. I can't imagine how we will feel when we arrive in Glons for two weeks of relaxing!

This evening we have to:

• prepare for a meeting tomorrow with the accountant
• continue the last bits of packing of our personal and professional items
  
• complete our Schengen Visa applications
  
• arrange and assemble my promotional materials
  

as well as a host of other tasks. This post is therefore ending here; I'll post again after we're in Belleville and out of the house.