Profitez du soleil!

When we lived in Kingston we smiled at the springtime behaviour of university students... give them one warm spring afternoon, say around April 10th or so, and they'd be out on the terraces of the pubs in shorts, flip-flops, t-shirts, and Oakley sunglasses, drinking Coronas with lime and pretending it was the middle of July. By around four-thirty or so the temperature would drop, but they'd be braving the elements and pretending that they felt just fine, thank you. We had a name for that, we called it "premature terrasculation".

Here in famously drizzly Brussels everyone desperately wants to make the most of sunshine, and so there are lots and lots of cabriolets out today with the tops down, and the cafe tables on the sunny sides of the roundabouts are packed. Even our family isn't immune to the al fresco fever sweeping northwestern europe these last couple of weeks.

Last weekend we went to the Bois de la Cambre, and had a lovely picnic lunch. Everyone brought along a book, and we spread out a blanket near the lake. We stayed for a few hours, ate lunch, threw around the football a bit, and the boys even bought some ice cream. The park was more full then I've ever seen it. That evening we had our first dinner on the terrace this spring: lemon and herb marinated rabbit, barbequed on skewers with pancetta, chinese broccoli and a cucumber red onion salad. Delicious!


Today was another nice day, and so I got out the tool kit and adjusted my old bike. It's always been a bit too small for me, although I've made do with it for nearly three years, and Malcolm is getting quite tall these days, so I thought we'd try him out on it. It's a very light frame so he had no trouble, and he really likes the quick shifters and the high quality brakes.

Of course this meant that Duncan had to try out Malcolm's bike, and while it was his first try on a two-wheeler, he got the hang of it on the first go. He's used to balancing on the add-a-bike, and on his scooter, and he learns very quickly, so it's no surprise that, apart from some cornering problems, he'll be riding on his own very shortly.

Some new projects

It looks as if my performance in Merksem was appreciated, or perhaps it's just a coincidence; I just got a call to do a two performances of Messiah in April of 2011 with the Flanders Baroque Academy. I'm quite excited as this will be my first Messiah on this side of the pond, and my first one since 2005. I've sung Messiah half a dozen times before, and audition with the arias regularly, of course, so the work is in a good place already, but my voice has changed quite a bit in the last few years, so I'm really looking forward to performing this piece again and finding something new in it.

Vocally I have been resting for the past week; my cold is still here but fortunately the accompanying laryngitis isn't, so I should be able to get in some good rehearsing over then next couple of days. I need to refresh my memory of the BL!NDMAN: TRANSFO music for our performance next tuesday, and learn the GLOBUS pieces for next month's concert, which is a debut for me, as a programme and as my first sing in Holland. We're also spending time organizing our summer plans, and getting ready for the boys' two birthday parties that will take place over the next month. Then I have an audition in Cologne to get ready for, in mid-May or mid-June. For anyone who is interested in finding out when and where I will be performing, both in Europe and in Canada, you can get that information on my public site www.matthewzadow.com.

We have several friends and colleagues who have had their flights delayed by the Icelandic volcano problem, and have met the unexpected adjustment of their schedules with varying degrees of contentment. It would seem that the flight ban is lifting, so I send my good wishes to those left in faraway places with time on their hands that they a) enjoy the unstructured time and b) get home safely.

I don't know... I don't know...I dunno where I'm a-gonna go...

...when the volcano blows. Isn't this a tremendous photograph? I thought it was a painting at first.

If you don't understand the title of this post, it's from a song I first heard in "Joe vs. the Volcano", a largely forgettable Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan film from 1990. You can click here to listen to the song by Jimmy Buffet.

We have been expecting a visit from two of Maggie's cousins, due to arrive this weekend, but at this point we're not sure if they're going to make it. Air travel throughout western Europe has been totally disrupted by the recent eruptions from the volcano close to the top of the Eyjafjallajokull glacier near Reykjavík. I tell you, the Icelanders haven't had a good couple of years. First the global financial meltdown in 2008 hammered their economy, and now a geological meltdown is doing the same to a glacier, causing flooding in the communities located in the valleys below.

The stable weather pattern that is preventing the dust and ash cloud from dissipating has brought some local benefits, in that the bright clear weather continues today in Brussels as it has all week, and perhaps because of that, I'm feeling a little bit better today. Let's hope that air travel resumes for Sunday so we can spend some time with Maggie's extended family.