Bluebirds over...

...the white cliffs of Dover!

 nightime marina in Zeebrugge

This past weekend was a great adventure... we received a call from our friend Gediminas, the Lithuanian ambassador to Belgium, saying that he had booked the Tyfoon 37-foot yacht in Zeebrugge, and Frank the skipper was available for a weekend sail to Dover, around 150 kilometers.  We had been talking about going sailing for a long time, and as our weekend was flexible we packed quickly and drove up to Zeebrugge friday evening.

windmills along the belgian coast

Steuermaggie

His Excellency at the wheel

We met with Gediminas and Simonas, Frank, and Thomas (also a Lithuanian diplomat) and his son Jonas.  After sleeping on the boat we got an early start with a 5am departure on the morning tide, and were on our way to the first intermediate destination, the coastal town of Nieuwpoort.

 harbour at Nieuwpoort

the marina at Dover

We passed by Dunquerque, and then crossed over into French waters later that afternoon, arriving at Calais in the evening, but the port seemed closed, and from there we decided to continue night sailing until reaching Dover at around 2:30 Saturday morning.  At times the sea was very rough and several of us got quite ill from the chop.  Those who had taken dimenhydrinate (dramamine / gravol) were better off, but things settled down a bit as the day went on.

breakfast on board

Twenty-one hours at sea was pretty tiring but we were all up again by 9h or so.  Simonas and Jonas had requested pancakes with maple syrup, so Maggie cooked up some bacon and got the pancakes mixed.  We all had a good breakfast and then the four Lithuanians left to take a train to London for the day.  Frank stayed with the boat and relaxed, while we went out to explore the town.

Maggie on Dover beach

I've sung the Samuel Barber setting of Matthew Arnold's poem "Dover Beach" twice in performance, but it was my first time to "hear the grating roar of the pebbles as the waves draw back..." and it was nice to get my feet wet in the harbour.  We found the whole place beautifully maintained, clean, quiet.., the protected beach area was so clean and the water warm enough that there was a swimming club training for a race, passing from marker buoy to buoy.  We wished we had thought to bring swimsuits!

view of the harbour from Dover Castle

the castle from the moat

The moat goats

We explored the town a little; and then started to climb up the hill to the castle.  The fortifications there have been significant for several thousand years; the Romans built a lighthouse there during their occupation of Britain, and the lower portion of that building still exists, and has been built upon at later times.  Dover Castle is the largest castle in England and has been used as a military and strategic site by a variety of different english kings since Henry the II, and it has survived Elizabethan times, the English civil war, the Napoleonic wars, and was used again during the Second World War, as a military command centre, barracks, shelter and underground hospital.  We seem to have visited quite a few castles during our years in Europe, and were happy to add another to our collection.  The grounds are very well maintained, and the earthworks around the castle have many wild-looking plants growing in the coastal climate.  So vigourous are some of the ivy plants that they have taken to grazing sheep there again to help keep the plants under control and to maintain high biodiversity.

view from the barbican

 courtly reënactments

 helicopter landings by the air ambulance on the beach

Matthew on the beach

a pint at the Eight Bells

We met up again at the boat for dinner, then had a ceremonial pint or two at the Eight Bells pub while watching the Greece - Costa Rica match, which we enjoyed despite some rather rowdy drunken Kentish men, and then left on the night tide at around 1:00 to head back to Zeebrugge.

The trip back was much smoother because we were sailing with the wind direction and with a tidal current for the most part, so there was much less tacking required, less chop, and we made better time.  The weather was also really beautiful, and I had a good long quiet time lying on the deck near the mast, enjoying the view.  One thing you notice that is different about sea vs. lake sailing is the very clear green colour of the water; frequently our freshwater lakes in Canada look to have the same tone as the sky, but the sea water is amazingly different in colour.  The grey-green of the water, and the big flemish masters-style clouds in a blue sky made a wonderful composition.

view from the mast

Now what?  Maggie has been happy to be back at sewing projects again, and the upstairs desk, the dining room table and even our bed has been taken over and is covered with fabric and paper patterns.  She was asked to make Joëlle's dress for their wedding that is coming up this weekend.  That dress has been completed for a while, but she also has made a lovely blue silk dress for Karalyn, who will be a bridesmaid, and yesterday made two dresses for the daughters of Penni and Damien, our Canadian-Belgian friends.  Most probably we will have to make a fabric store run today, and she is inspired to make something for herself too.

 

early start at sewing

pattern making for her own dress

 

for Karalyn

 for Lucie

 for Amelie

So what's happening musically?  Yesterday I had an audition for a conductor who will present two performances of the Brahms Requiem this December in Brussels, and it looks as if I will get another chance to sing something with my friend Rita Matos Alves, with whom I perfomed in Nozze di Figaro several times in Belgium a couple of seasons ago.  These will be my 10th and 11th performances of this fantastic work, so I am looking forward to it very much, and there is a chance that the programme might be filled out with some Arvo Pärt, and some other pieces yet to be decided.  It will slot in nicely between the two November performances of Carmina Burana and the two December ones.  September and most of October is empty for me so far, so I hope to use that time for preparation and also for aggressively auditioning, but after middle October things get pretty hairy:

- Haydn Creation - Brussels Conservatoire October 24, 26
- Mozart Requiem - Bornem November 6, Grimbergen November 7
- Carmina Burana - Binkom November 22, 23
- Brahms Requiem - Brussels - Eglise de Ste. Anne November 5, 6
- Carmina Burana - Sint-Niklaas November 13, 14


Then I will leave for the China trip, with 12 performances over 20 days, ending on Epiphany.  After that the spring is still a bit open; Julius Stenzel and I are talking about some Bach cantatas in January, but for the most part I am free until the mid-March; then it will be:

- Johannes-Passion - Mechelen Cathedral March 21 (Christus)
- Johannes-Passion - Sint-Paulus Antwerp March 28 (Christus)
- Matthäus-Passion - Lier March 29 (arias)
- Matthäus-Passion - Cathedral St. Michael / St. Gudule  Brussels April 1 (arias)

... and then there is another break until the end of June, where I have pencilled in another Bach cantata at Minimes.   I am really super excited about the Johannes-Passion, because unlike almost everything else on this list above, it involves something new for me: I have been asked to sing the part of Jesus in these performances instead of the arias, so that means a new project to work on with Peter.  He has been packing up his apartment and will be continuing to do so until the 11th of July, so I might get in a coaching with him before he leaves to take the helm of the Comic Opera Studio in Berlin...  It seems more likely though that we will have to meet there...  As I will be in Berlin both before and after the China trip, it seems reasonable to try and stay on a day or two, and polish up the Jesus recitatives in the second week of January, so that they are ready to go for the end of March.

One reason for the auditioning is that there is no opera on the agenda so far.  But that should be changing: next summer will involve the auditions for the 2016 summer performances of Nozze di Figaro, and there is discussion and planning going on now for Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore sometime in 2015/2016, so I will have some things to learn and explore anew.  La Monnaie is planning to shut the opera house in June 2015 for at least eight months of renovations, and this will mean that they will present productions in other venues, which might be a good thing for emerging singers who don't mind performing in smaller or non-traditional theatres.  I hope to audition for Peter de Caluwe again this year if I can arrange it.  As well there are Liége and Antwerp to think about...




As for the rest of our summer plans, we don't want to be too extravagant with holiday spending, and we are kind of liking the peace, quiet, and nice weather here in Brussels.  We have heard from the boys that they are enjoying the pool time at my parents' house, but now have left for several days of Algonquin Park camping.  Our friends Deborah and Craig have offered us free accomodation in their flat in London over the summer, and I think that we might spend a few days around our anniversary weekend there, visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum and seeing some other London sights.  As well, we have museum cards and a swimming pool membership up in Amsterdam that are still valid from last fall, so I think we'll be planning some summer bicycling time there.  We also have a free place to stay in Zeebrugge, so there should be some inexpensive cycling tours of the Belgian coast.  Next weekend we are going with Bryan and Kiana to a camping weekend with some other friends, and while Bryan and his fellow runners do several races over the weekend we'll have some relaxing country time together.  The weekend after that we spend a night or two in Paris, at the luxurious Westin Paris – Vendôme, with a special rate that we were very lucky to get.  So without planning any extensive trips abroad we will I am sure have plenty of diversions this summer, and lots to write about in the blog.

Now it's off to check on things in the garden.  I have been enjoying watching things grow, and it would seem that there are no more large slugs to be found; the wooden frames topped with copper tape seems to be keeping most of them out, and all I am catching in my beer traps now are small slugs, maybe a centimetre or two long.  There are still lots of little critters that enjoy hollowing out my strawberries though, so it means a daily visit to pick ripe fruit is best.

Up, up and away...

Flown the coop

This morning we got up early and had a quick breakfast together, and then I drove the boys to the airport and we passed through the Air Canada check-in service.  There is an unaccompanied minor programme that is mandatory for passengers under the age of twelve to travel without an adult, so Duncan had to be given into the care of someone from Air Canada, while Malcolm's participation was optional.  As it was I was very lucky to be able to come through the security check with them, and then wait at the gate until they boarded.  They were the last ones on the plane, but the Air Canada staff informed me that I needed to stay there until the plane took off.  It was delayed by 45 minutes because of a luggage door problem but finally took off, and with it went our two sons.  It left a disquieting amount of anxiety about the whole process, but I am hoping that will disappate as soon as they are on the ground, which should be sometime around 13h EST.

Trepidation

To rewind the tape a little, we had Duncan's delayed birthday celebrations at the Brussels Bowling centre a couple of weeks ago.  This establishment is loud but fun, and they offer optional bumpers for the little ones so that there is no danger of the dreaded "gutter ball" syndrome.  The father of a friend brought along a new Polaroid style camera and took some instant shots, which was kind of cool.  Duncan enjoyed himself a lot and we all had a great time.

 Birthday bowling

Little Red Devil

Belgium in general, on the other hand, is completely crazy about the World Cup.  Les Diables Rouges of Belgium is in the running for the first time in twelve years, and so far we have had two games, both of which they won.  The hooting and hollering, and horn honking has been pretty extreme each time; I can't even begin to imagine the reaction should they continue this streak of good fortune... but not everyone is crazy about FIFA in a positive way; the billboards that were put up for the European Elections were commandeered by a collective of artists that have criticized "Foot-Manie" and illustrated some of the negative consequences of a World Cup for the host country.  There are some serious questions about who benefits from such and event, and who ends up paying, and it would seem that Brazil may suffer greatly.

 

World Cup worries

Interestingly our landlord Michel is in Brazil at the moment; he is someone who has worked for many years in developing countries, for the UN and the European Commission, on micro-finance initiatives and other programmes to improve the lives of women and children particularly, and he has been traveling around Brazil with a film crew, documenting some of the societal aspects of hosting the World Cup, specifically, initiatives that are designed to fight the sexual exploitation of women and children by the many tourists now visiting Brazil.  His website is here: http://www.michelfalisse.com/carnets

If you don't speak French of Portuguais, some of the video segments are also subtitled in English so you can still follow along.

A Benoit Meule-Stef harp guitar in process

For me back home in Brussels I have been taking the opportunity to take a break from music.  It was great to have the successes that happened this past season but it has left me pretty tired out mentally and emotionally.  Fortunately I have had that opportunity, to rest and do other things.  There are many interesting diversion in Brussels.  One day I stopped off at Ben's Guitar Repair Shop in Ixelles, and had a nice long conversation with Ben on a wide range of topics, while he was cutting out patterns and working on several guitars at the same time, like this harp guitar pictured above.

Bloomin' Brussels

As well there are many flowery meadows and park areas this time of year.  The city seems to enjoy leaving much of park lawn area to grow flowers, and it's really pretty.  But it's not the only thing that's growing here these days...

Garden Allottment

I am on a dedicated mission to eradicate slugs... everyone's vegetables are suffering from them.  One of the conditions for membership in the potagers association is that we avoid poisons, so I decided to try the barrier method, and constructed a raised bed with greenwood planking, and then applied copper adhesive tape to the top surface.  The idea is that slugs dislike the copper because it sets up an uncomfortable galvanic response, so they don't cross it.  As well as the copper I have put out half a dozen small tubs with beer, and these caught an unbelievable number of large slugs for the first couple of days.  Now that rate has slacked off almost entirely, and now I am catching only the tiny slugs.  These are the real threat to my strawberries, however, so I am still trying to catch and kill as many as I can.

As well as the many found strawberry plants, and a couple of volunteer potatoes, I have planted two different hot pepper plants, three tomato plants (one Roma, one Mini Roma and one Tiny Tim), six snow peas, six pickling cucumbers, two rhubarbs and some coriander.  As well I put in a delphinium, an Arizona kobold (which looks like a daisy crossed with a marigold) and eight lavender plants, spaced out around the periphery to discourage slug encroachment.  We'll see how it goes.

Slug-free strawberries

I have had a pretty good crop of strawberries even with the slug problem; the best was last Monday following a sunny weekend, where the garden had been undisturbed for a few days.  Malcolm got the news that he had passed his examinations and was moving into the next grade, so he decided to celebrate by making another favourite recipe, carrot cake.  That boy has a sweet tooth but it it leads him to take an interest in food and cooking, that can't be a bad thing.

Celebratory carrot cake

Atelier vitrines

WE met up last Tuesday after his last exam and went clothes shopping; along the way we discovered a beautiful atelier for stained glass repair and restoration as well as new creations.  This piece here is a c. 1905 piece from the ceiling of a public swimming pool somewhere in Brussels, and it is huge; they had laid it out on the driveway for a look following the restoration work.  I picked up a brochure for Maggie; they offer stages in the lead or copper foil technique, and she will most likely take one this summer.

We also spent a nice weekend camping with our friends Bryan and Kiana.  They have a large property in Wavre that I've written about before; we were invited along with a few other families to come and camp out last weekend.  As it happened we were the only ones free, but we were excited to try out the tent we bought in the UK a couple of summers ago, and to build a campfire and have a cookout.  We had a great time with lots of relaxing games and conversation, and steaks grilled on the coals of the wood fire.

Hammerpalooza panorama

Duncan and Malcolm will both miss out on the end-of-year parties and so forth, but it's okay.  They said their goodbyes and will need us to go to the schools on their behalf to pick up their report cards.  We know a bit about Malcolm's results because of his exams but I hope there are no further surprises...

Bonnes vacances mes amis

As an epilogue, Malcolm and I stopped in at the Troc (Value Village / Goodwill / Oxfam equivalent) and found this Weber gas bbq for only 69 Euros.  It is true that it is only a two-burner one, and is a little on the old side, but I took it apart and inspected the burners, and there is no rust.  The grille itself is okay but could stand to be replaced with cast iron, but I found a blue bottle of butane at the local Shell station (the BBQs here run on butane which burns a little hotter than propane) and was able to get it up to over 500 degrees F.  It should be very convenient for Maggie to BBQ something quickly, or to BBQ in the wintertime, and I am looking forward to rotisserie chicken with a drip tray with potaotes and lardons... the quest for the perfect homemade BBQ chicken continues...

Cooking with gas

finishing up the season

Yesterday it was Malcolm's turn to do some end-of-year performing, and he presented two passe-pieds from the J. S. Bach Overture in the French style in b-minor (BWV831), arranged for piano and flute.  Here's a recording of Sviatoslav Richter playing the keyboard version on piano; Malcolm's pieces come in at the 21:14 mark.

He worked a lot on this piece and we did a number of rehearsals and mock performances ahead of time.  He wasn't too nervous and I think he played well.  Next year he will be in the final year of formation musicale, and he very much enjoyed the performances that came after him, by the more advanced students who are in their final year and have moved to the qualification level, and said it was worth sitting through the more childish pieces to hear the more experienced musicians perform.  I wish they had these concerts more often throughout the year but perhaps we will make more opportunities for him to play as part of the church service, perhaps, or in the academie orchestra.

Duncan has been doing lots of LEGO building recently... he received a number of LEGO sets for his birthday, and so has been not only building them but also creating new types of vehicles and buildings from his imagination.  He hopes to add to his collection this weekend; we delayed his birthday celebrations with friends until Malcolm and I were both home, and we have scheduled this Saturday to go bowling and eat cake together.  He hopes to receive some more LEGO from his friends to add to his collection.

The weather here has been nuts: it has gone from completely sunny to a downpour four times today.  At the moment the rate of change seems to be slowing, but the incredible speed at which the weather changes here always astounds me.  The moisture is good for the gardens though.  I still have yet to plant everything that I wish to in our allotment, plagued as I have been by a persistent flu with coughing and fatigue, but at least the terrace plants are still happy.  Here is our Wisteria, which has been growing in a large pot for the last five years or so, but has yet to bloom... we are hoping to see that happen soon, and are also wanting it to spread out across the unsightly metal I-beam that passes from the back of our house to the one across the terrace.  I hope that will also provide us with some much-needed shade; as the terrace is protected on three sides and faces south, it gets quite warm.

I have been talking with an agent that I sang for in Toronto, who proposed me for some Bach work... that has prompted me to go through my list of singing repertoire, and write down all of the stage roles and concert pieces that I have already performed and so could be considered for.  It's a bit of a surprise to see that I have done eighteen complete stage roles in opera and operetta, and have performed twenty-five different Bach works, most of them here in Belgium.  As well there are nineteen other major oratorio/concert works that I have in my repertoire, and at least eight major song cycles.  It's a pretty good list, I think, and when I look forward into the coming season, it will be very interesting to present pieces that I have already done before.  As I was explaining to a friend, there is no stress, only enjoyment involved in the presentation of these pieces, and I feel lucky to have new opportunities to revisit them.  On the list for 2014-2015 so far are The Creation, Carmina Burana, the Mozart Requiem, the Brahms Requiem, the Vienna operetta concert tour in China, the Johannes-passion, and the Matthäus-passion.   Then on the horizon for 2015-2016 is a duet recital with Bruce at the new hall in Kingston, Ontario, mostly of things that we have done before, with a few new pieces, and then a new production of a role I have partially performed, that of Belcore in L'Elisir d'Amore, here in Belgium.

I think I will also send this repertoire list to another Belgian agent that I know, and to my sometimes agent in Toronto, just so they know what I am available for, even at short notice.  The good part about having a relatively easy beginning to the season next September is that I can really throw myself into an audition tour.  The situation has changed a lot for me since I last did a big series of European auditions several years ago, and I think now is the time to push on again, and give France another try.  Peter going to Berlin means that I should try to do some auditioning there if I can, and there are also Bach contacts in the Netherlands that I mean to pursue further.

But enough music talk, I'm supposed to be on vacation now... I'll close with a bit of food writing... I found a nice half-leg of lamb on sale (30% reduction) at the Carrefour today, and so I think we will have that roasted in the oven, along with some broccoli, and baked sweet potates garnished with sour cream and chopped green onions, a nice little side dish that Timothy Vernon and I prepared with roast beef during a visit to London to see Bruce sing in Madame Butterfly there a few years ago.  It's quite a yummy dish and easy to do.  The leg of lamb is best with fresh rosemary, thyme and lauren from the garden, as well as dry mustard, pepper and garlic, and I sometimes mash up some anchovies as well and brush that over the roast.  It ends up making quite a nice deeply flavoured roast lamb without tasting at all fishy.  A number of my fish-phobic friends have raved about my roast lamb without ever knowing that they had anchovies as part of the marinade.  Try it and see!  I'm not the only anchovy enthusiast out there... and here's a brand comparison as well...