Delius Diaries

We celebrated Scott’s birthday this weekend in Brussels. We had a few surprises for him including a Ferrari F8 driving experience and a beer and cheese lunch. An hour south of Brussels is an F1 circuit track where you can drive F1 race cars. Connor picked the car, wishing he was old enough to drive the Ferrari. The drive took us through small villages seeing farmland and chateaus along the way. The weather was cold and a bit rainy so we didn’t get very good photos of Scott’s driving experience. But Scott did enjoy driving the race car on the track. Connor was gracious to enjoy the moment for Scott, even though he wished he were old enough to drive one of the cars. It will happen soon enough!

From the track we drove 20 minutes on windy roads, which felt more like north Georgia, to a Benedictine monastery, The Abbey of Maredsous. The monks that live in the abbey make beer and cheese, two of our favorite food groups. We enjoyed a lunch of hearty bread, butter, local cheeses and Holy Beer at the monastery. We walked the grounds for a few minutes before heading back to Brussels for a movie and nap on a rainy day.

We ended the day with a walk to our local village for a really yummy dinner. I had been wanting to try this restaurant since we arrived. The menu is small but they have a strong weekend specials list on a chalk board, with a translated version in English. It was a really nice dinner with local beers, then homemade cookies at home for dessert.

Sunday we went back to the village for the St Hubert’s Day Celebration and the blessing of the pets. What a fun and unique treat this event was. Pets of all shapes and sizes were in attendance along with the Bishop dressed in period robes, horse drawn carts and wagons and a brass horn section. The pets lined up outside at the museum near the park and processed through the village to the chapel, circa “4th quarter of the 17th century” as noted by the Dutch documentation. The service and blessing were both in Dutch, so while we didn’t understand the detail, we were able to enjoy the broader message, the service and the people and pet watching. We all knew when to say “Ahman”. Once the procession pets were blessed by the Bishop, which included a water sprinkle spray, attendees were able to walk by the Bishop for a blessing as well. The brass horn players were poised across the field and played different tunes throughout the service. At one point the music sounded exactly like the music on the bus in the movie Sixteen Candles, take a minute to think about that scene. We got a good laugh. Bucky enjoyed meeting other dogs, horses, rabbits and a few other pets held in crates and backpacks.

After the event we walked into the village for a coffee, pastry and St Hubert’s Holy Beer. Blessings were abundant on Scott’s special day!