We picked up another carpet on Friday, this time a large red Bukhara. We have needed a big one for the living room of our house in Minneapolis, so that’s what this is for assuming we can get it home.
Our new rug
Katie has a goal visiting every antique shop in Ghent, of which there are 57 according to the Golden Pages. It’s a dangerous pastime because the shops are packed with great stuff. When I commented to a shopkeeper on the quality of the antiques in Belgium compared to America, she dryly pointed out, “Our country is older.” True enough. The only thing stopping us from buying more is the cost of transporting everything home across the Atlantic. Still, we’ve picked up a few small items in addition to our rugs. For example, I found an old Leblanc clarinet at the flea market for 45 Euros. I was not after the clarinet itself, but rather the Lelandais mouthpiece that came with it. Vintage mouthpieces are increasingly hard to find in the U.S. This one, as it turns out, doesn’t play well in its current condition, but I plan to have it worked on at some point.
Flea market clarinet
- Lelandais mouthpiece
In an effort to learn more about the World War I battle fields of Flanders before we visit them, I picked up a couple of books on the subject from an English used bookstore. One was the autobiography of Robert Graves, titled Goodbye to All That. Besides being a poet, Graves was an officer in the British army during the War. While paging through the book later in the day, I discovered an old newspaper clipping. It was Graves’s 1985 obituary from The Times of London. This is the sort of discovery that makes antiquing fun. The obituary honors Graves as a true ”English eccentric” and “perhaps the last great romantic poet of the English language.”
Robert Graves autobiography and obiturary
The date on the obituary clipping
The spring weather has given us renewed enthusiasm to explore Ghent and its environs. Now that Vera is a healthy six-week-old and the snow and ice are gone, we have been out and about almost every day. In Ghent proper, there are still historic sites and museums that we have yet to visit. Add in the many quaint Flemish villages nearby and we have plenty to keep us busy over the next few months. Yesterday we ended up at an old Dominican monastery that is now an event center for Ghent University. It is now called simply Het Pand, literally “The Building.” Wes enjoyed wandering its halls, rooms, and stairways, all of which were unlocked, surprisingly enough.
Garden of hedges in front of "Het Pand"
Today we went through the Ghent Museum of Fine Arts. Admission is free Sundays before 1 p.m. for Ghent residents, a status we enjoy now that we have our official ID cards. It was a quick visit, but we saw enough to know that we want to go back. The collection is wonderful, and is housed in a beautiful, recently restored building. Again, Wes had a blast climbing stairs, running through the galleries, and hearing his voice echo off the stone walls and glass ceilings.
In the Ghent Museum of Fine Arts
The curved windows of a side gallery
Detail from "The Village Lawyer" by Pieter Bruegel the Younger. It reminded me of our trips to the commune to make our ID card applications. I guess paper pushing is nothing new.
I made a spelt salad using a recipe Katie found online. Spelt is a species of wheat that was a staple in Europe until the Middle Ages. We’ve also tried spelt bread from a nearby health food store.
Our spelt salad
A few pictures of the kids posing with Valentine’s gifts from Grandma Rick:
Vera
Vera in her snuggle sack from Grandma Rick
Wes in his new bunny towel
Happy kid
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Thank you. Bernard is going to come demo for my french horn students. We are really excited. I have a 6th grader playing the Mozart concerto in D Major.
Comment by George Runyan March 1, 2010 @ 5:35 amGeorge
That will be great for the kids! You would be interested to know that I’m finally learning to play the saxophone. I borrowed one for a friend.
Comment by dsfriberg March 1, 2010 @ 11:11 amGlad to hear things are going well. I had to comment that I bake with spelt too
Its fun to see all the pictures, We need more of Vera though 
Comment by Sheri March 2, 2010 @ 12:42 amIs there a wheat allergy in your house? Katie suspected Vera might have one, and that’s what led her to buy spelt. Anyway, the spelt bread was really good, as was the salad. We tried spelt pasta, too.
Comment by dsfriberg March 2, 2010 @ 8:47 amThanks for the nice note of encouragement Dan. Love to look at the old buildings and antiques but most of all the kids. They get cuter all the time. Love you and miss you. Grandma
Comment by Norma Rickabaugh March 2, 2010 @ 4:36 am