City of Kingston Greenhouse 2016

This past Sunday hubby and I took our annual pilgrimage to the city's greenhouse.  Every year, for a few Sundays, the city opens their greenhouse so the public can get a glimpse of spring during the doldrums of winter.


This year the dates are Feb 14, 21, 28, and March 6 and 13.  It's only open for 2 hours on these afternoons (from 2 til 4) but it's well worth going.  The greenhouse is located at 111 Norman Rogers Dr.


I took some photos this year.  It was quite busy during our visit - there was a photography group there and everyone was busily trying to capture the beauty of all the plants and flowers.  And there's something to be said about the air inside a greenhouse.  It just smells like plants - fresh, alive, and energizing.

After our visit I felt refreshed.  Funny how oxygenated air will do that to a person!  I think we'll take the kids next weekend so I can see the fabulous flowers again.  This is one of my favourite things to do around town in the late winter.  It truly helps me imagine that spring is on its way!

Canada Day 2015

Canada Day in Kingston 2015

Canada Day falls on a Wednesday this year.  The City of Kingston is hosting many events at various locations around town.

Our household is working on building a fence in our backyard, with help from our loving family, but the ladies may take the daughters away from the construction to check out something from this flier.

The breakdown of the events at Fort Henry (it's free!) can be found here.

In City Park (King/Barrie/West st) there is Artfest happening as well.  I think a lot of the folk from the Tett Centre (including Kingston School of Dance folks) will have tents/exhibits.  There is also supposed to be lots of free things for kids to do.

The Pump House Steam Museum is also free on Canada Day.  They currently have an exhibit of Egyptian artifacts.  I believe admission is included with museum admission (so FREE on Canada Day!)

I'm sure there are tons of other things occurring on Canada Day but these were the items of interest to me.  Let me know if there's anything else really cool that I missed.  Sometimes I wish there were more hours in a day!

If you do attend, comment below and let me know what you did and how it was.  I'm always interested in what people do around town!

Toodles!

Kingston Buskers Rendezvous 2015

Every summer since I was a kid I've looked to forward to the Buskers!  My grandparents used to take me (and my sister) when we were "tweens" as the current term is.  When I got older and started going to Queen's University I started dragging my university friends.  I'm still dragging family and friends along whenever I can, but now I have 2 little people who seems to also have my enthusiasm for them!

I'm looking forward to it this year, as every year.  July 9th to 12th the streets of downtown Kingston will have performers everywhere!  Sections of streets are closed down, Market Square has bleachers for watching, and there are kids activities during the afternoons.  It's so much fun!

My workplace - Quarry Medical Pharmacy - has been sponsoring the Buskers for many years.  I think I'm the only one that works there who really takes advantage of the free (donations suggested) events of the Buskers, but as a vibrant downtown store we really try to support the community.  The store supports many other events and local organizations.

Anyway, I will post again as the Buskers get closer, but you know me and my family will be downtown as much as possible during this years Rendezvous.  I hope you will be too!

Toodles!

Weekend Fun - June 20th and 21st

I don't have a specific event to post about this time, just a personal one.  I am getting new neighbours. I liked my old neighbours but change is good, right?  The previous neighbours packed up their stuff yesterday, and I think the new people just made an appearance (a short one) this evening.  I am hopeful they will be great neighbours, and I can share my garden abundance with them this year!

We have a busy weekend upcoming.  We are going to Kingston School of Dance's performance at The Grand Theatre on Saturday - there are 2 showings one at 2pm and one at 7pm.  My eldest daughter is in the show and it will be fabulous.  Then we are having our family and friends back to our house for dinner.  Emma has to be picked up after the 2pm show and then returned at 6 for the 7pm show - it'll be tight but we've done it before.

I am very much looking forward to Sunday where I have no real plans.  We spent all week shuttling Emma back and forth the rehearsals for this big show.  And I've been husband-less since Wednesday morning, which makes it busier for me!  He's back tonight (thank goodness!) so we can all see our daughter dance tomorrow.

Anyway, just wanted to put a real life post on here.  Tomorrow is also Doors Open Kingston where you can tour most of the historical sites for free. Door's Open Info for Kingston here  There are other sites around town available to tour like the Police Station, City Hall, K-Rock Centre, and the Queen's Solar Education Centre.  The info is in the previous link.  If you go, leave me a comment telling me what you looked at and how it was!

Happy weekend everyone - toodles!

Movies in the Square Every Thursday

The City of Kingston, every summer, plays outdoor movies for free on Thursdays.  The first movie is this week (June 18).  Bring your chairs, snacks, blankets (umbrellas the way the weather's been this week) and all your friends and family!

Movies in the Square - Downtown Kingston

We are not going this week - maybe next week for The Lego Movie.  There is also popcorn for sale in the square, and the local radio stations usually give away stuff at the these nights as well.  The movie doesn't start until it's dark, and this time of year that's pretty late (like 9pm) but as the summer goes on they start sooner.

It's such a good time.  We've been to many movies in the square over the past few years.  My little ones are almost old enough to stay awake for 9pm starts, buy my youngest is going to bed at 7pm these days so we'll see how it goes this summer!

I'd love if readers would comment if they are finding these posts interesting and/or helpful for things going on around town.  Please post below with any comments!\

Toodles!

Event on Sunday June 7th

Gutsy Walk this Sunday - help me support my friend Jim who has put a lot of time and effort into this cause.

Where: Lemoine Point Conservation Area

When: Sunday June 7th

Registration: 9:00am
Warm Up: 10:00am
Start: 10:15am
Walk Distance: 5km

Note: Registration is at Rotary Park, the 5k is through the conservation area,

I can't be there to support Jim personally, so I'm sharing this with the world at large in hopes at least one person out there can lend their support.  It's a great event for a worthy cause.

Favourite Locales in Kingston

I thought I would try to compile a post about the place I go in town for my regular life.  I will try to link to ones that have links, but I'm still trying to get an idea of how to properly do this blogger thing, so bear with my and please comment with any ideas or things you did or didn't like about my posts!

First, some local websites I use to get in information about what is going on around town, or which recycling night it is!

City Of Kingston - this is the city's website.  You can find almost anything you need to know about Kingston here.  I use it for waste collection schedules, transit maps, community events, parking info and lot of other stuff.

Downtown Kingston! - their tag line is: Dine.Shop.Enjoy.  This is more of a tourism website.  Here is what is says in the About Us section; The Downtown Kingston! Business Improvement Area (BIA) is an association of more than 700 businesses located in the core commercial area of the City of Kingston. The BIA promotes Downtown Kingston! as the vibrant and healthy commercial, retail, residential, and entertainment centre of our region, attracting more people to live, shop, work and gather.  This site is great for events happening downtown, as well as restaurants and retail stores you might like to check out.

Now some places I frequent::
Quarry Medical Pharmacy - this is my workplace, and also my pharmacy.  We are great.  I love everyone at the store, both staff and customers alike.  We pride ourselves on our fantastic customer service.  If you need a pharmacy (or a tube of toothpaste) please consider QMP.

Greco's Wine Bar and Grill -  I would say this is my favourite restaurant in the city.  There are a ton of restaurants, but this one is always great.  Casual fine dining, small space, also great customer service and they always recognize their repeat customers.  Oh and the food is fabulous too!

Kingston School of Dance - my daughters take dance classes here.  I believe this is the only non-competitive dance school in town.  The people there are fantastic and really care about the kids working at their own pace and developing skills individually.  I understand many of the "big girls" go on to dance in esteemed dance troupes or schools after they graduate from high school (or in the summers between)

The Tett Centre - this is where Kingston School of Dance is located.  Taken from the website: The J.K. Tett Centre is a City of Kingston-owned heritage building on the Lake Ontario waterfront. It is operated by the Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning, a not-for-profit arts organization made up of tenant groups and community members... If you are visiting Kingston, The Tett Center offers lots of opportunity to enrich yourself in the Canadian arts, such as plays, concerts, and dance. We have many visitors and members who join us from nearby places like Inverary, Verona, Seeley's Bay, Mallorytown, Belleville and Odessa.

Springer Market Square - the hub of downtown Kingston.  Many events happen here, as well as a Farmer's Market on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from May until it snows.

Kingston's Grand Theatre - the prime performing arts venue in town.  Kingston School of Dance puts on it's end-of-year performance here every year, as well as concerts, comedians, other dance and ballet performances, and of course plays are all performed here.

Cataraqui Centre - this is the indoor mall in town.  The kids like to go run around, and there are occasional "shows" (My Little Pony, Toopy & Binoo, fashion shows etc) we catch sometimes.  Of course there are stores and they just re-did the food court.  It's a fine rainy-day activity, but can be quite congested with people at times.

I'm sure there are many more places we go on a regular basis, but I've hit the wall for this post, I think. More posts to come!

Toodles!

Welcome!

I hope to use this blog to share the fun and interesting things going on in my hometown of Kingston Ontario. Both things I'm going to, or already have, attended. So stay tuned for good things to come! (Also don't be surprised if the look of the blog changes, it takes me some time to be happy with the way the pages look)

Toodles!