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Saturday 16 February 2008

Kingston Ontario Canada Part III







I did say that I was going to touch on some "quirks" of Kingston .. and there are ..



We have the largest concentration of correctional facilities in Canada .. seven of the nine are within the municipal boundaries .. BUT ! .. if one of these guests ever escapes .. you can bet that this some one will want to get as far away from here as possible .. does that offset having so many prisons in one area ?



We do have a large military base here .. this is where I actually started with my knowledge of Kingston .. 1977 marriage .. posted back two more times and finally retired here. My husband was in the army signals .. we have lived all over Canada and in the Netherlands .. and in the end we chose Kingston to settle in .. must say something good about the place ?

Second "quirk" .. remember I said it had one of the most beautiful cemeteries I have ever seen ? .. the Cataraqui Cemetery is AWESOME ! .. I over look the actual purpose of the area .. that mortal coil and so forth.
I look at it as a huge, beautiful garden with the most gorgeous trees, shrubs, statuary, ponds, water features .. it is so peaceful ( yes .. I snicker too at that comment) .. it amazes me every time I go there.

One Autumn I took some pictures because the colour of the trees, shrubs .. well I had to .. it was too wonderful to miss ..
Those pictures had the strangest "mists" in each photo ... I deleted them because I thought it was the fault of my camera .. I wish I had kept them .. I could have posted one .. instead here are some pictures of the nicer areas of the cemetery.
One more feature that makes me smirk for FUN .. "The Haunted Walk of Kingston"
Now this is a really interesting thing to do close to Halloween !
On a garden note to end with for Kingston ... in 1889 Kingston formed an independent Horticultural Society making it one of the oldest in the province. It also was the site of the first botanical garden in Canada .. on the grounds where Queens University is present day.
1897 an act of the provincial legislature was passed supporting Horticultural Societies in Ontario to encourage their citizens to beautify their communities and properties .. you could call it the FIRST organized "communities in bloom" ... NICE !
Come to Kingston .. you will enjoy it ! : )

6 comments:

Melanie Chopay said...

Joy, I loved the tour of your beautiful city! This is such a great idea, I'm still waiting for my creative juices to flow before working on my own town.

Love the photo of the hockey game. My husband is in his 50's and still plays hockey in a mens league.

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Thanks Melanie ! glad you stopped over for a visit : )
Hubbys are funny hockey guys aren't they ? LOL
Joy

kate said...

Kingston is a beautiful place. I visited it often when I lived in Ottawa. It was also milder in the winter.

I imagine the haunted walk is a lot of fun - there is a book of ghost stories of Saskatchewan that I was reminded of!

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Hi Kate .. I think we are about on par with Ottawa now ..winter wise .. YES ! I'm sure almost every city/province has some great ghost stories to tell !
Joy : )

Unknown said...

Joy,
If US border patrol hadn't changed to require 18 types of ID I might just hop in the car and drive up to see you! You make your are sound so cool (and sometimes so cold~heehee). I love all the quirks!
CJ

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Thanks CJ !
What rules are supposed to keep us safe, pretty well keep us isolated at the same time too. But thank you for the thought ! I think you would enjoy Kingston : ) every city/town has to have some quirks doesn't it ? Now that should be a RULE ! haha
Joy : )