Doors Open Ontario 2009

For three years, I've been meaning to get out of the house on a particular Saturday morning to take part in Doors Open Ontario. It's like a Free Field Trip day to all the interesting, historic places in the community. How educational is that?! Finally, today, we were able to take part.

I was up early and, of all the ways to spend my time, I chose to spend it in the driveway with my kayak. I practiced loading it and unloading it from the car by myself, much to my neighbour's amusement. I think I have a system worked out.

Once everyone was ready to go, we packed up (I even had juice boxes for the kids!) and headed out. I made our first stop the local plant sale where I bought a Bleeding Heart plant. No worries, I paid extra for a well established plant. I should be able to keep it alive if I don't play with it too much.

Our first Doors Open Ontario stop was a local mansion, built at the turn of the last century. No pictures allowed, so we won't talk about all the wonderful treasure and history that's going on on the inside. We all remarked on the enthusiastic and over-vigilant guides, though. We agreed that they are there, really, to ensure that no pictures are taken and that noone sits on the furniture.

After our first tour, I scrapped our next two planned tours in favour of an outdoor walk. The local sidewalk sale was in full swing and the weather could not have been better. Here, the kids were able to love on the police dog - a rare occurrence.

I was reminded of how wonderful our market is, even though we only did a fast pass-by. I want to make a better effort to get there more often. I was also reminded of how sparse downtown is getting. It's too bad, really, as downtown is such a beautiful and (relatively) historic area. I wish there was more down there to anchor a shopping population.

At lunchtime, we were headed home to BBQ. A nice morning all around. Next year, I look forward to hitting a few more sites. However, for those who know me, you will be suitably impressed at my ready-by-10-on-a-Saturday-morning excursion.