Wednesday, May 4, 2011

rain, rain go away

Spring seems a long time coming.
Last year, at this time, spring had been here for weeks,  
though it is hard to accept that that was EARLY. An anomaly.

And it is Tulip Festival time in Ottawa.  I went to see it last year and there were fears that the tulips would be over before the festival began.  The ones we saw were a little spent and blown out, or battered by the rain.  This year, a very different story.  There are fears that there won't be any tulips blooming in time for the festival (which begins on Friday).  Before leaving Ottawa on Monday, I noticed workers were setting up tents and pavilions and getting things ready.  But any tulips we saw were barely out of the ground.

And as, usual, it rained while I was there.  For the third year in a row.  We did have two warm, sunny, clear days, but it was on Monday with the incessant, pelting rain that I chose to visit the Parliament Buildings with the misty view from the Peace Tower.
(a view of the west block which is still undergoing extensive restoration work.)

It was raining so heavily and I was so soaked that even though the Parliament Hill area seemed deadly quiet and therefore pleasant for walking, I thought I'd head home early and stop off at any town where it wasn't raining to walk around.

Even the ducks came out of the river to paddle around the Eternal Flame (they had jumped out by the time I reached them, but were circling around, ready for the next plunge).





I decided to have dinner in Kingston, a city I'd stopped at very briefly on my last trip to Ottawa and wanted to see more of at a time of day when places were open. This was the first capital of the Province of Canada (in 1841) so they have a nice historic downtown, right on the lake and I remembered that their City Hall was rather magnificent looking and my previous pictures weren't all that great so I wanted to get better ones. 
yeah, the cute tourist information place inside the old train station was also completely covered in scaffolding and green netting while it gets a new roof.
On the upside, it was being used as a polling station, so I pretended I belonged and wandered inside. 
Of course, because it was a polling station, I couldn't take pictures.

When I got home Iooked it up on the internet and here is a virtual tour if you are interested. 


Then it started to rain again.

11 comments:

  1. You and Ottawa. Seriously you shouldn't be allowed there - you bring the rain....

    Take heart, it's been raining in Montreal since Monday and set to continue for the rest of the week - and I'm on vacation. Of course.

    - Jazz

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  2. I hope the tulips turn up for duty - and it stops raining - and the sun shines.

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  3. Yes, your spring is late. Here in the Netherlands the tulips are already done. And we have no rain but need it badly, so send some our way, please.

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  4. I enjoyed seeing your pictures! Though we emigrated to Ontario when I was a child, I never got to Ottawa when we lived there.

    And I sympathize with your rainy weather woes...we're pretty sick of it here, too...:)

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  5. Ugh, I hate continuous rain. I know we always need it here, but when it goes for more than a few days, it seems unbearable.

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  6. Snow here!!!! Yep..you heard me...SNOW!!
    Sigh!
    Still waiting for spring
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  7. Jazz: we missed you. a little rain would have been fine, to keep the tradition going, but this was too much of a soaker.

    jabblog; so do I, because it was very pretty here with all those brightly coloured tulips.

    Nora: be glad to - farmers are complaining they can't get anything planted for the rain.

    Lynette: thanks, it has taken me a long time to get there and now my friend is moving...

    geewits: XUP says HI, BTW.

    SueAnn: STOP. I heard the word flurries, but they never materialized here.

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  8. I remember your tulip festival post from last year. Isn't it strange: our springs are the opposite of each other. Last year ours was so late it barely registered at all; this year it was early, and green, and sunny. However, we have the rain now and it looks set to stay for a while - so maybe it's your turn for some sunshine. :)

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  9. I've never visited Ottawa a tulip time. It's on my bucket list.

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  10. EG: well, you still have time, this year!

    Beastie: apparently we are in for a very hot and dry summer.

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  11. Cute about the ducks. I'd love a tulip festival, rain or not.

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