A highlight of the fall season around here is the annual Mum Show (officially the Hamilton Fall Garden and Mum Show)
with this year's theme being, appropriately, the Pan Am Games. The games are coming to Toronto in July 2015. There was great excitement when the bid was won. Then things went quickly downhill. Among them were the years of wrangling about what to do with Ivor Wynne Stadium and a long drawn out period of months (literally six or eight months) when every day, the front page of the newspaper (remember, I deliver the thing, I saw it even if I gave up reading about it) carried stories of the ups and downs and to-ing and fro-ing and reversals and back to the future stories of the fate of the stadium that would hold the soccer matches. Homes were expropriated, sites were challenged. It literally went up the mountain and back down again (yes, Hamilton has a Mountain though it is really a part of the Niagara Escarpment that divides the city). In the end, the old stadium was knocked down and a new one with a different configuration built on the same land. It was also renamed after a well-known coffee and donut chain (started by Tim Horton - who was a hockey player, not a football player, but that's beside the point) for a lot of money, though for the duration of the games will be called the Pan Am Soccer Stadium
with this year's theme being, appropriately, the Pan Am Games. The games are coming to Toronto in July 2015. There was great excitement when the bid was won. Then things went quickly downhill. Among them were the years of wrangling about what to do with Ivor Wynne Stadium and a long drawn out period of months (literally six or eight months) when every day, the front page of the newspaper (remember, I deliver the thing, I saw it even if I gave up reading about it) carried stories of the ups and downs and to-ing and fro-ing and reversals and back to the future stories of the fate of the stadium that would hold the soccer matches. Homes were expropriated, sites were challenged. It literally went up the mountain and back down again (yes, Hamilton has a Mountain though it is really a part of the Niagara Escarpment that divides the city). In the end, the old stadium was knocked down and a new one with a different configuration built on the same land. It was also renamed after a well-known coffee and donut chain (started by Tim Horton - who was a hockey player, not a football player, but that's beside the point) for a lot of money, though for the duration of the games will be called the Pan Am Soccer Stadium
Anyway, this post and walk for Restless Jo's Monday Walk takes place at the Gage Park Greenhouse
as you walk through the greenhouse, you'll find some of the participating sports displayed
with equipment to admire and explanations to read
the most interesting of which I found on the table tennis sign. we all know it is also called ping pong, but who knew about 'whiff waff' and 'flim flam'?? or that originally it was played using books as net and paddles hitting golf balls?
and of course, the centrepiece is the giant soccer ball
and hiding in the foliage was the pretending-to-be-shy mascot Pachi
That is an amazing display of mums.
ReplyDeleteit is worth the drive to Hamilton to see this. every year, last week of October, or so.
DeleteMy stepdad used to grow them. :) There are so many new varieties these days! Love the table tennis stuff :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice display! Who knew you could do so much with mums. :)
ReplyDeleteA whole show about mums! That's funny to me, because they seem almost like an after-thought flower. Although they are certainly cheery.
ReplyDeletethere are so many different varieties than one usually sees in the shops. I always thought they were a little mundane ... until I started coming to this annual show!
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