What was the Worst Night Out you ever had?

One of the more prettier dayliles in my garden

In the past, I combed through glossy catalogues and ordered daylilies through the mail. Sadly, I found that when they came into flower the following summer, I was frequently disappointed. Too often, I would find myself thinking, "Humm...I probably would not have bought that color, if I had seen it first."

Last summer, I was determined to find a local source for lilies, where I could choose plants in flower and skip the nagging disappointment of mail order flowers.

The Hayfields Nursery field

When I saw an article in Canadian Gardening magazine about Hayfield Daylilies, located not far from Toronto-that was it! I was determined to go.

Now typically, we plan weekends filled with activities my husband and I will both enjoy, but in the case of the weekend in question, we each had specific things we personally wanted to do.

So we made a pack: (Mistake number one)

I'd go to the Tattoo at Old Fort Henry in Kingston, if he would take me daylily shopping on the way home the following day. (Old Fort Henry, a National historic site, is a 19th century British fort overlooking the harbor in Kingston Ontario).

 It seemed like a good deal at the time, but as time would tell, it turned out to be a high price to pay for a visit to a nursery...

On Saturday morning, we did have a great time at the Farmer's Market in downtown Kingston

My dear husband is in a small pipe and drum band and was excited as a school boy to see the Tattoo.

Me, not so much. A little pipe and drum music goes a long way with me! But, hubby was looking forward to it and like a good wife, I was doing my darnedest to get on board with the plan.

Second Mistake of the evening: Hubby was determined to get there early, so we could get prime seating. He wanted to be able to take lots of pictures and even shoot video of the show.

My thinking- it was enough to sit through- I mean, enjoy once- I wasn't going to need the photos or the video reminder. What's more boring than amateur home movies? Video of uniformed bands marching up and down a field. Trust me on this!

Third Mistake: We skipped dinner and decided, to opt instead, on a late supper after the show (in order to be assured of those afore mentioned good seats).

Sadly, hubby got the show start time wrong and we weren't just early, we were ridiculously early! And as I sat down on the rock hard, wooden stadium seating, all I could think was how glad I was that I had had the foresight to bring a magazine to read.

Finally the show started and I even enjoyed it a little bit.

But then, it started to drizzle and then, it started to rain. Big, fat, drops of ice cold rain, no less!

Sitting hunched under my umbrella, trying desperately not to get drenched, my back started to ache. The parade of bands started to drag and on...

and on...

and on...

They march up the field and then down the field and then to keep it interesting(?) they grouped in the center of the field for a pow wow.

I think you get the picture!

My stomache started to grumble and I tried to think, that soon, hopefully very soon, we'd be having a wonderful dinner in one of those a cute little restaurant that we had seen in downtown Kingston earlier that day.

City Hall in downtown Kingston

When I got tired of looking at the action on the field, in my boredom, I started to watch the scary looking spiders on the metal railing in front of me. I have never seen so many spiders in one place in my life!

Increasingly tired after a full day of travel, I began to dread of the inevitable crush of people leaving at the end of the show and the claustrophobic stone and brick staircase that we would all be packed into, like sardines in an can, as we exited the fort's upper terrace.

And then... just when my thoughts hit a negative bottom, there was a light on the horizon and I am not talking about the moon in the sky over the old fort.

The show seemed to hit a bit of a crushendoo and I perked up, thinking dinner at last... 9 o'clock sure enough, but still, not too late for dinner on a Saturday night. Heck, we could always sleep in the next morning.

But no, it seems life can be cruel.

It turned out it was only a 15 intermission! Sob! Apparently, there was still another hour of marching bands to savor after the break! Sensing my unhappiness, my dear husband offered to leave, but I could see he was enjoying the show. I could not bring myself to be so selfish as to drag him away.

I'll spare you any more of this sad tale and fast forward to the end of the night. The show ended sometime after 10. (Note: that's a full 3 hours of marching band music!) It was then too late for dinner. At any rate, cold, miserable and wet, all I wanted at that point, was a hot shower and my nice fluffy pillow back at the hotel. I'd like to tell you I fell asleep to happy dreams, but I was way too tired to do any dreaming at all.

Marriage certainly has its give and take, doesn't it?

Tell me though, and be honest, was I wrong in the first place, when I agreed to go to the Tattoo with my luke warm enthusiasm firmly in tow? Or make me feel better and tell me about the worst night out that you ever had!

On the brighter side of things, I did get to go shopping for daylilies the next morning.

To all my American blogging friends, I hope you are having a great Thanksgiving.

Have a great weekend everyone!