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13 THE MUSICAL Now Playing at the Guelph Little Theatre

September 28, 2019 by nancy Leave a Comment

 

It is Friday night in the Royal City, what better way to spend an evening than to take in a live performance and watch 13 THE MUSICAL at the Guelph Little Theatre.

My date for the evening was my 13-year-old daughter and her 2 giggling teeny bobber friends.  This is the first play of the Guelph Little Theatre 2019-2020 season and the musical runs until October 6th. 

The 3 gigglers beside me who are currently seniors in their secondary school all said how much the loved the performance. When asked if they could relate with the characters they all smiled and said, “Oh for sure, it so true to life!”  

Jen and Paul Barson the producers of the show commented, “When 13 The Musical was originally produced on Broadway, the musicians were teens as well as actors.  We wanted to take that to the next level for our production here at GLT and we staffed almost all the backstage roles with youth volunteers as well.”  The director, Thea Lale a young women said in the playbill that she had never written a Director’s note before. 

We watched the coming of age story play out as 13-year-old lead actor Evan Goldman moves from New York City to small town Appleton, Indiana.  He is coming to terms with his newly divorced parents, while trying to fit in with the “cool kids’ at his new school.  He hopes they will all attend his bar mitzvah, when giving out the invites describing it as a fun party to his newly non-Jewish classmates.

Looking around the audience which was all ages I could not help but think they too were reliving their school days as well.  Some memories good and some not so good.

The 5 piece live band was great and was a great addition to the rock score of the coming of age musical.  The music was incredible and like any music does it helped bring the character alive.  The many solos in the play and the singing was hard to belief for such young performers. 

We watched as Evan navigated many emotions being the new kid in school attempting to fit in with the jocks, pretty girls, cheerleaders, cool guys, and the outcasts.  

The set was simple but very well done.  You could visualize many of the different scenes.  I especially liked the simple painted boxes used throughout the play which did not feel repetitive at all.

There was a lot of interest in the initial try outs for the casting call of this play.  There were 80 people who auditioned for the 13 acting roles. All of the actors are in the up and coming stages and all exhibited a high level of professionalism. 

The ending of this 2 act play brought the packed house to a standing ovation with lots of applause for the amazing talented group of young men and women who told the story so wonderfully. 

This play is just one of many you can attend for the new season of the Guelph Little Theatre.  Check out the link to purchase tickets, https://guelphlittletheatre.com/big-shows/tickets/.  Thanks GLT for a great evening.  We look forward to the next show!

 

Talk soon,

 

Nancy

Filed Under: Arts & Entertainment Tagged With: arts and entertainment, coming of age, Explore, Guelph, Guelph Little Theatre, live theatre, musical, Reviews, Theatre, wander, wandering wellington county, wellington county

5 Things to do in Wellington County

September 24, 2019 by nancy Leave a Comment

WHAT GOING ON IN WELLINGTON COUNTY THIS WEEKEND?

 

  • Elora / Fergus Studio Tour:  September 28th/29th https://elorafergusstudiotour.com/

 

  • Stroms Farm & Bakery: Open Weekends September – Until October 31st http://www.strom.ca/

 

  • Harvest Home Festival:  September 29th https://www.wellington.ca/en/business/tr-harvesthomefestival.aspx

 

  • Culture Days Wellington County Events:  September 28th & 29th https://www.culturedays.ca/on

 

  • Fall Rural Romp:  September 28th https://www.wellington.ca/en/business/tr-fallruralromp.aspx

Filed Under: Adventures, Events, Travelling Thoughts

New Elora Luxury B&B Accomodations Inner Joy Getaways

September 5, 2019 by nancy Leave a Comment

An Elora couple has found a unique way to re-use shipping containers.

Will and Laura Feenstra are the owners of Inner Joy Getaways, just outside of Elora, where they have turned former shipping containers into luxurious suites.

Inner Joy Getaways 7.44 acres of land along four suites looking out onto the Grand River. Along the side of the property is Swan Creek which is a premium fly fishing spot on the Grand River.

“The property has acres upon acres of protected GRCA land and beside us is a small protected bush area.  You can tube right from the Elora gorge all the way to the property. The Wilson flats are just minutes down the road from us along with various other hiking paths,” said Laura.

She said they had been watching the property on the market for 1.5 years prior and they thought they would look at it just for fun. 

(This article was originally Published at Village Media, Guelph Today, see link below)

To read more, check out the link on Guelph Today, https://www.guelphtoday.com/local-news/elora-business-turns-shipping-containers-into-luxurious-accommodations-1671276

Talk soon ~

Nancy

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Bed and Breakfast, blogger, elora, Guelph Today, Inner Joy Getaways, Luxury Accomodations, Shipping Container Accomodations, Suites, Travel Bloger, wandering wellington county, wellington county

5 Tips for Your Toronto CN TOWER VISIT

August 22, 2019 by nancy Leave a Comment

 

  • Make sure you charge your phone, and check that it is working well before your visit.  You can capture the most amazing photos of the City, or take a selfie with the Toronto skyline.   Take tons of photos if you can, (my phone which was having technical issues at the time, sighh).  
  • Take a backpack with some water and snacks.  Or if you are like me and didn’t bring any snacks and beverages with you, check out the new Bistro with food and drinks.  We had a chance to sit down at the new bistro and watch the world go around, it was fun.  Last time we were there, we dined (burgers) at the 360 restaurant experience, it was great and not too expensive.
  • Buy an Express Pass for the Elevator – It will cost you $7.00 per person, but it was well worth it.  Our wait times went from 1.5hr to 30 minutes.  I really liked this option, we thought it was great value.
  • Go as early as you can, (they suggest before noon is the less busiest time of the day).  
  • Have FUN, walk across the glass bottom floor if you dare! My kids ran across, I was a little nervous and did not.  Walk all around the observation decks, both indoors and outdoors.  Wear comfortable shoes!

 

Here is the link to purchase tickets and to check out more information about the CN TOWER, https://www.cntower.ca/en-ca/plan-your-visit/tickets.html  Maybe take the new Edgewalk?

 

Talk soon ~

 

Nancy

 cn6toronto

cn1CN

Filed Under: Adventures Tagged With: adventures in my backyard, attractions pass, city, CN TOWER, cntower, daytrips, tallest building, torontotourism, tours, towers, travel, travelblogger

The Drayton Entertainment Disney Beauty and the Beast

August 17, 2019 by nancy Leave a Comment


Photo By: Hilary Gauld Camilleri

The Drayton Festival Theatre, a renovated 1902 Opera House was at full capacity last evening for the opening night of the Disney classic, Beauty and the Beast.  Entering the former Town Hall and Opera House the building was lit up ready for its audience to watch “A tale as old as time”.

The Drayton spin on the old tale was magnificent.  The audience was captivated from the very beginning until its final bows.  Entering into the old building it was bustling with preshow activity, 50/50 draw tickets, people purchasing admission at the box office, as well as patrons having a few beverages before the show.

Hearing the bell we knew it was time to quickly find our seats.  The theatre is very accessible with one of our attendees who required the elevator to bring us to the balcony seating.  As always we found the staff to be so welcoming and helpful during our evening.

The show began with the iconic voice of Lloyd Robertson narrating the opening act where we met the handsome looking fellow who played the beast by actor Tony Edgerton.  Within minutes the Prince is transformed into a hideous beast after a spell is cast on him. 

The tale begins when we are introduced to Belle, played by Jessica Gallant who discovers her father is missing so she sets out on a search to find him.  

Later at the castle we find the beast staring at the enchanted rose wondering how he will ever return to normal.  Meanwhile in the basement of the castle Belle’s father is trapped in a cage.

The set was ever-changing with quick scene changes that brought the tale to life.  The set designer Christine Peters, definitely utilized the magic of Disney in all her designs.   The costumes were colorful and added to the fairy-tale appeal, including the debut of Chip, who played the cup of tea. 

The first set was a full of musical acts and we enjoyed the antics of Belle’s hometown.  There were the Village silly girls, Gaston, Lefou and lots of singing and dancing of course.

We watched Gaston’s flex his muscles throughout the show all the while trying to win the beauty’s heart to no avail. 

beautybeast3

Photo by: Hilary Gauld Camilleri

Belle gave up her freedom for her father, we knew little about the journey it would take her on.  The musical stirred all the senses and emotions like any good fairy-tale does.  Like all good ending we hoped that love would be found.

The Drayton musical adaptation of the Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is wonderful for all audiences, including both younger and older.  We were transformed into a magical fairy-tale world for 2.5 hours.  The cast, crew and director Jayme Armstrong certainly deserved the standing ovation. 

Go see this creative performance playing until August 31st at the Drayton Festival Theatre. You can purchase tickets here at 1-855-DRAYTON or check out the website to purchase tickets, https://www.draytonentertainment.com/Online/default.asp.

You will have to come and see for yourself if love will safe the day!

 

Talk soon,

 

 

Nancy

 

 

Filed Under: Arts & Entertainment Tagged With: adventures in my backyard, beauty and the beast, drayton theatre, Entertainment, Reviews, Theatre, wandering wellington county

Washed Ashore Exhibit at the Toronto Zoo

August 16, 2019 by nancy Leave a Comment

marlin

During a recent trip to the wonderful Toronto Zoo this past Month, one of the first things you see when walking into the gates is a larger than life-sized Marlin.  

Looking closer you could see it was made of recycled materials, reading the plaque by this huge fish was my first time learning about this travelling project called “Washed Ashore”, “Art to Save the Sea”. Here is the link about this project found on the Toronto Zoo, http://www.torontozoo.com/washedashore/.

octupus

Walking around the Zoo in the warm sunny skies, I had an opportunity to explore all 10 of these amazing larger than life sculptures. 

Of course like many visitors, I too had snapped photos of the gang standing beside these friendly characters.

A travel friend commented on one of my social media posts.  She mentioned how much she had loved this artist.  She first saw these creatures at an exhibit in Palm Beach Florida several years ago. 

This lead me to do some more research and learn more about the artist and realized how lucky we and the visitors to the Zoo are to know this is the Canadian Debut of this thought-provoking exhibit.

penguin

The lead artist and founder of this organization is Angela Haseltine Pozzi.  Each sculpture is designed and created by a team of people who love the Ocean and the mission of this amazing project. Pozzi said the first step is to let people know there is a problem with plastics and garbage in our Oceans.  

“The friendly characters are giving a voice to what needs to be done, better than what a statistical chart can do”, shares one of the artists on a YouTube video.

Here is the CEO of the Toronto Zoo sharing about the Canadian Debut of the project on the Zoo’s FB page, https://www.facebook.com/TheTorontoZoo/videos/716042262151443/

An interesting article on how a dog advisor learns from zoo’s on behaviours can be found here, https://yourdogadvisor.com/zoo-mental-exercise/.  

Help get the conversations started about our environment, share these great images which are taken from the Washed Ashore Website or better yet go see them yourself, they are only on display until November 17th, 2019.

 

Talk soon ~

 

 

Nancy

 

Filed Under: Arts & Entertainment Tagged With: Artistic, blog, Environment, Fish, Giant Animals, Plastic Art, Toronto, Toronto Zoo, travel blog, wandering wellington county, washed ashore, washed ashore project

A Birds Eye View of Toronto

August 4, 2019 by nancy Leave a Comment

Toronto a City of almost 3 million people, just 1 hour West of Wellington County is a great City to go day tripping.  We finally had the opportunity to take the amazing hop on hop off City SightSeeing Toronto bus tour the other day with a friend and our kids. 

My 12-year-old daughters dream of riding a double-decker bus had finally come true!  We hopped on the last ride of the day at the habourfront pick up point at 249 Queens Quay West.

toronto3

What a view, if you have never had the opportunity to go on an open air double-decker bus it is highly suggested from my daughter Meaghan!  Our travel friend Dawn always takes the bus tours when traveling, and knew the City of Toronto well.  It is always great to go with someone who can add their favorite comments about your travels.

The bus departed and we were off!  The tour of the City, took us about 2.5 – 3 hours (normally a 2 hour tour), to take the whole tour and it was well worth the ticket price. 

It also includes access for 48 hours and a boat tour.  The boat tour is so amazing, we set sail from the Toronto Harbourfront around the Toronto Islands.  The photos we took from the boat tour on the Serendipity Princess Cruise added to our wonderful memories of our day in the City!

boatcruise

Having taken the tour, which included a commentary it allowed us to walk away with much more knowledge of this amazing City.  Here are my 5 things I learned on the tour.

toronto2

 

  • Toronto has 140 ethnic neighbourhoods in the City.
  • The St. Lawrence Market has been a culinary focal point since, 1803.
  • The Distillery district has no car access, looks like its own little Village.
  • John Graves Simcoe moved the capital of Upper Canada to Toronto, which he named York, not wanting an aboriginal name.
  • The R.O.M. Royal Ontario Museum, only has 5% of their collection on display, with the other 95% at a secret underground location.

toronto1

 

We got to see sights and sounds you wouldn’t normally be able to see driving on your own.  Such as when the bus stopped we all watched a band play in front of the Eaton’s Center. 

It was an amazing way to just sit back and relax and not worry about the crazy rush hour traffic.  It was a beautiful warm sunny day, however there was a lovely breeze to keep us cool as we drove along the scenic streets.

We got to see all of the major sites in the City which included a little history about each of the sites.  I loved all of the architecture and the different ethnic communities we traveled.  Here is the link to the tour, https://citysightseeingtoronto.com/

Talk soon ~

 

Nancy

toronto

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Adventures, Wandering Beyond Tagged With: adventures, besttours, bigcity, blogger, bustours, City Tours, CitySightSeeing, Explore, familytime, I LOVE TORONTO, kidstravelling, ontarioyourstodiscover, Toronto, Toronto Tourism, torontocitysighseeingtours, torontotourism, tourism, travel, travel blogger, travelblogger, travellors, wandering wellington county, wanderingwellingtoncounty

Revitalization of the Elora Mill

July 3, 2019 by nancy Leave a Comment

20181210-elora-mill-supplied-1

  • To read the full story, click on the link for Guelph Today (Nancy is a freelancer for Village Media).

The quaint village of Elora has been revitalized by the revitalization of the Elora Mill & Spa.

Pearle Hospitality rescued the Mill from bankruptcy in 2010 and restored the 175 year old iconic building and added a spa, all at a cost of roughly $27 million.  

The Elora Mill Hotel & Spa officially reopened its doors to the public last July.

Newly appointed general manager Geoffrey Wild, who hails from South Africa and whose resumé includes management of large world class hotels, was engaging, professional and had a good sense of humour when he spoke about his role at the inn.

To read more, click on the link for Guelph Today (article was first published)…

https://www.guelphtoday.com/local-news/new-look-elora-inn-spa-helps-revitalize-the-village-1152692

Talk soon,

Nancy

Filed Under: GUELPH TODAY ARTICLES

Summer Adventures In My BackYard

June 20, 2019 by nancy Leave a Comment

falls

Grand River

With the official kickoff of Summer happening tomorrow June 21st, many of us are busy planning our summer vacations.  What plans do you have this summer?  It is such a short season, and we have had alot of rain and not as warm as usual.

Some of us will be jumping on a plane and travelling to far away distant lands.  For others like myself, we will be staying around locally and discovering the many hidden “adventures in my backyard”.

Sometimes you don’t have to travel far to feel like you are in a far away land.  Often times just travelling around the neighbourhood can feel like a new escape.  It is all a mindset, or perhaps taking a different road on your daily commute.  We are so lucky to have so many beautiful places in this little part of the World.

Elora, Fergus, Elmira, St. Jacobs and Guelph are just a few of the great little Towns and Villages to go exploring this summer.  Pack a picnic, test out the local cuisine, farmers markets, jump in the local Lakes, or take in an event there are hundreds and watch the world go by.

Here are some great links to place in the area to discover, https://www.wellington.ca/en/business/EDVisitWellington.aspx.  Follow us this summer as we go exploring discovering new places and people this season!

Talk soon,

Nancy

Summer Trail Adventures

ADVENTURE AWAITS

Filed Under: Adventures, Travelling Thoughts, Wellington County Tagged With: blogger, Centre Wellington, farmers markets, travel, travelblogger, Wandering

The Man Who Shot Chance Delaney

May 25, 2019 by nancy Leave a Comment

chance

It is so great to have a night out; especially a date night with your 12-year-old daughter. 

My daughter luckily still likes to hang out with her Mom on a Friday night, I am not sure how much longer that will last.  Meaghan and I were excited to watch the performance of  The Man Who Shot Chance Delaney together as she performed in a Western play with the Centre Wellington Children’s Drama Club in Fergus not too long ago.   

We settled into our seats and were transported back to the 1900’s to a small town in Kansas where the majority of the play took place in the Lucky Dollar Saloon along with several other locations.  

This two act play was written by Canadian playwright Ian Weir.  I had read about Weir he had a dream of being a writer when he was young, but was told like many artists, “Yes but what will you do to earn a living?” 

We watched the 6 experienced actors who all had multiple roles in the play with delight and awe as they quickly transformed from one character to another mostly without even leaving the stage.  The visual effects of the lighting and set design all made for a great Wild West gun slinging story.

I especially liked the quick flip of an apron strap which changed the lead actress Molly into a totally different character once the strap was properly fastened on the apron. There were the many voices of Perkins, the fast talking Brewster and Abilene who changed from a young women to a little boy with just a flip of a hat.

The storytelling began with a stranger who entered the Saloon and started to share his tales.  Meanwhile at the same time the tales were told by each actor helping to get a better glimpse of how the story unfolded.  The story included like any good Western shootouts, bar fights, and broken hearts.

Chatting with my daughter on the way home she commented, “It was as if there was multiple layers to the characters and you had to listen really closely to see what would happen next!”  I agreed and said “It sure was an evening of great storytelling and was so well done.” 

From the experience my daughter had in a live production, it give us a glimpse of the many hours of rehearsal required for a production. 

Many thanks to the Director of the play Denise Gismondi, Judi McCuaig the Producer and Bev Maintenay the Stage Manager and Assistant Director. 

The GLT has many volunteers that help make the productions run smoothly and I am told they are always looking for more people to come and help them share the love of arts and the Royal City.  

The entertainment continued after the show when we walked into the lobby and a dance party had begun with the Range Riders band playing country music.

If you want to find out Who Shot Chance Delaney and how the story ends you still have time to attend a show, it is running until June 2, 2019. 

Bring a date to either next Friday or Saturday’s evening performance and you can kick up your heels to the Dan Badger Band playing both pre show and post show with the bar open later.    You can purchase tickets at the Guelph Little Theatre, http://www.guelphlittletheatre.com/.

Talk soon ~

Nancy

Filed Under: Arts & Entertainment Tagged With: actors, blogger, date night, daughter mom date, Guelph, Guelph Little Theatre, live theatre, night out, review, storytelling, Theatre, wandering wellington county

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Meet Nancy

Wandering Wellington County developed from Nancy incorporating all her passions into one - travelling, writing & building connections within the community.

Nancy lives, works and plays in Wellington County along with her "little people". If you have an event or story you would like to share we would love to connect.

Please contact info@
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