winnipeg

A Little Taste Of Winter

Winter. It is ending.

Just yesterday, walking down the riverside walk, as it passes through the The Forks, I found this sad reminder that winter is passing its baton onto spring. Trapped in the exchange are these few remaining blocks of bluish ice set on a barely frozen Assiniboine River.

Just last week, I walked comfortably around these blocks, down a river-top path at the centre of the river. In February I likely sat on one of these blocks. Then, they were furniture set out at the centre of a winter palace. (more…)

A little Taste of Winter

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I call it my Assiniboine Park Loop, a good 10-kilometre walk from my Wolseley neighbourhood home, down the river trails lining the south bank of Assiniboine River, through Assiniboine Park, its English and Leo Mol Sculpture Gardens and then back home on the north side of the river, following the quiet residential streets of St. James. Along that return loop, I pass by Bourkevale Community Centre with its leash-free dog park on the river side and outdoor ice rink on the other.

This is that rink, a sleek surface of manicured ice waiting for a game of hockey. Its sole occupant on this sunny afternoon is a lone, broken chair that somehow escaped from its home in the community centre hall and ended up here, in this improbable winter scene.

How many times have I walked this same loop over the seasons and years, seeing the same things every time? Yet there always seems to be a red chair waiting to be discovered, the gift of a good walk.