Saturday, June 02, 2007

When I see a slippery slope, my instinct is to build a terrace.
-John McCarthy

When I see a slippery slope, my instinct is to dive right in!
- She...

May 29 marked the attempt at a walk through Royalwood. There was a light mist of rain and everything appeared surreally green. Three of us went walking, laughing and giggling down the asphalt walk-way. This path was almost 1/2 on asphalt, and the second half was to be down dirth paths by the river. As much as I like established walk-ways, I was really looking foward to getting in the thick of the trees, and hearing the Seine River water as we passed by it.
Here's where the kicker is. After only 3 walks, I'm going to deviate from the plan as far as what I post. The plan (which will hereafter be in effect) is to have the blog as impersonally personal as possible. Today, however, I will break with that plan and post a picture of actual people.

This is what happened. About 10 steps after the asphalt path, we walked through a puddle. Actually, I walked through the puddle. :) After all, I was barefoot in birkenstocks, so I didn't have to worry about keeping my shoes/feet clean. On the 11th step, I went bum-bum over teakettle! The picture shows the results. It seemed such a good story to tell that I couldn't resist posting the picture!

At some point over the summer, I will take this walk again. The dirt-path part looks so pretty. I'll need to try better footwear next time.

Monday, May 28, 2007

I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards.
- Abraham Lincoln



On May 18, I took a trip to McBeth Park. I think this is the prettiest walk I've seen in Winnipeg. (Not just in the past month, but in the entire time I've lived here.) It's a short walk. Part of it goes through the yard of McBeth House, then down along the Red River, then a very short part through some residential area. (I think this area is called River Bend?)

It was the absolute perfect thing to do on May 18. I had a lot of news to process. There was a park-bench overlooking some natural grassland. It wasn't an entirely warm day, but this area was surrounded by trees, and the shining sun felt fantastic on my face.

Interestingly, there was an abandoned house complete with grafiti. It was surprising to me, that no one had scooped up the house with such an awesome location. I'm sure there's more story to it being vacant. But what fun is there in knowing the real story when you can make up your own!


I couldn't settle on one picture for this location. Of the pictures displayed, one is of a tree that would have covered the walking path had it not been saw-ed. (Sawed. Is that a word?!?) The diameter of the tree hit my shoulder! Another is close to the meadow where I sat and basked in the sun. The third is my

fav flower. :)

I can't resist smelling the lilacs!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007


"Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known."

- Winnie The Pooh


The 13th of May provided a lucky find in St. Boniface. This walk isn't on the list, but a friend and I just chanced upon the Lagimodière-Gaboury Park. In we went, and spent some time on the bridge solving the problems of the world.


Thank God for lucky finds!

Thursday, May 03, 2007


People say that losing weight is no walk in the park. When I hear that I think, yeah, that's the problem. ~Chris Adams

Mark May 3rd, 2007 as the first walk towards the goal. My friend and I walked the Wildwood Walk. It was beautiful. This is the area of town that reminds me of a forest. It was too early for all the leaves to be out, but during the summer, light can barely penetrate through the trees.

Some of the highlights of today's walk were:
- racoon tracks! They look just like a child's hand!
- a questionable climb up a biiiiiiiig steep hill.
- a minor session of solving the world's problems.
- a chance to sing in harmony.

It was a great start and couldn't have been more perfect. I'm excited to see what the next walk will bring!

Sunday, April 29, 2007


He who limps is still walking.- Stanislaw J. Lec


Today I picked up a book that lists 38 Winnipeg walks. While the "full bore on" me would like to finish 'em all in 38 days, I'm going to set a goal to finish all of the non-winter walks before the end of the summer. I'm really excited and can't wait to see if the weather will co-operate tomorrow. Manitoba is such a fantastic summer province. Winnipeg has so many noooks and crannies to be discovered yet.

Some of the things that will hopefully happen along the way are:
- build stronger friendships with people who might walk with me.
- reflect more purposely on life and the many paths it might take.
- further enjoy a Manitoba summer