Winnipeg for a week

MJ ended up taking a post-doc position in Winnipeg, so it's back to a bachelor's life for me. I helped her move last month, a couple of cold and rainy days there. I remember nearly nothing of my previous visit to Winnipeg, many years ago, on a drive to Vancouver. I didn't get to see much of the city last month either as moving and shopping took up nearly all of our time, the stress of moving stretching everyone's patience.

I went back again last week and helped out with Thanksgiving dinner, which we had with her family. This includes her sister's cat, from whom I got some nasty scratches, he being young and easily excitable. MJ and I ate really well during the days following, trying out some of the trendier eateries, racking up the calories. I also got to see a presentation given by Kent Monkman at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, which was fascinating and sobering as he meticulously unwrapped the layers behind his work. MJ was able to get me a bicycle, so we saw a fair bit of the downtown that way, the Windy City earning its alias.

The people were plenty friendly, and the traffic tame by Toronto standards -- hardly any use of car horns, though grid-lock seemed ever present. Most of the park-land was around the rivers and the Forks, a location made into a tourist area, though I saw little draw of going there -- it seemed like any other river. Sure, it's a sight to behold when immersed in autumn colours but not exceptionally so.

I have been throwing myself into work and video games, there being only the cats to keep me company in the evenings. My next surgery is quickly coming up, an event for which I wonder how ready I am. Perhaps I am just filling in the time until then, when my fears and hopes are answered in full. Though indeed whenever I think about what I've gone through I'm sent through a maddening cycle of anger and despair.


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