This Hat is a Helmet

(Want to listen instead?  Less screen time!  For audio, click here ) I was in grade 8 when my grandmother on my mom’s side passed away.   It quickly became apparent that my grandma had been in charge of everything in her household, including taking care of my grandpa.   It only took about one week after she passed for my grandpa to get food poisoning.   As a result, soon after, my grandpa moved in with my family. My family has many stories about life with grandpa and my grandpa had stories of his own to tell.   He would talk about friends he had during the war, often referring to one character named “Bummy Finster.”   We would smile and nod, inwardly dismissing this and other odd “memories.”   My grandpa had dementia, so we figured he often got mixed up and unknowingly fabricated such things as cartoon-like characters for friends. My grandpa also had mobility issues and as time went on, he spent more and more time in front ...

Photo credit: Karl Musser, created it based on USGS and Digital Chart of the World data (accessed online here , sharable under the CC BY-SA 2.5)  (Want to listen to this post instead?  Less screen time! For audio, click here ) The Forks is a historically important landmark in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where I grew up.   It is where two rivers meet: the Assiniboine River, which runs West to East, originating in eastern Saskatchewan and ending at the Forks, and the Red River, which runs South to North, traveling all the way from the Minnesota and North Dakota border, then emptying north of the city into Lake Winnipeg. At the Forks in Winnipeg, the Assiniboine and Red rivers form a junction - a fork in the waters.   Because these rivers span such vast land, over history the rivers were an important transit way for shipping and trading goods.   You can even find a replica of one of the European fur-trading ships in the Manitoba Museum - an ex...

(Want to listen to this post instead?  Less screen time!  For audio, click here ) It was in 2009 that I moved away from my hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba for an internship in another city. I had already been away from home a lot traveling, but this was the first time I left to actually live somewhere and not just visit. Winnipeg sometimes gets a bad rap for its weather, infrastructure and crime - cue music from Winnipeg's own The Weakerthans , “ One great city .” And like any place, it’s residents are the first to talk smack about the city. But like a person with a gruff exterior, for those who grew up there, it’s what's on the inside that counts. Winnipeg is the heart of the continent and if you look close enough, you can find within it a lot of heart. The last time I was in Winnipeg in the winter, I gave the city my own personal slogan: Winnipeg. Cold on the outside. Warm on the inside. I have a very great group of friends from Winnipeg. I'm still conne...