Making Eye Statements: Winnipeg, Part One - The Quirkiness of The Peg

“Being Canadian and from Winnipeg,

I have the spirit of a dreamer...”

- Sarah Carter, Actor

In the mid-1970s, I taught in Dryden, Ontario, in the heart of Northwestern Ontario. I had just returned from teaching in Australia, so you can imagine the shock of moving from + 40℃ to – 40℃. The reality of just how far away Dryden was from my parents’ home in Southeastern Ontario only struck me when I realized that the scale of the official Government of Ontario road map of Southern Ontario was much larger than the scale of Northern Ontario on the reverse side. What looked like a two-hour drive in Southern Ontario turned out to be a four-hour drive in Northern Ontario. I had lived most of my life in Ontario, but I didn’t realize just how huge this province is.

So there I was in Dryden – four hours west of Thunder Bay and four east of Winnipeg. To say that I felt isolated after the urban intensity of Sydney is an understatement. And yet, in retrospect, I appreciate those three years in Dryden, a topic to which I will return later this month. But this week, I want to focus on Winnipeg – The Peg – capital of Manitoba – home of the Winnipeg Jets hockey team – geographic centre of Canada. And a mighty quirky place it is!

You see, during my years in Dryden, Winnipeg meant sanity and survival for me, especially during the long – V-E-R-Y long – Dryden winters. When I first arrived, I was told that people in Dryden did one of three things to cope: they drank, they screwed around, or they joined every civic organization in town. My experience is that many did all three. My primary way of coping was escaping to Winnipeg whenever I could. (Escaping to Thunder Bay did not appeal.)

In my three years of living in the ‘Great Northwest’, I grew very fond of Winnipeg. Its theatres, concerts, art galleries, museums, and restaurants became a vital element of my thriving strategy. Ironically, by escaping to Winnipeg once a month, I was able to appreciate the many gifts that Dryden had to offer. A double blessing.

Until late last month, I had not been back in Winnipeg since I’d left Dryden in 1975. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve flown OVER Winnipeg, so when my quilt-making husband Bill was engaged to teach at Keystone Quilts in Winnipeg, I jumped at the chance to accompany him. While Bill taught, I happily wandered Winnipeg with my camera and my enthusiasms. I hope these photos serve as my official thank-you gift to this wonderful city.

Thank you, Winnipeg! And thank you, Leslie Gislason, the owner of Keystone Quilts. I look forward to seeing both Leslie and Winnipeg again in 2021...if not sooner!

Next week, I plan to write about Winnipeg’s fabulous Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the only Canadian federal museum located outside of the National Capital Region in Ottawa/Hull. Meanwhile, enjoy these photos – and I hope you have a gratitude-filled Thanksgiving.