Get married? Check.

Buy a house? Done.

Have a baby…  any time now!

Yep, my husband and I will welcome our first child very shortly, and since pregnancy is such a major life event, the last nine months have given me a real education in expectation. Reflecting on it all  has inspired me to share a bit about what I’ve discovered – I hope it will be of some use to fellow expectant parents in the city.  I’m certainly no pro, but I have managed to figure some things out!

Doctors, Obstetricians & Midwives

One of the most frustrating things about moving to a new city is getting yourself set up with new healthcare providers.  When I found out I was pregnant, I hadn’t yet found a family doctor, and that was pretty stressful (as if there aren’t other things on your mind when you’re in your first trimester, like not throwing up!). The Family Doctor Connection did not prove to be particularly helpful – I wound up just searching the internet for Winnipeg medical clinics accepting new patients and eventually did get into one.

Eventually I was referred to an obstetrician who think is great, but when I found out that pregnant women in Manitoba can choose to work with a doctor or a midwife, I was disappointed that I hadn’t pursued the latter option. Fortunately, we’ve been able to somewhat bridge the differing styles of prenatal care by hiring a doula who has been meeting with us regularly over the last few months, and who will be with us when our baby is born.

Midwives are funded through the province of Manitoba and can generally attend hospital and home births. Be forewarned, though: there’s a shortage of midwives in the province. According to this Free Press item, the province funds about 40, but needs more like 200.  Apparently, the College of Midwives is turning away more than half the people who want a midwifery birth. You can see a list of all midwife practices here. (Midwives support low-risk home and hospital births – pretty cool.)

Hospital Births

In Winnipeg, only St. Boniface Hospital and the Health Sciences Centre (HSC) have maternity wards.  I’ll be delivering at St. B,  which is made up of private, LDRP (labour/delivery/recovery/postpartum) rooms, and semi-private rooms. You can take a monthly “virtual tour” of the St. B maternity ward every 2nd Thursday of the month. The first half hour/45 minutes is a powerpoint presentation by an anaesthesiologist, addressing drug options for labour. The second half is a slide show and presentation by a labour & delivery nurse, and for me, this part of the presentation was much more valuable. The nurse shared when to come to the hospital, and what to bring, and answered the question that everyone wants to know: how do I get a private LDRP room? (The answer is sort of complicated, but I was relieved to know that even if you don’t get an LDRP room, you still have your own room for labour, delivery, and recovery. It’s only after the delivery that you’ll be sharing a room.)

Also of great interest to me is the construction of a free-standing birthing centre (“Women’s Health Clinic”) that is scheduled to begin by Spring of 2011. It’s expected to handle 500 births per year, and “will include a primary-care clinic and four birthing rooms, and facilities for education and counselling.” (CBC News item)

Ultrasounds

Sorry ladies, this ain’t the United States, where if you believe what you see on A Baby Story, you’d get a whole bunch of chances to see your little one in utero. In Manitoba, I’ve been told, and it was my experience, that unless you’re high risk, you’ll probably get one ultrasound at around 20 weeks. And it’s for medical purposes, not to determine the sex of the baby. (Don’t bother to ask if it’s a boy or a girl, because apparently they won’t tell you! At St. B, anyway. I’m not sure about HSC.) At St. Boniface, you can order a DVD of your ultrasound for $50 (allow  weeks for processing). This was a hard reality for me to learn, since all I wanted was one snapshot to show family and friends, and tuck into a baby book. In the end we opted save some money (am I becoming a frugal Winnipegger, or what??) and to forego the ultrasound DVD. If you’re willing to pay, BabyMoon and UC Baby are private ultrasound clinics that offer a variety of photo/DVD/etc. packages.

Doulas (a.k.a. labour coaches)

As I mentioned earlier, we found a wonderful doula through Birth Roots Doula Collective who has been meeting with us over the last few months and will be with us when I go into labour. She has been an excellent source of information, reassurance, and support and we feel very lucky to be working with her. While doulas (personal labour coaches) aren’t paid for by the province, most have a sliding scale fee policy… we are paying the full Birth Roots price at $575+tax. Other organizations such as MACFE (a non-profit) charge less.

Incidentally, word on the street is that doula services in Manitoba are way underpriced. A friend of mine in Calgary who is also expecting looked into getting a doula, and the least expensive service they found cost $900. I have heard that doulas in Toronto often charge $1000. We’ve had such a positive experience with our doula so far that I’m sure we would happily pay a higher rate, if it were required.

Prenatal classes, activities & networking

One of the downsides of moving away from your old friends is that once “baby fever” hits your gang, you may find, as I did, that you want to be around other expectant mothers but don’t know any! Fortunately I’ve been able to meet some other pregnant women through prenatal classes and prenatal yoga, both of which are held at Birth Roots. I’ve especially enjoyed the 8-week yoga class, as we generally had group discussions both before and after the class. Moksha Yoga also offers prenatal yoga, and the Winnipeg Leisure Guide lists several pre-and postnatal (and pre-/postnatal friendly) classes including yoga, aquafit, exercise, etc.

Two online forums have been somewhat useful, too: Baby Center’s Parents in Manitoba board and What to Expect’s Canadian Parents board.

Maternity & baby clothing and gear

I’ve had a lot of luck finding gently worn maternity clothes at Mom’s and Children’s Paradise, got my winter coat at Motherhood Maternity, and almost never left Thyme without something cute! As for baby gear, a colleague told me early on to watch the Zellers flyers because they routinely have big sales in the baby department… and it’s true, they do! E-Children is a smaller chain whose Winnipeg store in located in the Exchange, and they have really lovely cribs, bassinets, bedding, furniture, etc. there. We purchased cloth diapers from a local mother/daughter team who runs Canada’s Diaper Ladies. I’ve also heard good things about AMP Diapers.

And again, I wouldn’t be a thrifty Winnipegger if I didn’t scope out a bunch of garage sales a couple weekends back, and score a bunch of barely-used clothes, a Snugli, and a diaper bag for a fraction of what they would have cost new. (On a related note, this year I discovered that there are somewhat regular “community garage sales” where entire neighbourhoods plan their sales on the same weekend… I visited the Whyte Ridge sales on May 8, and the Linden Woods sale is right around the corner on June 5.)

I’ve also made excellent use of Winnipeg Public Library‘s extensive collection of pregnancy and baby name books. I’m looking forward to taking the little one to some WPL programming eventually, too!

Anyway, that’s about it (I know, this was a novel) from me on this topic. I’d love to hear about others’ experiences, tips, and comments about preparing for a baby in Manitoba… it can be an overwhelming and anxious time of life, so the more we can share with each other, the better

I still feel a little conflicted about the concept of fundraising for weddings, even though it seems like it’s basically the same pool of money (and crushing sense of guilt and obligation) that passes from one couple to the next, which I am happily exempted from since I didn’t grow up here and don’t really get it. But I can say for certain that it’s a brilliant concept for fundraising in general, especially when the proceeds are going towards community development projects and, in the case of the Winnipeg social tonight, the Health Sciences Centre Foundation, CancerCare Manitoba Foundation and Children’s Hospital Research Foundation of Manitoba.

I’m book-clubbing it up tonight, so cube cheese and rye bread are not in the picture for me, but there’s some good pre-emptive coverage of what’s in store for social goers tonight in today’s Free Press: ”Ain’t no party like a Manitoba party“. The articles includes tips & memories from fellow bloggers Ben MacPhee- Sigurdson and ChrisD as well as from other prominent ‘Peggers. It also includes a list of 20 essential social songs, which is eerily similar to the standard setlist of every junior high dance I ever went to.

Hope you get your fill of C&C Music Factory, pretzels on paper plates, and kolbassa a-plenty. And my fingers are crossed that you win the silent auction prize you want the most!

According to my trusty “Manitoba Book of Everything” this is what kids here often say instead of “Trick or Treat!”. I’d never heard of it until I moved here, and sort of have the idea that it might be something people used to say (see  Aaron Schwartz remembers Halloween in Ashern, MB and Willy Cole remembers Halloween in East Selkirk, MB) but do they anymore? I’ll find out!

Growing up in Alberta we said “Trick or Treat!”, but also joked around with a little song that went “Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat” – how charming, now that I think of it.

Did you grow up saying “Halloween Apples”?  Or something else?

I have devised a method of determining the level of local and provincial patriotism evidenced by the names of  each of these prominent CBC Radio One hosts. Here’s how the points system will work: each host is awarded one point for each first or last name that begins with either an “M” or “W”; the host may receive 1 (one) additional point if they possess both an “M” and a “W” as the first letter of either their first or last name; the host may receive 1/2 (half) a point if they possess a duplicate “M” or “W” as the first letter of their first or last name. Sounds pretty simple, huh? Well I say let’s start tabulating those points! But first, I know there are several awesome people that regularly broadcast on CBC Radio One (Manitoba); however, I am focusing on the major show “leaders” from our provincial radio programming. According to the website (click on “Programs”) these are our main hosts:

Terry MacLeod and Marcy Markusa (Information Radio), Marilyn Maki (Radio Noon), Margaux Watt (Up to Speed), Wabanakwut Kinew (The 204; Weekends with Wab), Beverley Watson (The Weekend Morning Show), and Mark Szyszlo (North Country). If you dispute this list, please let me know; we can add others!

Terry MacLeod = 1 point (“M”; my name change suggestion for more points: “Merry MacLeod,” which would also earn another 1/2 point!)

Mark Szyszlo = 1 point (“M”; my name change suggestion for more points: “Mark Wyszlo,” guaranteeing 3 points)

Wabanakwut Kinew = 1 point (“W”; my name change suggestion for more points: “Wab Minew,” which would secure Wab 3 points! Plus, it just sounds cute)

Beverley Watson = 1 point (“W”; my name change suggestion for more points: “Maverley Watson,” for a solid 3 points)

Marcy Markusa = 2.5 points (“M,” “M,” and 1/2 point for the double “M”)

Marilyn Maki = 2.5 points (Just like Marcy, Marilyn’s a double “M”!)

And our winner is…Margaux Watt = 3 points! (one “M,” one “W,” and a full extra point for the combo!)

A note about CBC News at 6 and the I-team. Janet Stewart and John Sauder have the same…exact…initials – aside from their middle names, which I don’t know. While this is creepy in its own way (the matching initials), I find it interesting that neither of them has an M or a W as the first letter of either their first or last names. Just like Janet and John, I-team lead investigator Alex Freedman also does not have an M or a W in his main initials. What conclusions can be drawn here? Did this team miss the memo about how important my discovery would be? Do you think these outcast CBC hosts should consider changing their names in order to become more beloved in the hearts of “W”innipeggers and “M”anitobans?

My suggestion is that Janet Stewart should consider changing her name to Waneta Stewart (1 point). The name John Sauder might easily be replaced by John Waulder (1 point), and Alex Freedman might have a better better luck as Will Manfreed (that’s a creative switch that would earn him 3 points…if he cared!). I mean, c’mon – what’s a name change if it means you can join the ranks of those other chic, patriotic CBC personalities? If I’m ever a host on CBC Radio One (Manitoba) you can bet I’ll be changing my name to Maron Witchett in a heartbeat! But seriously…is it just a strange coincidence that so many of these hosts have “M” and “W” names?

• La Cocina tortilla chips
• Morden’s chocolates
• Half Pints Stir Stick Stout
• Green Bean – Hot 103 “Coffee with a Purpose” Red River Roast
• Canoe brand Shoal Lake Wild Rice
• Greetalia Honey Dill Sauce (yes, you read that right!)
• DD. Leobard Winery Raspberry Wine
• Nutty Club Chicken Bones
• Old Dutch chips

To hold the bounty... this tote bag from Weirdos of Winnipeg

We bundled it all up in a Weirdos of Winnipeg canvas bag and pinned on some cool Confusion Corner and Louis Riel buttons.

We had to make sure all the items would survive the drive to the Coast sans refrigeration, so cheese (New Bothwell, perhaps?), pretty much anything Peak of the Market, and frozen perogies were out of the question. We would have liked to add some Pic a Pop and ManitoBars, in there, too, but we ran out of time to track them down

While a couple of these items immediately came to mind, we turned to the Manitoba Food Processors Association’s Manitoba Made food guide to get more ideas. We’re not locavores by any stretch, but it did feel good to collect such a lovely bounty of locally-made food!

Hopefully I’ll get out to the Coast to visit Laurel before too long, and I’m sure I’ll lug along some more Half Pints, as this is my favourite Manitoba product to share with out-of-provincers.

What’s your favourite local food item? What do you like to get visitors to try when they visit?

Armed with only large bills (rookie mistake) and a list of garage sales, we set off on our mission.

Aaron: For the most part I’m an outgoing and sociable person. I’ve worked in retail for years and years, and this has further developed my small-talk skills and tolerance for brief, meaningless conversation. However, I hate haggling or even mildly arguing with someone I don’t know (I’m not sure I enjoy it that much with people I do know). Because our mission was to garage sale as seasoned Winnipeg garage salers might, I knew I’d have to negotiate a deal at some point. Following our visits to two lame sales and one mystery address that didn’t seem to exist, we headed over Chief Peguis trail to the Winnipeg garage sale mecca: Inkster Boulevard!

The fruits of Aaron's haggling skills.

With just one address to guide us (collected and mapped by Emma the night before; further navigated by Laurel and her iPhone), we were shocked to discover the surplus of garage sale signs planted in the the grass along Inkster boulevard. Particularly impressive are the intersections where the signs tend to converge and multiply. Zipping along Inkster to our next address we stopped abruptly due to suspicion of a closer target. The single yellow balloon tied to a gate always belies a garage sale in the backyard. Once inside we spotted a garage sale and thrift store staple item: UNICORN paraphernalia. Foregoing the temptation, I found two items totalling $2.25, and Emma found herself a Tupperware item priced at $5.00. I had a feeling this would be my only opportunity to haggle like a Winnipegger, so I approached the lady in charge and upon displaying the three items in my hands, I asked would she accept $5.00 for the lot? After a couple of seconds delay (“YES! She wants to barter!”) she accepted my offer and it was all over. I didn’t get to haggle after all, but I did make her an offer she couldn’t refuse…Winnipeg style!

Emma: Garage sales are crazy. When I was growing up, my family would have one every couple years – sometimes with neighbours, sometimes on our own, but I never put too much thought into them one way or another. It was much more fun to go to other people’s sales, and I often would troll around the neighbourhood looking for purchasable-with-allowance treasures… Ziggy mugs, cat posters, that sort of awesome thing.  Now that I’m an adult and have learned that time equals money, it blows my mind the amount of work that people are willing to put into a garage sale that might make them one or two hundred bucks, best case scenario.

Twenty cents worth of glassware.

There are definitely a few sorts of garage sale hosts. One, the kind who, despite having advertised the starting time as 8am, at 8:15 seem to have just rolled out of bed and are now dragging boxes onto the lawn. At this kind of sale, there are no price tags in sight, and the hosts are sitting on the front steps drinking coffee, bleary-eyed and zoned out. Another kind is ultra-organized: every item has its price and place on the table, and the host keeps track of each sale in a little notebook. There’s obviously a lot of planning that’s gone into the affair, and the sellers probably know from experience how to run things properly. But my bet is that it’s anyone’s guess which type of sale makes more money.

I, for one, must not be a true Winnipegger yet, because I feel uncomfortable when there are no prices, and also when it’s not clear what’s for sale and what’s just random stuff in close proximity to the merchandise (we noticed this was common when the sale was actually held in the garage). Who knows, maybe it’s all for sale — for a price!

Emma's Rudolph cookie cutter set.

Annnnyywayyy, my great finds were the much-coveted, ever-useful and exceedingly versatile Tupperware Serving Center (big props to Aaron for getting a deal on this – buying it new would cost $42.00!) and a Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer stand-up cookie cutter set (so reasonably-priced that I didn’t bother disputing it). Score!

Our Tweets from the exciting morning:
(Aaron): Off to hit up some Garage Sales…finished my oatmeal, now it’s time to shop! Haha!
(Emma): Just got some cash to haggle with… Let the garage saleing begin! (but first, coffee!)
(Laurel): Just got picked up by @emmaewood @directedreading for garage sale-ing!
(Aaron): The thrill of the hunt!
(Laurel): First garage sale down. Some lady positioned self in front of books, blocking all browsing. We were not ruthless enough to shove aside.
(Emma): Aaron is my hero! What a deal!
(Aaron): Drive 20 feet. Stop again. Another garage sale!
(Emma): Inkster is a hotbed of garage sales! Jackpot!
(Emma): Well, the early birds (us) caught the worm… The tupperware worm, that is!

• Are you serious?
• But you’re from Alberta! (I got this when I lived in BC. As if being raised in Alberta means you are automatically a beeficionado!)
• Oh, you must be vegetarian. (I get this one here, from people who know I lived in Vancouver. I’m not.)
• So, you aren’t jealous of this blue rare steak I’m devouring before your eyes?
• Wait – you don’t eat bacon? (Bacon’s a white meat. I could never give it up.)

To clarify, I don’t eat beef, lamb, emu, or bison.  (I don’t eat shellfish either – imagine how fun that was for me in BC!) I’m not an animal rights activist, I just don’t like it. And to be honest, I read Fast Food Nation a few years back, and after what I learned about the beef industry, I decided I never had to defend my decision not to eat beef again. The only other person I know who doesn’t eat red meat is Aaron, who’s been a vegetarian since college. He and I have been known to enjoy a “Don’t eat beef? Here, have some devoid-of-protein, carb-olicious pasta!”  dinner or two in our day! We’ve been accused of every name in the book: fussy eaters, demanding eaters, unadventurous eaters, bad Albertans… you name it. Not that I’m complaining. I’m fully aware that this is a choice, and when in Rome…well, don’t criticise what the Romans are eating.

One thing that all of us Wo’MHers have observed since moving here is that Manitobans have a profound love of their meat, and specifically, beef.  And I would hazard a guess that they love their meat more than most other provinces – maybe even the other prairie provinces.  I don’t really have any proof of that, it’s more of a sneaking suspicion. I once overheard a lady at the grocery store tell her friend she didn’t need to buy any meat because she’d just bought “a beef”. A beef?? Is that “a cow”?  (And could you also purchase “a pork”?) Also, I had never heard of a “meat draw” or “meat raffle” or “meat bingo” until I moved here, and now I see them advertised at Legions, community centres, and billboard galore (see Ian‘s hilarious comment on Laurel’s roadtrippin’ post). Apparently a meat draw is an event unto itself; perhaps something like a social – an all-night affair where the biggest prize is a cow, and the smallest prize is something along the lines of bacon and eggs.

Okay, apparently meat draws also exist in BC, so I must have been living under a rock out there.

All this has me thinking about what it’s like for non-meat-eaters in Manitoba. I have to admit, unless you set out to dine at a specifically vegetarian restaurant, the Manitoba pickins can be slim for someone who chooses, for whatever reason, not to eat meat. The West Coast was heaven for anyone with dietary preferences: no matter what your desire (organic meat, exotic meat, regular meat, no meat, soy substitutes) most menus had something suitable for you. In my travels throughout Canada and the US I’ve noticed that people are more accepting, and restaurants more accommodating, of meat preferences on the Pacific side.  West Coasters be warned: the veggie burger is not a standard option here in Manitoba.

Manitoba’s love of meat logically and obviously stems from its agricultural industry, and it reassures me to think that people here seem more likely to buy their meat from local farms where they may actually know the farmer and his practices.  Why is this? Winnipeg certainly seems to be more in tune with its rural neighbours than the average big city, where the line between city and country and their respective cultures seems to be more defined. And I have to admit, Manitoba also has a healthy love of fish, which I’m totally on board with.

So, fellow Manitobans old and new, please share your meat stories. Do you frequent meat bingo? Buy beef by the cow? Or on the flipside, are you vegetarian or non-beef-itarian and have trouble explaining this to meat enthusiasts? Where do you go when you’re jonesing for a good veggie meal? Can anyone vouch for the famous vegan po’ boy?

*I wanted to say “obsession with” instead of “love of” but thought that might be a bit judgmental

Since I moved here with a car, and was driving to school most days, one of the first things I noticed about Winnipeg was the quality of its roadways. While many people slag off Winnipeg for its seemingly ancient infrastructure, I will say that this city has perhaps the most active public works crews that I’ve ever encountered. On the dark and bitterly cold January nights when I first moved here I was surprised to hear, around the time I was going to sleep, the ice-scraping and snow removal trucks starting up for the night. I certainly don’t envy those men and women their jobs (having to work in that extreme cold and through the night), but I appreciated their efforts the next morning when the streets were cleared. Similarly, almost as soon as the sanding trucks and scrapers were disappearing from the city, I noticed the street-sweepers were hard at work beginning to clear away the layers of dirt, sand, and dust that had built-up all winter.

Now, it seems the city of Winnipeg embodies the popular Canadian cliché that there are only two seasons north of the 49th parallel: Winter and road construction. As a driver in the city you can’t avoid the crews working on street renewal or sub-surface infrastructure maintenance. These projects disrupt traffic, and are completely annoying; yet, they’re entirely necessary. Because I hope to avoid outright criticizing the city of Winnipeg and its public works (to be honest, I don’t know much about maintenance schedules, or how resources are spread throughout the city), I am willing to offer a more positive interpretation of the distress caused by summertime road construction: Potholes as Metaphor.

There are potholes everywhere in this city: whether you’re bounding up Henderson Highway in mid-April; slinking across Grant Avenue around 4:00PM on a weekday; or, bombing down Pembina on the way to the university. The potholes are a physical reminder of the damage a harsh winter can cause. In the spring, the potholes fill with water while it’s raining and then lie in waiting for unsuspecting drivers to underestimate their depth. I’ve winced, yelled, and shook an angry fist at the potholes around this city. I’ve gone so far as to complain to many non-Winnipeggers that damaged roadways—and the constant need for the city to be working on the roads—is the most frustrating aspect of life in Winnipeg.

The inverse, however, is that potholes demonstrate the willingness and necessity of Winnipeggers to build and rebuild their city year after year. Pothole-ravaged roads await repair while signalling the need to constantly renew municipal infrastructure. I believe Winnipeggers know their city more intimately than other Canadians due to their need to avoid large potholes while driving, which is then matched by a silent need to give thanks once those potholes are filled. Following the spring thaw (and occasionally throughout the winter) I noticed city crews repairing potholes as quickly and efficiently as possible – even in severely cold weather. I have even witnessed a strange looking vehicle that is both driven and operated by one worker: it sprays asphalt into small holes and cracks while still remaining in traffic. I suppose this eliminates the need to block off entire streets in order to address minor road repairs, however I would advise NOT driving next to one of these machines while it’s in use!

The potholes riddling Winnipeg streets are frustrating and may cause serious damage to vehicles. Likewise, the distraction and nuisance of constant road construction is something we’d all like to avoid. To defend my argument that potholes are a metaphor for change and renewal in the city of Winnipeg, I will offer a few more suggestions. Feel free to add to my thoughts, or dispute them in your own constructive way:
-Potholes remind Winnipeggers that nothing lasts forever.
-The depth of each pothole is the measure of the depth of a Winnipeggers’ patience.
-Potholes are the point of convergence between Mother Nature, Winnipeggers, and the City of Winnipeg.
-Potholes represent Winnipeggers’ need for less motor vehicle traffic.
-Potholes are a 20th century reminder of the idealism of this city – a city that humbly aspires to self-actualization through perseverance, determination, and road work.

WO’MH-isms:

Fancy Place (from the post Roadtrippin’): A bar or pub that has more than one draught beer available. These are typically public houses in larger centres where beer drinkers enjoy selections beyond Coors Light. Ergo, if there’s only one type of beer on tap, it’s not a fancy place.

Manitoba street cred (from the post Curling): The valuating system by which new Winnipeggers (and in our cases, new Manitobans, too) are judged as integrating into the local culture. In joining a curling league, drinking slurpees in the wintertime, or apologizing to newcomers about the weather (despite the fact that you can’t control it), you raise your Manitoba street cred. You’re becoming an authentic Manitoban.

‘Pegiversary (from the post Roadtrippin’): The anniversary of a new Winnipeggers’ arrival in the city. Emma’s 1st ‘Pegiversary is quickly approaching on July 8th; for Aaron it will be January 5th, 2010; and Laurel just likes to celebrate hers on the 2nd of every month.

Social Time (a comment to the post Socials): Submitted by regular commenter, Michel, “Social Time is the acceptable time at which you should arrive at a social” and it directly correlates to the attendees’ age. The social arrival approximation scale is available in graph form, and strict adherence to these guidelines will prevent one from decreasing her or his Manitoba street cred.

Water-peg (from the post Water-peg): In the springtime, melting snow and swelling rivers transform Winnipeg into its always latent, ulterior character, Water-peg. The sidewalks are wet, the potholes are filled to the brim (and deceptively deep), and every story on CBC radio is somehow (magically?) spun to include a flooding-related angle.

Weatherpeg (a Winnipeg O’ My Heart post category): So much of Winnipeg’s mystique involves the extremes of weather at this geographic location of the continent. In this way, whenever a post includes significant content relating to the weather in Winnipeg, it will be categorized as a Weatherpeg post.

A sloppy Winnipeg Wrap

Winnipeg Wrap (from the post Wrap it Up): You know when people use lame clichés like: “If I opened the dictionary to the definition of goofball I’d see a picture of your face”? Well in this instance I will simply provide a visual example of the Winnipeg Wrap, and for a more detailed explanation you really should read all about it in the original post. Sadly (for fans of the Winnipeg Wrap), sightings of WWs around town reduce during warm seasons when it’s less likely that a Winnipegger will need an extension cord to plug-in the car while at work all day.

WO’MH-er (from the post Roadtrippin’): A Winnipegomyhearter is a member of the Winnipeg O’ My Heart blogging team. Although we haven’t yet invited guests to post their reflections about Winnipeg or Manitoba (we will), these persons would be considered honorary WO’MH-ers.

Terms unique to Winnipeg or Manitoba:

Caribou: The deliciously potent fortified wine that is intrinsically linked to the Festival du Voyageur. If you’re lucky enough to enjoy this drink at Festival, be sure to try it from an ice cup. We did. It’s a reeeeal good time.

Dainty: A small, sweet treat that is typically made in a large baking pan, then cut into squares or rectangles. In other parts of the country these are referred to as “squares”; however, in Manitoba the general term for a tray of assorted squares is “dainties”. When referencing a specific item on the tray, you should call the dainty by its appropriate name. Usage: “Just look at the fancy dainties at this bridal shower!” “I know…delish! I think I’ll have a Nanaimo bar.” A note about shape: in our limited experience, dainties are square; yet, we cannot corroborate that dainties are always square. This requires further (mmm…tasty) exploration.

Social: A traditional Manitoba fundraiser, usually held by friends (and sometimes family) of the engaged couple, meant to offset the costs of establishing a family home or farm. The social may have extended from this province into north-western Ontario and parts of Saskatchewan. “Classic” or “Traditional” socials feature a midnight buffet that always includes rye bread, cheddar cheese, and mustard (NB do not lick the knife). Some modern “Fancy” socials are catered, have professional DJs, and offer a combination of conventional auction items (the lottery tree) alongside new favourites (the spa package).

Social Table: So far as we can decipher, the rest of the country simply refers to this as a table with folding legs. These tables are aptly named according to their frequent use at socials held in community halls. The tables are rectangular in shape (probably 8’ x 3’?) and most likely either wood- or plastic-topped with folding metal legs. Usage: “I’m wondering if there’ll be enough seating at the social this Saturday.” “Oh yes, there will be. The hall provides 25 social tables.”

“LC”, the: An abbreviated slang term for the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission (MLCC). This phrase omits the “M” and last first “C” from the initialism (“LC” stands for “Liquor Commission”). Not to be confused with the initials of Lauren Conrad, star of the popular MTV show The Hills. She has probably never been to Winnipeg or Manitoba in general; what a pity. Usage: “I’m going to stop by the LC on the way home from work. Would you like anything?”

Of course this list is but the tip of an iceberg floating down the Red River following an ice jam breakup in April. Our goal is to keep the glossary updated with our own terms as well as those submitted by our readers. We surely welcome your feedback about our list and additions to what will become the Glossary of Terms Unique to Winnipeg or Manitoba. We appreciate attributions whenever they are available (in order that credit is given where due), and we also strongly discourage plagiarism. Let’s have some fun developing the glossary to define our shared Winnipeg and Manitoba experiences.

Please submit a comment to this post if you have a term to add. We are currently creating the glossary and will tweet (@winnipego) with a link once it’s up and running!

ALSO: Listen to CBC Manitoba Information Radio this upcoming Monday and Tuesday mornings (May 18 & 19, 2009) around 6:40AM (Central time) in order to hear the WO’MH blogging team in our very first discussions about blogging in Winnipeg and our distinct outlook on moving to this fair city from Vancouver. There is a link to live streaming of the broadcast on the CBC website, and we hope against all odds that our friends at Information Radio will consider podcasting these segments!

The Corner of Portage and Main

“Dad (Laurel’s grandfather) used to say that if you stood on the corner of Portage and Main, you’d eventually see someone you know…Not sure if this was something he made up or if it was something he had heard. Though, you’ve got to figure after WWII if you were overseas you would’ve met people from all over Canada, and with Winnipeg situated in the middle…Maybe there’s a grain of reason in it.”

Something I constantly reiterate is that Canada is a very small country despite the nation’s vast geographic size. These days our national population hovers just above thirty-three million, however in 1945 it was somewhere closer to twelve million.  It’s not hard to imagine how following the Second World War, with Winnipeg’s industrial infrastructure and proximity to arable farmland, the area would draw many returned soldiers. Although I’m not a Winnipeg historian, it seems there is colloquial truth to the words of Laurel’s grandfather. Is there any reason to believe that despite over sixty years of history, you may still bump into someone you know at the corner of Portage and Main? Maybe I need to stretch the boundaries a little bit.

In July of 2008, about a week after Emma moved from Vancouver to Winnipeg, one side of her family held a large reunion of sorts. Among the food, reminiscing, and games, Emma met her cousin Meredith’s fiancé. In conversation it surfaced that the cousins’ respective beaus had both attended the 30th birthday party of a mutual friend. Bear in mind this birthday party was years before Emma would move to Winnipeg; years before each engagement was announced; and yet interestingly the two men were reacquainted while attending their future fiancés’ family reunion.

In the fall of 2008 I was planning to visit Emma here in Winnipeg. She was already a Winnipegger with more than 3 months of experience under her belt. In that time she had reacquainted herself with some contacts, made a few professional connections, and managed to become close with some of her fiancé’s very good long-time friends. During a telephone conversation she told me that one new friend had done his Master’s degree at the U of M, and while there he befriended a woman who was from Lethbridge, just like Emma. It turns out this woman is someone we know since she attended high school with us both and we had overlapping social circles. I suppose a decade later and two provinces away, the circles were overlapping again…albeit in a more unexpected fashion.

One warm afternoon a couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting a very talented local florist. While she and I discussed the beautiful merchandise and artwork in her shop, the florist pointed toward some unique works of art she retails on behalf of a good friend, a textile artist, working out of Vancouver. When the florist mentioned the artist’s name is Hilary Young, all I could manage was “Scottish Hilary? Hilary with the wonderful personality and amazing red hair?” My new florist friend was dumbfounded, as was I. As we spent the next few minutes fleshing-out the connections, I remembered that of course Hilary and her partner Jim had spent some time living in Winnipeg once they began the immigration process to Canada. One of my very special friends that I met while attending Capilano University in 2002, was a good friend of Hilary and Jim; she’d met the couple while living in Scotland with her own husband who was studying veterinary science. I remember hearing stories about the foursome having great times in Scotland, Vancouver, and other places while travelling together. When I finally met Hilary and Jim a few years after that (once they’d managed to penetrate our Canadian borders), it was like meeting old friends. To discover that Hilary was also connected to this Winnipeg florist (whom I emailed on a whim, out of the blue) was something else entirely.

As the florist and I chatted some more, a young man came into her shop to buy some flowers for his girlfriend. In conversation the florist mentioned that I had recently moved to Winnipeg, and after apologizing for the terrible winter (as Winnipeggers are apt to do), the young man asked me where I had moved from. I told him I spent a lot of time in Vancouver but most recently I was living in Lethbridge. He asked me a couple questions (“Is Lethbridge the place that has a university built into the side of a hill?”…the answer is yes, sort of), before indicating his girlfriend had studied architecture at the U of M with someone from Lethbridge. Almost tempting fate, I dared him to tell me the name of this person. Bingo. Another person I knew from Lethbridge; in fact, a young man who Emma had been through elementary school and junior high with. How do these connections, seeming so completely random, relate to Winnipeg? Or do they relate to Winnipeg at all?

If all roads lead to Portage and Main, can I expect more of these simultaneously comforting and bizarre connections to crop up? I wonder if other people have had similar experiences upon moving to Winnipeg, or in leaving and then returning to this strangely captivating prairie city. While living in Vancouver, much of what I learned about Winnipeg was through my good friend Marianne who was born and raised here. Her tales serve as the backdrop of my adult understanding of Winnipeg. Now when a new friend (@ruthlesstravels) tweets about enjoying a latte on the patio at Bar Italia, I know exactly what she means despite the fact that I’ve never been there. Oh, Winnipeg O’ My Heart. I’m looking forward to what else you’ve kept up your sleeve, or around the corner from our country’s windiest intersection.