It Takes a River to Cry

Many cities on the prairie are built around a river and the riverbanks are some of my favorite places because they contain native flora and fauna. The first weekend we arrived in Winnipeg was above 20 degrees Celsius, so we walked along the riverbank to the Forks and then over the bridge to Osborne Village to buy groceries at Organza. Every year the citizens of the Peg cross their fingers that the river won't flood into their basements and drown their stored goods, mason jars and boxes of memories. The years it does flood, the locals say the thrift shopping is better because all this debris gets moved up and out of people's houses and the memories are shared in the diaspora of the flood.