Author Archives: Peter Carter

GHOST OF A CHANCE: Me, my brothers Ed and Pat, in a very very old photo My oldest brother Pat died far too young, almost 30 years ago. He lived in Toronto, in the same west-end neighbourhood in which I and my new wife Helena began our marriage adventure. In fact Pat passed away around the time we bought our first house. I’mContinue reading “Another brother to the rescue story; and this one long-gone!”

My older and wiser sister Norma Fairman, who lives in my hometown of Sudbury, Ontario, reminded me the other day that when we were growing up together, one of the many holy days our late mother acknowledged was January 3, two days after New Year’s. Mom and Church officials called the day the “Feast ofContinue reading “Why older sisters sometimes seem snippy”

THAT SMELL: It’s either incense or my pants on fire. When I was five–maybe six–I knew what was right and I knew what was wrong. Some people spend lifetimes searching for the answer to that question. I’m here to tell you that by that welcome June day when I graduated out of Miss Winnie Trainor’sContinue reading “Confessions of a sacramental fibber”

SEND IN THE CLONES: I just grabbed this photo off Google Image. They’re not St. Clement boys but they sure look the part. I have decided that time has come to share, after all these years, the true story about my (far-too) lengthy career as an altar boy in St. Clement’s Church in my hometownContinue reading “The Secret Lives of Altar Boys”

When I was in grade seven at St. Albert’s School in Sudbury, our teacher Mister Gilbert Seguin asked a few students who our role models were. KAREEM of the crop My friend Trevor MacIntyre–easily the star player on the St. Albert Saints basketball team as well as the grade-seven boy most of the grade-seven girlsContinue reading “We're not in grade seven anymore. Then again…”

“I have a good idea,” my wife Helena said last Saturday afternoon, just as I was about to begin the Toronto Star Premier Crossword puzzle. “You should write your own obituary.” And then she added, “You’re good at stuff like that.” Stuff like writing my own death notice? There is no other “stuff” like that. WhichContinue reading “Here Lies Peter”

“Hi,” the familiar voice on the message machine said, adding, “It’s me,  Cecile.  Just phoning to say ‘hi’ to Helena. Nothing important. I’ll call back later…. Normally, I would finish that sentence with a period and closing quotation marks, but that would be inaccurate because Cecile left the message but she did not hang up. Cecile’s not her real name. IContinue reading “Where we answer the question, "How do you keep a guy with no life in suspense?"”

VOID: That’s not only what the experience is called, it’s also a medical verb that came to mind when I was ascared. “You were really scared, weren’t you dad?” my daughter Ev asked me yesterday, at about 6:05 p.m. “Maybe,” I answered. Except there’s no maybe about it. Just minutes before she put the question toContinue reading “Turns out I ain't ain't afraid of no ghost!”

When I was a kid, we pronounced the capital city of what was then Czechoslovakia as if it had a long-A. We called it “Praig.” A TOP PERFORMER: Huena called on the Infant a lot I actually remember when the Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, there was some talk of World War Three andContinue reading “Why Saints Alive! is more than just talk”

After a long and selfless career making people healthier,  my friend Pete’s father Jim had recently closed his medical practice. My wife Helena and I visited Pete and Jim at their family cottage. We were on their dock when I asked Dr. Jim what he’d been doing with all his new-found free time. Without aContinue reading “Where we learn how to truck the dog”