Author Archives: Peter Carter

For the past few days–because my good friend and the editor of Outdoor Canada magazine Patrick Walsh asked me to–I’ve spent maybe a dozen hours basking in 20 of the liveliest and best-written hunting and fishing magazine stories that I have ever read. I am proudly judging them for the 2022 Outdoor Writers of CanadaContinue reading “Lines and tires and bears, oh my!”

MIDWIFE RACHEL, SECOND FROM LEFT: The Grenadier Road gang including the Cartertwins, one of which is the ASLinterpreter, 32 years ago.  A woman named Rachel who grew up on our street alongside our twin daughters Ewa and Ria is now a midwife and in December she gave birth to a daughter, Fjora. The terrific name isContinue reading “The midwife's tale”

I REALIZE NOBODY ASKED ME FOR MY FIVE CENTS: SoI took this one from Atlas Obscura, the online source for offbeat tourism. In June of this year, about 200 members of the Canadian Travel Media Association will be meeting in my hometown of Sudbury, Ont., for their annual conference. While I am neither a memberContinue reading “Sudbury, A to Z”

PAPER VIEW: Headlines like this are worth the price of subscription I just a received a pair of texts from my directly-across-the-street neighbour Sonja. First text: “Did you get the Star this morning? I didn’t.” Text No.2: “There’s a delay. Check your email.” I checked: This is what my email said:  “Dear Reader, The TorontoContinue reading “Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Later!”

ME BUCKAROOS! Whatever I dreamt last nighthad this bunch rolling in the bedroom aisles. It’s been a year to the day that my older brother Ed died.  Although the following might strike you as callous, this very morning — the anniversary of Ed’s death — I woke up laughing like a stoned teenager.  Seriously.  FromContinue reading “Yahoo rancheroo!”

AS HARD AS IT IS TO BELIEVE…this is not a photograph (rendering by the author). I want to tell you about a soul-lifting display of human achievement that I witnessed, a half hour ago.  A moment worth celebrating.  I’m writing this at 5:30 on a snowy January evening in my house in central west Toronto. MyContinue reading “Why big city traffic is my jam”

SOLES IN PURGATORY: Firewalking reads better than it flays. You never know who you’re going to be in debt to. I’m thinking about a woman I met on an airplane, 30-some years ago. Whoever and wherever she is, that lady has no idea how much she changed my life. For the better. Interesting, that. YouContinue reading “Jumping to concussions”

TOM, AT MY AGE: He’d give you money but would nevertell you how much he had. I once asked my father Tom if we were rich. He said this:  “We’re rich in family.”  I have nine brothers and sisters, triple digits of cousins, and I grew up with a platoon of aunts and uncles whoContinue reading “A real-name changer”

NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY IMBECILIC: I never doubted the existence of The Shelter  When I was a kid, if I or one of my nine brothers and sisters was being particularly troublesome, my mother Huena threatened to call “The Shelter.” Without having details explained to us explicitly, we all knew it worked like this: Fed-up moms calledContinue reading “This is where I came in”

AT DUFFY LAKE:  I can’t see this picture without thinking of my late mother-in-law Ria’s eponymous dog or my pal Duff McCutcheon. This story begins with me screaming.  Calling out to my daughter Ewa to save my life.  And it’s true.  And it’s got a moral. Or two. Late August of 2019 found Ewa and me motorcyclingContinue reading “Welcome to the All-Saints Motel”