Author Archives: Peter Carter

Today is my older brother Ed’s 65th birthday. Here’s an A-to-ZEd guide to what it’s like to grow up in his wake. ME, LEARNING FROM THE BEST: Ed’s first gig? Opening act for ecdysiasts at the Belton Hotel Alice Cooper. When I was in, I believe, grade eight, Ed managed to score two tickets toContinue reading “A Ed of His Time”

Last Saturday, my wife, Helena, and I decided to ease the life of our 14-year-old calico cat, Mehitabel, by installing a litter box on the main floor. Actually, this is also to ease our own lives because Mehitabel is getting on, and the basement stairs aren’t the cake walk they used to be, so sheContinue reading “How I learned that water and cat litter don't mix”

I got my start in journalism by delivering the Globe and Mail newspaper. JUST A  HANGIN’ WITH WITH MY BROTHERS: Alex & Ed are a couple of posse cats I was around 12. Before I continue, I should wait for the laughter to die down. The laughter is coming from any of my siblings whoContinue reading “How to recycle kitty litter”

HOWDY PILGRIMS: Grocery stores like Lobaw’s and Costco are brick-and-mortar shrines  to the miracle that is the supply chain. We’re just back from a Saturday trip to Costco and man was it fun!   For starters, we didn’t have much else to do with our morning. We could have stayed at home and watched the newsContinue reading “Wait in line at Costco for you? I'm in!”

“What about ‘crooked as a dog’s hind leg?’” YOU THINKIN’ WHAT I’M THINKIN?: My parents talked the same lively language alright. That is how my sister Bertholde responded to my blog about our late dad Tom’s effort to come up with  a phrase that would get used by a bunch of people in everyday conversation and the phrase heContinue reading “And hence we were all as good as bread”

CATTUS TROPHY: (Cat in Latin is cattus) My late father Tom once told me he always wanted to invent a phrase that other poeple would use. And he told me the phrase he had come up with was “as good as bread.” It works for me. When something is, for example, going along just right;Continue reading “Legal tips for making it through the quarantine”

The house I grew up in was not very sports-oriented. My mom and dad subscribed to both the Sudbury Star newspaper as well as the bigger, national Globe&Mail and a lot of other reading material, but sports pages were mostly left untouched. To this day I wouldn’t know where to begin interpreting hockey or baseballContinue reading “10 ways to bring death notices to life”

GROWING UP IN LAPLAND: That’s me sitting on my big brother Tom’s knee, at somebody else’s birthday party When I was a little boy, probably under 10, a version of the following conversation happened in the house we grew up in, sometime in late winter or early spring of whatever year it was. Me: “Complain complainContinue reading “To Aries is human”

ROARCATS TEST: Iris doesn’t write between the lines so don’t expect to read between them. On the phone from Ottawa this morning, my daughter Ria asked the question I’m sure she, her sister Ewa, her brother Michel and maybe her mom but nobody else were itching to hear the answer to: “How’s Iris taking it?”Continue reading “Iris’ sign o’ the times”

For one hour a week, since mid 2017, I have gotten together with a small group at a local drop-in centre to discuss writing. Some people call it a “workshop” but “playshop” is more accurate. It’s one of the funnest things I’ve done in my life. The group calls our get-togethers “Peter’s Writing Group” butContinue reading “Read this instead of virus news. It’s short. It’ll make you feel better”