Michael Winter
@michaelwinternet.bsky.social
I'm a writer from Newfoundland living in Toronto. I admire trees and like to feed people and overhear conversations; I note gestures and read books and draw pictures and listen to old music and there's a dog I walk.
feel like the city is currently made up of 3% zip-ties.
February 13, 2026 at 2:19 PM
feel like the city is currently made up of 3% zip-ties.
I like to scan the morning skyline of Toronto with binoculars, amazed that modern skyscrapers still puff out smoke from roofs like locomotives, the lit-up logos for TD, Telus, KPMG, the private AI-takeover of Ernst & Young (EY), and then, incongruously, an old-school TIP TOP TAILORS, yay tip-top!
February 12, 2026 at 12:14 PM
I like to scan the morning skyline of Toronto with binoculars, amazed that modern skyscrapers still puff out smoke from roofs like locomotives, the lit-up logos for TD, Telus, KPMG, the private AI-takeover of Ernst & Young (EY), and then, incongruously, an old-school TIP TOP TAILORS, yay tip-top!
If I Wrote Like Lydia Davis
This is --, he said and started to cry.
What’s wrong with him.
Oh, he just hid his relationship for a year, she left him, now she’s back. He’s just sorry he did that.
Tarnished.
‘Sullied’ is the word he uses.
This is --, he said and started to cry.
What’s wrong with him.
Oh, he just hid his relationship for a year, she left him, now she’s back. He’s just sorry he did that.
Tarnished.
‘Sullied’ is the word he uses.
February 10, 2026 at 2:49 PM
If I Wrote Like Lydia Davis
This is --, he said and started to cry.
What’s wrong with him.
Oh, he just hid his relationship for a year, she left him, now she’s back. He’s just sorry he did that.
Tarnished.
‘Sullied’ is the word he uses.
This is --, he said and started to cry.
What’s wrong with him.
Oh, he just hid his relationship for a year, she left him, now she’s back. He’s just sorry he did that.
Tarnished.
‘Sullied’ is the word he uses.
still thinking about my son's Montreal friend Chad Japeedi who helps him with term papers, how my son laughed and laughed when I asked if I'd ever met Chad.
February 8, 2026 at 3:20 PM
still thinking about my son's Montreal friend Chad Japeedi who helps him with term papers, how my son laughed and laughed when I asked if I'd ever met Chad.
when I walk the dog I usually am wrapped up in the enormity of existence, meditating on both the marvel and dismay of the world, but other dog walkers remember my dog's name and talk about specific dog things and I'm pummelled verbally into the quotidian which is probably a good thing
February 7, 2026 at 2:41 PM
when I walk the dog I usually am wrapped up in the enormity of existence, meditating on both the marvel and dismay of the world, but other dog walkers remember my dog's name and talk about specific dog things and I'm pummelled verbally into the quotidian which is probably a good thing
I deposited a cheque at a teller because the ATM rejected it. I signed and she stamped a receipt. I asked if they could give me a new passbook. "We no longer have them." All of the major banks have phased them out. "Even though," the teller said, "a lot of our older clients still ask for them."
February 5, 2026 at 11:42 PM
I deposited a cheque at a teller because the ATM rejected it. I signed and she stamped a receipt. I asked if they could give me a new passbook. "We no longer have them." All of the major banks have phased them out. "Even though," the teller said, "a lot of our older clients still ask for them."
if you want to be remembered by someone, give them a pretty little tin or tube of lip balm -- they'll think of you every day
February 4, 2026 at 1:59 PM
if you want to be remembered by someone, give them a pretty little tin or tube of lip balm -- they'll think of you every day
Just learned that Gary Bruce (aka Chase Webster) died last October. He wrote "Moody River", such a mysterious song (as sung by Pat Boone). I had tracked down where Mr Bruce lived in Tennessee and meant to write him a letter about the song, and ask how on earth he wrote it.
January 27, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Just learned that Gary Bruce (aka Chase Webster) died last October. He wrote "Moody River", such a mysterious song (as sung by Pat Boone). I had tracked down where Mr Bruce lived in Tennessee and meant to write him a letter about the song, and ask how on earth he wrote it.
the world can be divided into those who choose to use ruled notebooks and those who prefer blank notebooks
January 24, 2026 at 9:28 PM
the world can be divided into those who choose to use ruled notebooks and those who prefer blank notebooks
I still hand draw maps on paper of routes I need to take in the car, so was unaware that the 427 is a completely separate highway from the 27. It'd be like if they built a parallel road next to the TCH and called it the Canada Highway.
January 12, 2026 at 6:52 PM
I still hand draw maps on paper of routes I need to take in the car, so was unaware that the 427 is a completely separate highway from the 27. It'd be like if they built a parallel road next to the TCH and called it the Canada Highway.
I chose to stay in the Days Inn by Wyndham Levis because it's almost "Wyndham Lewis" and they said they were pet-friendly but ended up charging me $50 for my dog to stay overnight and that is decidedly pet-hostile. #DaysInn
December 20, 2025 at 6:14 PM
I chose to stay in the Days Inn by Wyndham Levis because it's almost "Wyndham Lewis" and they said they were pet-friendly but ended up charging me $50 for my dog to stay overnight and that is decidedly pet-hostile. #DaysInn
when choosing a rural place to live, it is worth calculating how close you are to the nearest Napa auto parts store
December 17, 2025 at 8:07 PM
when choosing a rural place to live, it is worth calculating how close you are to the nearest Napa auto parts store
spent time with men in garages & wondering why novels of the 19c have no scenes set in carriage repair shops, hours of men talking about wheel size, imported spindles and what axles don't break and if a breed of horse eats less oats per mile and has anyone seen if Gary's wagon is behind his house?
December 8, 2025 at 11:35 AM
spent time with men in garages & wondering why novels of the 19c have no scenes set in carriage repair shops, hours of men talking about wheel size, imported spindles and what axles don't break and if a breed of horse eats less oats per mile and has anyone seen if Gary's wagon is behind his house?
It's so cold out the chainsaw stopped working so I put it by the warm woodstove to thaw, because I have to keep cutting firewood to feed the woodstove so that my chainsaw will thaw...
December 6, 2025 at 3:50 PM
It's so cold out the chainsaw stopped working so I put it by the warm woodstove to thaw, because I have to keep cutting firewood to feed the woodstove so that my chainsaw will thaw...
It's my woodstove's birthday and so I split some very dry birch into much smaller chunks so that it could greedily eat their yellow bones without having to gnaw away first at the entire rind. Happy birthday, Jotul!
November 29, 2025 at 7:42 PM
It's my woodstove's birthday and so I split some very dry birch into much smaller chunks so that it could greedily eat their yellow bones without having to gnaw away first at the entire rind. Happy birthday, Jotul!
I've got enough going on with wildfires, leaks, windstorms, keeping an uninsulated house warm, potable water, the last thing I need is a goddamn northern flicker drilling a hole in my eaves, that's why I'm shouting outside up at the corner of my house in the freezing rain
November 22, 2025 at 3:29 PM
I've got enough going on with wildfires, leaks, windstorms, keeping an uninsulated house warm, potable water, the last thing I need is a goddamn northern flicker drilling a hole in my eaves, that's why I'm shouting outside up at the corner of my house in the freezing rain
When kids are around me outside and I need to wipe my nose I will press one nostril closed and blow out the other. I first saw an old man do this when I was a kid, I still know his name, and I can't think of anything else he did, but I too wish to be remembered by the young.
November 15, 2025 at 12:04 PM
When kids are around me outside and I need to wipe my nose I will press one nostril closed and blow out the other. I first saw an old man do this when I was a kid, I still know his name, and I can't think of anything else he did, but I too wish to be remembered by the young.
have sent my son several cute animal videos and he's had to explain to me how they're all AI-generated, so now I'm reduced to forwarding him only Buster Keaton clips
November 14, 2025 at 1:27 PM
have sent my son several cute animal videos and he's had to explain to me how they're all AI-generated, so now I'm reduced to forwarding him only Buster Keaton clips
Don't mind feeling stuck in a cold, windy, rainy house, but when the mousetraps begin to disappear...
November 11, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Don't mind feeling stuck in a cold, windy, rainy house, but when the mousetraps begin to disappear...
currently repairing storm door that was ripped in half and thrown onto ground during latest windstorm -- caught myself thinking my storm door needs a protective door
November 10, 2025 at 3:26 PM
currently repairing storm door that was ripped in half and thrown onto ground during latest windstorm -- caught myself thinking my storm door needs a protective door
is high-beam the new low-beam? #blindedbythelights
November 8, 2025 at 9:50 PM
is high-beam the new low-beam? #blindedbythelights
how the yellow leaf can blow in front of a tree, obliterating from view the trunk of that tree
November 5, 2025 at 1:11 PM
how the yellow leaf can blow in front of a tree, obliterating from view the trunk of that tree
That time of the year when I can't pee in the garden anymore because the deciduous trees are losing their leaves.
October 28, 2025 at 1:06 PM
That time of the year when I can't pee in the garden anymore because the deciduous trees are losing their leaves.
someone had lost their way, and I knew where they wanted to go, but I'm terrible at giving directions
October 25, 2025 at 4:25 PM
someone had lost their way, and I knew where they wanted to go, but I'm terrible at giving directions
can say now, having just thinned my turnips, that there is no discernible difference between "turnip greens" and "rapeseed" and will stop correcting people when they say they are eating turnip greens when in fact they are eating rapeseed -- my apologies for being tiresome.
July 24, 2025 at 3:15 PM
can say now, having just thinned my turnips, that there is no discernible difference between "turnip greens" and "rapeseed" and will stop correcting people when they say they are eating turnip greens when in fact they are eating rapeseed -- my apologies for being tiresome.