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.
current feeling
June 14, 2025 at 4:10 PM
current feeling
On my way to donate blood I noticed they are knocking down the Banting Institute, built in 1930. I once took a cutting from a vine that grew at a window, a window I imagined Frederick Banting once peered through.
June 9, 2025 at 4:10 PM
On my way to donate blood I noticed they are knocking down the Banting Institute, built in 1930. I once took a cutting from a vine that grew at a window, a window I imagined Frederick Banting once peered through.
"If you envy my life, work harder!"
May 31, 2025 at 5:33 PM
"If you envy my life, work harder!"
we didn't host King Charles, but we did have two teenaged British rugby billets, and they left us with this loot, God save the sultana:
May 29, 2025 at 3:54 PM
we didn't host King Charles, but we did have two teenaged British rugby billets, and they left us with this loot, God save the sultana:
Last chance to see work by Andrew Scott, Michael Winter, Andrew Rucklidge, and Stirling Scott (this amazing deer) -- BIG PAWS NEVER SEEN group show at the West End Phoenix space, 3 Bartlett Ave, Toronto.
Drop by today, Saturday, 3 May, 2-4 pm! We'll all be there.
Drop by today, Saturday, 3 May, 2-4 pm! We'll all be there.
May 3, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Last chance to see work by Andrew Scott, Michael Winter, Andrew Rucklidge, and Stirling Scott (this amazing deer) -- BIG PAWS NEVER SEEN group show at the West End Phoenix space, 3 Bartlett Ave, Toronto.
Drop by today, Saturday, 3 May, 2-4 pm! We'll all be there.
Drop by today, Saturday, 3 May, 2-4 pm! We'll all be there.
I'm part of a group show of visual art this Thursday, May 1st (that's tomorrow) at the West End Phoenix HQ, 3 Bartlett Avenue, Toronto. There'll be lots of recent watercolours and collages and some paintings too, come say hello! 6-9 pm.
April 30, 2025 at 11:57 AM
I'm part of a group show of visual art this Thursday, May 1st (that's tomorrow) at the West End Phoenix HQ, 3 Bartlett Avenue, Toronto. There'll be lots of recent watercolours and collages and some paintings too, come say hello! 6-9 pm.
a person, possible Susie, saw me reading this sign and beckoned me down a narrow laneway between 2 houses but I didn't know what chayotes were and now I feel like I may have missed out on some culinary wonder
March 15, 2025 at 1:49 PM
a person, possible Susie, saw me reading this sign and beckoned me down a narrow laneway between 2 houses but I didn't know what chayotes were and now I feel like I may have missed out on some culinary wonder
this is a David Milne painting of Toronto during a visit in 1947 called "Scaffolding". Could have been painted yesterday.
March 12, 2025 at 2:40 AM
this is a David Milne painting of Toronto during a visit in 1947 called "Scaffolding". Could have been painted yesterday.
there's a lot going on on Geary
March 11, 2025 at 1:12 AM
there's a lot going on on Geary
Was riding my bike down Queen Street when I saw this important booklet in the slush -- was outside a hotel, so I went in and sure enough the front desk said she's a guest. Maybe this American was trying to jettison her citizenship, to fall into the wide-open arms of Canada?
March 8, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Was riding my bike down Queen Street when I saw this important booklet in the slush -- was outside a hotel, so I went in and sure enough the front desk said she's a guest. Maybe this American was trying to jettison her citizenship, to fall into the wide-open arms of Canada?
I took shovel to the snow covering herb garden and discovered thyme and sage still alive and green.
March 6, 2025 at 10:51 PM
I took shovel to the snow covering herb garden and discovered thyme and sage still alive and green.
hell is paved in typos; room for improvent, William Blake:
February 22, 2025 at 5:41 PM
hell is paved in typos; room for improvent, William Blake:
if six boiled and peeled eggs was something I'd ever think about buying in a grocery store, I'd want to buy them when they're not on sale
February 20, 2025 at 5:04 PM
if six boiled and peeled eggs was something I'd ever think about buying in a grocery store, I'd want to buy them when they're not on sale
it's good to memorize the shrubs nearby, so you can cut them in winter and have them bloom early like this forsythia from a neighbour's hedge which flowers in spring around a yellow fire hydrant, providing camouflage for the hydrant and, for a few brief weeks in May, a multitude of parking tickets.
February 7, 2025 at 3:46 PM
it's good to memorize the shrubs nearby, so you can cut them in winter and have them bloom early like this forsythia from a neighbour's hedge which flowers in spring around a yellow fire hydrant, providing camouflage for the hydrant and, for a few brief weeks in May, a multitude of parking tickets.
when we finished the big jar of olives I rinsed out the container and turned it into a cloche, and now I have cuttings from lilac and a cherry blossom pushing out new life, which is nice to see in the dead of winter
February 6, 2025 at 2:05 AM
when we finished the big jar of olives I rinsed out the container and turned it into a cloche, and now I have cuttings from lilac and a cherry blossom pushing out new life, which is nice to see in the dead of winter
just noticed this semicircle in the packaging, which is meant, I guess, so I can insert a finger and pull up this flap of the box -- and I feel bad now that I've never appreciated DeCecco's thoughtfulness; so often I rip open the box and shovel the pasta into boiling water, but I can change my ways
February 5, 2025 at 2:20 AM
just noticed this semicircle in the packaging, which is meant, I guess, so I can insert a finger and pull up this flap of the box -- and I feel bad now that I've never appreciated DeCecco's thoughtfulness; so often I rip open the box and shovel the pasta into boiling water, but I can change my ways
I used to divide the world between those who've read Proust and those who haven't; now I separate people into those who carry a corned beef key in their pocket to unlock their grocery cart and those who use a loonie
February 3, 2025 at 5:38 PM
I used to divide the world between those who've read Proust and those who haven't; now I separate people into those who carry a corned beef key in their pocket to unlock their grocery cart and those who use a loonie
this tree remnant and artificial turf is outside the Dufferin Mall -- I have tried writing about how this makes me feel, to no avail.
February 1, 2025 at 3:40 PM
this tree remnant and artificial turf is outside the Dufferin Mall -- I have tried writing about how this makes me feel, to no avail.
I just made 4 pork pies & topped them off with gelatin from boiling the pig's feet -- I can't call them "trotters" as that seems cruel. But I built a raft of eggwhite to draw out impurities & I did see the diaphanous shadow of my fingers through the hand-raised pastry. I'll never ever do this again.
December 19, 2024 at 12:14 AM
I just made 4 pork pies & topped them off with gelatin from boiling the pig's feet -- I can't call them "trotters" as that seems cruel. But I built a raft of eggwhite to draw out impurities & I did see the diaphanous shadow of my fingers through the hand-raised pastry. I'll never ever do this again.
About me
I have children
I don't want more
I have children
I don't want more
December 10, 2024 at 4:51 PM
About me
I have children
I don't want more
I have children
I don't want more
everyone should try painting an animal at rest, this one had just been chasing a willow ptarmigan and her tongue really was that far out of her mouth, she couldn't rein it in. I remember the excitement of painting the tongue, the hilarity of the pink, was I going to spoil the painting?
November 23, 2024 at 5:10 PM
everyone should try painting an animal at rest, this one had just been chasing a willow ptarmigan and her tongue really was that far out of her mouth, she couldn't rein it in. I remember the excitement of painting the tongue, the hilarity of the pink, was I going to spoil the painting?
once a year I open up the lid to an old steamer trunk to admire this little vista someone glued on maybe a hundred years ago
November 21, 2024 at 2:18 PM
once a year I open up the lid to an old steamer trunk to admire this little vista someone glued on maybe a hundred years ago
Last night near the bar at the Writers' Trust Awards a friend said to another person, "Hey have you met Michael?" and the person said, "We talked but we never met."
November 20, 2024 at 3:41 PM
Last night near the bar at the Writers' Trust Awards a friend said to another person, "Hey have you met Michael?" and the person said, "We talked but we never met."
you might think I'm a poor distributor of space for not including the top of this person's head, but the original sketch does have the whole head; however there are words I scribbled near the head that I'd rather not include, a confession too private for this forum
November 18, 2024 at 3:24 PM
you might think I'm a poor distributor of space for not including the top of this person's head, but the original sketch does have the whole head; however there are words I scribbled near the head that I'd rather not include, a confession too private for this forum