Late from Lisbāo
👋 Hello there! I am currently in Lisbon, Portugal. Yes, I travelled 32h45m52.21s to be here. I am very sunburned and slightly dehydrated from walking up and...
The winds of heaven are blowing
The summer break has ended here in Kyoto. Taisho (大暑) the “Greater Heat” season of the old 24 term Chinese solar calender ends at the beginning of August. At...
A corner turned
I write to you from the Kyoto Tower Hotel. We had a bit of a mishap. More on that below. When I left you last, my father-in-law, the reason we had come to...
The End
The last day of June. A Real Feel™️ of 42 degrees celsius. Not even summer yet. But things started to settle down this month. We took the kids to Universal...
Cemetery and Safari
With the cherry blossoms gone and the leaves filling out a bright green, the weather is getting warm and the air is filled with the sounds of preparation for...
From Kyoto… again
Just a reminder: this is the monthly newsletter of your friendly belletrist Chad Kohalyk, where I write a personal note with highlights of both my writing...
🌸 Bloom and fall
Greetings from Kyoto. I am writing from our apartment in the western foothills of the city – a “new town” built in the 80s, with curved modern towers...
Remembering war, volcano politics, and an epic journey to the west
“Is this your first war?“ I asked my daughter, who will be 13 soon, if the invasion of Ukraine is the first war she remembers. It was at about her age when I...
Organization on my mind
🖖, A new year so I set my goals with the maximum of motivational momentum which of course was instantly derailed because I got sick with covid. How is your...
A final ringing of the bell
Happy New Year! It is the morning of New Year’s Eve here in western Canada. There is more than a foot of snow on the ground, but the sky is a clear blue. A...
A gap in the clouds…
Autumn greetings, T’was a month of floods, sudden snows, electricity outages, and food shortages (due to panic buying). All the while I was looking at the...
Mid-seasonal transition
Halloween greetings to you! Lately we are experiencing the brisk autumn weather. As the sun sets, darkening the cold blue sky, it drops to about 1 degree for...
History must keep coming back until we know the truth
Today is Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. I have been home discussing the topic with my children, and remembering the plight of the...
Settling in
"Home" has been on my mind. How many times have we moved house in the past 18 months? (During a pandemic I might add!). This month we finally settled into...
Back and forth
Dear reader, We haven’t settled. Eight weeks ago, after giving away all of our possessions to neighbours and friends, we left the island of Iki. From there...
Sudden goodbyes
Greetings! Tonight I am writing to you from a rented room tucked amongst the green foliage the religious corner of the campus at the University of British...
Start and stop
Happy spring! April seemed to fly by. At the end of last month we were in Kyoto for spring break. It was such a wonderful opportunity to see the cherry...
More anniversaries
Spring is here! Greetings from Kyoto. We are in the old capital as it is Spring Break and the kids are off school. They have now completed one full academic...
1 year, 15 years, and what's next?
Hi, how are you? One year ago today (well, technically it was Feb 29th but...) we moved out of our house in Kelowna. It would be ten more days before we left...
New Year and new outbreak on Iki
Are you having a Happy New Year 🎊 so far? I hope you are staying bundled up. Just a reminder: I am sending this missive to you from a new service...