Right on Time

From Porto: concerts, photowalks, and a book finally off to the printers

Life at Large

Time seems to break the rules during the stretch between January and April – at least in our lives, since we moved to Porto. And I don’t mean just in the meme-like way – “January has 97 days, while February has only 28”. I mean time blasting past at breakneck speed one minute, and then dragging the next, depending on what I’m focusing on.

The past two weeks have been particularly messy. When I focus on matters of the apartment, time drags. In the final push to get the new book to the printers, time flies. A short trip to Lisbon with friends sees time float by in yet another way. Add in a few visitors to Porto and the changing of the clocks, and my head is spinning!

We have finally received a more palatable update on the latest delay with our apartment. The previous explanation – that the occupancy permit had been issued by the Câmara Municipal do Porto but was waiting for a stamp – was accurate, but oversimplified.

Although the building is not new – it’s restored – the apartments within it are. That means they need to be assigned new fiscal numbers from the tax authority, and that is where the current hold up is. The good news is we have written confirmation that we can sign the title documents at the end of June when we return from Canada. Our current landlady has been tremendously gracious with us through all of this “up-in-the-air-maybe-we-are-moving-maybe-we-aren’t” business, and we are so grateful for that.

So, in summary – here’s hoping the apartment is actually ready at the end of June, and we CAN finally move in!

I mentioned a quick trip to Lisbon. Michal has a favourite pianist, Ludovico Einaudi, who performed at the Coliseu de Lisboa.

One man, one piano, one captivated audience. My cellphone doesn’t handle low light very well, but you get the idea.

We went with friends, and it was a lovely overnight trip. Before catching the train home, we revisited Castelo de São Jorge, where Michal and I had out wedding photos taken back in 2022, and had lunch at Chapito, where we had gathered for our wedding dinner. It was lovely to share those special places with our friends.

Over the last two weeks we also enjoyed a visit from relatives from the UK. They are traveling around Spain and Portugal in their motorhome and stopped in Porto for a few nights. The weather was beautiful, and we got out to explore. If you want to follow their travels, Linda shares their adventures on a blog.

We also had a visit from Vancouver photographers Elizabeth and her husband Paul. They have been traveling around Portugal for several weeks and had a few days scheduled in Porto. They reached out and asked if I’d be available for a photowalk – I was, and off we went. It was a lovely morning wandering the streets before the crowds appeared for the day. You can see Elizabeth’s photography on her website.

While they were in town, a Vivian Maier exhibit opened at the Centro Português de Fotografia, and we went. It was tremendous. The exhibit touches on her life and presents collections of her work organized around different themes. I’ll definitely be going again – some of the images deserve a second look.

All in all, a very busy two weeks – and I managed to finish formatting the book and upload it to the printers. More on that below!

Projects and Events

The book is off to the printers! Woohoo! The last few months have been spent revising, editing, proofreading, formatting, and questioning all life choices related to this project. But now it’s in the hands of BookVault, and it’s their turn to work their magic!

Because BookVault is in the UK, and clearing a package from outside the EU through Portuguese customs takes a long time and can be expensive, my brother will receive the proof copy in Canada. He has a keener eye for detail than I do, and he isn’t as close to the project as I am, so I think he is the perfect person to cast a critical eye over the final product.

It’s exciting to know that the book will soon be out in the wild! I’ve been slowly updating my website to include the new book – you can see my ongoing efforts here.

As I was in the throes of formatting – and as a result, losing my mind – an email arrived from Groove Cat Records and Books in New West. It wasn’t addressed only to me, but the timing couldn’t have been better. It was an invitation for authors they have previously supported to schedule a book signing at the store.

As it happens, I will be in New Westminster, BC in June, with a new book to promote. I called them immediately, and I’m delighted to say I’ll be at Groove Cat Records and Books for a book signing on June 6, 2026!

Theresa from www.seechangemakers.ca has also invited me to join her for an interview in June. I loved my conversation with her in 2024 after the launch of my first book (which you can see here), and I’m very much looking forward to a new chat.

Now that the book is off to the printers, I will be turning my attention more fully to planning launch events in Nelson, BC, applying to podcasts, and continuing to update my website as we get closer to the launch date. Exciting times!

Writing

I shared some of the exciting highlights of the last few weeks, as people reached out at the perfect time. It hasn’t all been sparkles and puppies, though.

Let me summarize by suggesting that, if you ever feel like your life has become too comfortable and your mental health too stable, you could always try re-ordering the pages of a 237-page document back to front, and upside down.

Why would I do this, you might ask?

The manuscript for the tête bêche needs to include both stories – one right way up, the second rotated 180° and the pages reordered back to front.

The other constraint for printing is that the overall page count needs to be a multiple of 12, or there will be blank pages. In a usual book, that would be no problem, a few black pages in the back go largely unnoticed. In a tête bêche, however, opening the cover of the second story only to flip through several blank pages would considerably be less impressive.

When I compiled the two stories together, I had a total of 417 pages – which would have left 3 blank pages. At that point, Michal noticed that the headers and footers in the document were random sizes. Weird. I fixed it, and somehow dropped down to 415 pages in the process.

Now I needed to either cut 7 pages, or add 5. I elected to tweak the margins a bit to add a few pages.

Perfect.

Then I converted it to PDF. Blank pages now appeared between chapters.

Crap.

Back I went, trying to find the problem in the Word formatting. This went on for two days. By the end, I had the right number of pages and everything looks good. Fingers crossed!

Photography

I have been out and about over the last few weeks, often even with my camera, and I even did a client photoshoot (thank you, Michelle, for the recommendation) – but I don’t have anything specific to share here.

Instead, I’ll offer a little from the Vivian Maier exhibition.

Although the exhibit is here in Porto, I first heard about it from my friend Monique Campbell, a talented street photographer from Hamilton, Ontario. Monique is a fan of Vivian Maier – to the extent that she and another photographer, Jane, started an IG hub called AfterVivian for women and nonbinary street photographer inspired by Vivian’s work.

I appreciated the heads-up about the exhibit, as the days are slipping away before my travel, and I would have hated to miss the opportunity to stand in front of such powerful images of everyday life and people, as seen through Vivian’s eyes and cameras.

Here are a few quick shots from my cellphone of some of the images I particularly loved.

There are three large rooms of images on display, here are a few that I loved, that didn't have too much glare on the glass to photograph.

Final Thoughts

When I reflect on the last two weeks looking for a theme, I’d have to say it’s how often the right thing arrived at exactly the right moment.

An email from Groove Cat landing in my inbox while I was in the depths of a formatting spiral – a small, shining light at the end of the long, dark process of getting the book ready for the world. A tip from Monique about the Vivian Maier exhibit, just in time for me to actually go. Friends visiting, a concert in Lisbon, a morning photowalk – all of it exactly what was needed to create balance in a hectic time.

I don’t think these events are coincidence, exactly. There’s something to be said for staying open – to the email I actually read instead of archiving, the message from a friend I followed up on, the invitation I said yes to even when life felt full to the brim.

Sometimes the timing isn’t lucky. I just happened to be paying attention in that moment.

So I’ll leave you with this: has something arrived at just the right moment for you lately? A conversation, an opportunity, an unexpected encounter – something that landed when you needed it most. I’d love to hear about it.

Até a próxima!

Kathy

---