youch and yay

So my best girl friend here in Basel is Vi and I thank the stars (and the comets too) for her.  She has been so kind to me this year even as I have wept vats of tears into her lovely homemade cappuccinos. We always speak in English  because my Portuguese consists of 'Caipirinha' and 'another Caipirinha please'.  Anyway I recently decided that I should do something to bring me culturally closer to my southern hemisphere amiga so I decided to go the full Brazilian - if you catch my drift. And Vi was such a great amiga she even came with me to hold my hand and entertain my head. In truth it wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. Sometimes when I winced the Brazilian lady in charge would go ' ow...heh heh heh' or 'your husband -very lucky man' !?! The best bit by far was when it was finished and she brought out a mirror to show me my new hair cut. I mean really -what are you supposed to say at that point? 'Oooh yes. It really suits me, don't you think' or 'maybe a bit more fringe next time!'

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On a more erudite note I received this wonderful email the other day from the editor of Independent Ink magazine - a literary adventure of daringly off beat short stories!

Dear Joanna Galbraith,

Thank you for sending us "Ulla's Gift". We love it and would like to publish it in the next issue of Independent Ink Magazine. 

I only include the email text because you have no idea how rare it is  for struggling writers such as myself to hear things like 'We love it' from editors.  Although this story of mine has been floating around for a while I am really glad to have finally 'homed' it. The real test for me though will also be to complete some newer pieces -to find that rhythm, that joy I lost somehow.