installment two for the day branson pickle.

Okay, it truly is the little things that can lift up your day. Branson pickle and marmite were sure mood lifters for me. branson pickle is a relish that is brownish red in color and i believe it is beetroot based. Whatever it contains there is nothing like it with cheese on a crusty bread and it often a part of the quintessential ploughman's lunch so popular in the UK. Marmite is a yeast salty spread that lifts toast from the mundane to extra special for me at least. Do not mix it up with the vegemite of Austrailia; they are not the same. Today I am mentally back In England at Kathy's. Small items and big pleasure.

Also am trying to think about when I began to write and though I can not recall my first story, I do recall being jumping up and down happy when my small scribble was printed in Cappers Weekly and again when I was published in Grit. there was a hiatus full of school, marriage, children.It happens,but writing always wins. Poems and prose published in the sun, regional publications as far away as New England. News reporting filled the desire to be in print in Arapahoe,Ne, Lemmon SD and Minneapolis Ks. A big moment came when Catholic Digest paid for a small piece on a priest in South Dakota. Now the writer is coming out in earnest as my work career slowly approaches the end. I may neveer be a high paid writer but I am enjoying myself. So this is another small pleasure in my life.

This journey to write has been helped by many things. Prairie winds in South Dakota and Kansas, Kathleen Norris and Linda Hasselstrom have played a part. Recently my membership in Story Circle Network has given me a sounding board through my online writing circle. These ladies can zero in on a piece and it improves. I enjoy the exchange of ideas and have learned so much. Spurred by them I have sent poems into the group's journal and they have been published. Then the other day a small edited section of a longer one I shared on circle was selected for the next issue. Such small things and such great pleasure.

So in April I am going to their big gathering in Austin Tx. Linda is the keynote speaker and I will get to meet some circle members. this I assure you is not a small pleasure, it will be a big one and another step in the journey.