Thursday, December 04, 2014

Drum Roll Please. . . .


Saturday, December 04, 2004

Slight Detour



Welcome to the inaugural night of "Slight Detour" coming to you from beautiful Sandpoint, Idaho. I cannot take credit for the title. That honor goes to my brother Jim, an architect, artist, cartoonist in Grants Pass, Oregon. It's because of Jim and his cartoon series called "Slight Detour" that I have initiated this blog.

I hope that as I learn more about this publishing process Jim's cartoons will begin to appear. At this point, I've followed the three steps to blogdom and have spent some time typing. Let's just see what comes next.

I guess the next step I'll try is to link all readers to my website, where you can find information about my two funny farm books (now three) and read some examples of my freelance writing, including an exclusive interview with actor Viggo Mortensen. So, here goes. Keep your fingers crossed. Go here:  http://www.mariannelove.com

Comment:  Blogger Bluemax_36 said...


Well, it looks like something that can use up a lot of time. I don't know what happens to this, so I don't know how visible it will be. I don't think that I'm ready to do the blogging thing. First, I don't have that much to say that meets the threshhold of being interesting to others. Secondly, it looks like something sorta time consuming, and I'm not sure that I need another absorbing activity that diverts me from stuff that needs to be done....
4:22 PM

Update on Mike's comment from ten years ago.  Well, the blog has taken up a lot of time, Mike, but it's been good time.  I thoroughly enjoy the 7-8 a.m. morning slot spent here at the computer.  

And, since that night ten years ago, it appears to me that you have gone against your assumptions and spent your own time at "another absorbing activity that diverts me from stuff that needs to be done."  

Or, was your book Missile, Missile Missile:  A Personal Experience (available at www.amazon.com in Kindle and hardcover, by the way), published in November, 2013  on your list of "stuff that needs to be done"?  

Whatever the case, I'm glad you took the time to complete and publish the story of your Vietnam helicopter shootdown, et. al. 

First turn-off

Well, it's a baby blog, so give me a break. I've got a lot to learn about how all this blog stuff works, and I'm hoping Jim's brains combined with mine will help us get going on this new adventure.

Since we're in a slight-detour mode, we've got an excuse to get off course as often as we want.
Okay, maybe I've figured out one more step in the process. I mentioned that article about Viggo Mortensen in my first post and put my website, but it didn't turn into a link. So, let's try clicking here www.mariannelove.com

Hey, it worked. So, if any visitors run across this blog, try that link above.

Take a left

Yup, it's fun. Two infant blog postings and they don't look too stupid, so let's try a couple of other baby steps. I'm going to send you to another important location. He's my favorite blogger and cranky conservative, Mr. Oliveria. I owe this guy a lot cuz he's provided some great exposure to my website. He also does a pretty interesting daily web journal, so bookmark him spokesmanreview.com/blogs/nhb/

Update ten years later:  As of today, 6,939 entries have appeared on "Slight Detour" since its launch Dec. 4, 2004.  In the early days of blogging, I often started completely new entries, rather than continuing in the same post, so that bumped the numbers up a bit. You'll see the first three entries on Dec. 4, 2004, focused on experimenting on how to match up the entities of the cyber world and to see if it all actually worked.

A lot of time spent writing has led to this milestone.  I discovered, with time and feedback, that I truly loved sitting down for an hour a day and coming up with something out of my head or from my various camera lenses.  

Posting on this blog for nearly every day over the past decade has turned into a delightful, sometimes challenging daily discipline.  I think I may have missed posting six or seven times from 2004 to 2014.  Two of those absences occurred when we moved to Selle in 2006 and had to wait for our Internet to be hooked up. 

By 2012, the regularity of the blog appearing at just after 8 a.m. each day turned into a necessity, especially thanks to my friend and head daily editor, Helen Newton.  By that time, if I was running late, I could always count on an email around 8:08 or so from Helen asking, "Is anything wrong out there?"

And, so in the fall of 2012 when my sister Laurie contracted viral encephalitis and we spent the night transporting her to and sitting with her dressed in space suits at Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene, I left her room around 7:30 a.m. and scurried to the visitors' room to call Helen and to explain why the blog would not appear that day.

She was sworn to secrecy since, at the time, we did not know if Laurie had a contagious variety of encephalitis and did not want to alarm the community.  Turned out she did not, which was especially fortunate because she's an elementary teacher. 

This morning I wish to thank Helen and assistant editor Cherry of Sunnyside and everyone who has stuck with this experiment for the past ten years.  That includes you, Julie of Orlando, formerly of Selle. 

It's been a fun run, and I so appreciate the folks who inspired me to get started---younger brother Jim and Blogfather Dave.  And, I'm especially thrilled these days that blogs have become so common in our social media that-----like the GonZOGa learning curve, people have gradually learned that this medium is not a "BLOB." 

Now, for more Jim Tibbs cartoons.  Besides his artwork, Jim is passionately involved in hang gliding, so much so that he even produced a national hang gliding calendar with his cartoons. 

He has also illustrated some children's books and continues to design beautiful structures in Southwestern Oregon. 

I've always envied and admired Jim's talents, even more so this morning when it's so apparent that his cartoons, penned a decade or more ago, remain timeless, thought-provoking  and very funny. 







And, one more thing, since this lady had a blessing in disguise, I'd like to round out the anniversary blog with a video about Pope Francis, and, of course, featuring Sandpoint's Cindy Wooden who, along with photographer Paul Haring, explains the highlights of her recently published book Pope Francis:  A Guide to God's Time

Feel free to pass along the good news of Cindy's book (available at www.amazon.com), featuring a truly wonderful Pope.




6 comments:

Mike Mahoney said...

Marianne,
You are blessed with the ability to communicate, whether by camera or keyboard. You may not get Comments on every blog you write, but rest assured that your words are read, enjoyed and appreciated by many people every day. That you are able to brighten the day of others by entertaining, enlightening, provoking or simply sharing, is truly a gift. As we used to say in olden days (the 70's!) "Keep on truckin'".

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Marianne, on this milestone anniversary!

A common thread in live conversations around Sandpoint is "Did you read Marianne's blog about such and such?" You continue to be a journalist in modern media and more importantly, a friend to many!

Helen

Unknown said...

Happy Blogaversary, Marianne! I always enjoy sitting down and hearing the latest from wherever you may be...geographically and mentally! I look forward to 'our' trip to Hawaii next. Thanks for posting!

Cindy Wooden said...

Congratulations! But I can't believe that with so much bragging about your own accomplishments to do today, you brag on me!

I love following your blog, keeping touch with home and checking out the weather and changing seasons in the place I still consider home!

Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your anniversary! Doesn't the time fly by? I like living a bit vicariously through you and your chores on your farm. Brings back so many memories - most good, some not so. LOL.

Thanks for the shout out, too :-)

Here's to many, many more!

Julie in Orlando

Word Tosser said...

With all the Christmas stuff to do, I forgot to comment on your anniversary date.. also after reading it.. I wonder how many started up a blog after you did yours.. Like me..4 months later.. on a late read on your page.. YOU TOO CAN START YOUR OWN BLOG.. IT IS AS EASY AS 1.2.3... sure enough there I was.. CONGRATULATIONS, MARIANNE.. it is upward and onward, as we read about your adventures ... where ever they take you.