Sunday Mix

I'm starting off with a picture of hope today. There's hope out there in them there pastures and woods that the snow will continue to melt and it won't be long until we see more green grass than snow.

That's pure and probably unrealistic hope when it's Jan. 10, but still. One can dream of such things, just as one can dream and hope big time that the stupid cold which wants to stay around as long as winter in North Idaho would just go away. 

This has been a doozy, to say the least.  Everyone has their battle stories about the great cold of 2015-16----yes, this cold has lasted in my body over two calendar years.  It started a couple of days after Christmas, and this morning, shows no signs of giving up. 

Annie, Bill and I all caught the darn thing about the same time.  Friday night, Annie said hers was finally gone after several days of coughing.  She had been down for the count for several days, and with the schedule she keeps, you can imagine how much of a burden that was on her. 

As for Bill and me, we've talked about the cold several times when we aren't coughing. My version has been kinda strange because on any given day, a different symptom replaces the one from the day before.  I might be sneezing one day, have no voice the next, coughing my brains out the next and intermittently complaining of a sore throat.

I asked a pharmacist yesterday for any secrets.  He told me I could buy all those different varieties of cold medicines, but they were just going to mask it.  He says he relies on a lot of Airborne, and that sounds good to me. 

Anyway, I "hope" it goes away soon. 

More hope abounds this morning with the Powerball Lottery, which again has no winners. That means a lot of money which we all hope we can win.  

Of course, we have to buy tickets, and that's something my sister who always talks about the lottery doesn't even know how to do.  She asked during dinner last night if we had bought our tickets.  

"Annie has," I announced.  Then, came the next question:  will Annie share?  We'll have to wait and see, I guess.   We love you, Annie, oh yes we do!

Maybe this week I'll have to march my sister to a store, and we can fumble our way through purchasing a ticket.  Of course, if I help her win, I expect her to share too. 

So, there's hope that by Wednesday night someone in this family----if they buy a ticket----will be a billion dollars richer.  

Wouldn't that be nice.  I probably won't broadcast the new riches on "Slight Detour," but I'll probably keep up the blog wherever I happen to be on the golden slight detours I can take around the world with all that money. 

Yup, today is hopeful, and today is a bit newsworthy.  I don't want people to get too tired of seeing my promotions of Keith Lee Morris' Northwest book tour, which begins this evening at 7:30 p.m. at Powell's Bookstore, but I will keep promoting.

I promised Keith that I would do my part to see that the news gets out.  This morning's Spokesman featured a nice Q and A with Keith, produced by book reviewer Carolyn Lamberson.

http://m.spokesman.com/stories/2016/jan/09/morris-makes-a-return-trip-to-idaho-with-travelers/

And, the reason you see the photo below of the three lovely ladies----they were dressed up for a wedding of another lovely lady, Erica Curless. 

If you focus on the one standing in the middle, I want to note that she, Courtney Ferguson (daughter of Tim and Debbie) and Erica were co-editors of the SHS Cedar Post in 1992-93. The other two ladies on either side also served on the Cedar Post-----Sarah Aavedal and Emily Bergstrom.

With today's Keith Lee Morris event in Portland, I'm proud to include a link for a very well-written review by Courtney, a staff writer for the Portland Mercury aka "Portland's Most Awesome Weekly Paper."

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/the-snowy-mazes-of-keith-lee-morris-travelers-rest/Content?oid=17310329

There's a great sense of pride in discovering a great piece of writing by one former student about a literary accomplishment by another former student.  We writers love to cheerlead when our own kind and especially our students have achieved something good.

So, congratulations, Courtney.  I'm looking forward, with great hope, that Courtney and Keith get to meet in person at tonight's event.  

On another topic, there's a new Border Collie pup in Bonner County.  His name is Ben, and I've enjoyed being included on the saga of his new mom and pop as they traveled to South Dakota to pick him up.  

That would be Jim and Dorothy Arthurs, definitely no strangers to dogs. Ben is home now, and soon, after vaccinations, Ben and Liam will meet for some Border Collie fun. 

I'm sure Jim and Dorothy have some great hopes for Ben as he comes from a working-dog ranch.  He's a cutie. 

On that note, there's a Seahawks game a little later this morning, and I'm wearing my No. 12 jersey which Annie gave me for Christmas.  Let's hope the 'Hawks endure the cold of Minnesota and come home with a victory and a continued pathway toward another Super Bowl.  

Go, Seahawks.  Happy Sunday.  If you're in the Portland area, go see Keith tonight!  He'll be in Seattle tomorrow night at Elliott Bay Bookstore--- 7 p.m.  Tell your friends. 

Ben of Bonner County with his new mom Dorothy.  
                           ---Photo, compliments of the Arthur's