Miriam Hurdle's Blog

I’m delighted to host my friend and fellow author, Elizabeth Gauffreau, and her new book tour today. Liz is known for her historical fiction. She is here to share with you all about The Weight of Snow and Regret! Please join me to welcome Liz!

Introduction

Thank you for hosting me on my blog tour for The Weight of Snow and Regret, Miriam! Today, I am shining the spotlight on father-and-son residents Homer and Lester Shover. But first, here is what The Weight of Snow and Regret is all about.

Description

For over 100 years, no one wanted to be sent to the Sheldon Poor Farm. By 1968, no one wanted to leave. 

Amid the social turmoil of 1968, the last poor farm in Vermont is slated for closure. By the end of the year, the twelve destitute residents remaining will be dispatched to whatever institutions will take them, their personal stories lost forever.

Hazel Morgan and her husband Paul have been matron and manager at the Sheldon Poor Farm for the past 20 years. Unlike her husband, Hazel refuses to believe the impending closure will happen. She believes that if she just cares deeply enough and works hard enough, the Sheldon Poor Farm will continue to be a safe haven for those in need, herself and Paul included.

On a frigid January afternoon, the overseer of the poor and the town constable from a nearby town deliver a stranger to the poor farm for an emergency stay. She refuses to tell them her name, where she came from, or what her story is. It soon becomes apparent to Hazel that whatever the woman’s story is, she is deeply ashamed of it. 

Hazel fights to keep the stranger with them until she is strong enough to face, then resume, her life—while Hazel must face the tragedies of her own past that still haunt her.

Told with compassion and humor, The Weight of Snow & Regret tells the poignant story of what it means to care for others in a rapidly changing world.

Homer
Image Credit: Library of CongressLester
Image Credit: Library of Congress

Excerpt from “Two Troublesome Priests” Chapter

As [Hazel] rinsed out her rag, Homer appeared at her elbow, still dressed in overalls and a chambray work shirt for the farm work he could no longer perform. He hid his crippled hands in his pockets.

“Excuse me, Hazel. Have you seen Mouser?”

She wrung out the rag. “No, I haven’t.”

“I don’t want to be a bother, but the old man ain’t been himself all morning.”

“What’s wrong? Do I need to call the doctor?”

“No, thank you kindly. He’s just going on the way he does about being a burden because he’s too old and poor-sighted to work. Do you think Paul would mind if I went out to the barn to look for Mouser? I don’t want to trouble him.”

Of course, Paul would mind. Hazel dried her hands on her apron. “I’ll go, Homer. You have a seat at the table.”

Hazel hurried across the dooryard to the cow barn. It would take her some time to find Lester’s cat, but she needed to do it before Paul brought in the fresh eggs from the chicken coop and spotted Homer sitting forlornly at the kitchen table with his bushy mountain man beard and useless hands. God love him, Homer did his best to look out for his father, even after they lost the family farm to the Depression and ended up at the poor farm as charity cases when neither of them was able to hire out for farm work any longer.   

Books2Read Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/WeightofSnow

Trailer

Elizabeth Gauffreau’s biography

Elizabeth Gauffreau writes fiction and poetry with a strong connection to family and place. Her work has been widely published in literary magazines, as well as several themed anthologies. Her short story “Henrietta’s Saving Grace” was awarded the 2022 Ben Nyberg prize for fiction by Choeofpleirn Press.

She has previously published a novel, Telling Sonny: The Story of a Girl Who Once Loved the Vaudeville Show, and two collections of photopoetry, Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance and Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right.  

Liz’s professional background is in nontraditional higher education, including academic advising, classroom and online teaching, curriculum development, and program administration. She received the Granite State College Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018. Liz lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire, with her husband.

Find her online at https://lizgauffreau.

Click/tap to follow blog tour: https://lizgauffreau.com/the-weight-of-snow-and-regret-blog-tour-2/

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Selma Martin is hosting Tanka Tuesday this week. She proposed to write a Haiku like Bashō. Following Bashō’s example, I wrote my haiku in s-l-s syllable counts rather than the English haiku of 5-7-5 syllable counts. Colleen Chesebro included an essay, “Why ‘No 5-7-5′” from National Haiku Writing Month. You’re invited to read here.

This image shows a dwarf Japanese maple on the side of our front yard, with raindrops on the leaves.

outside the window

leaves turn yellow overnight

autumn knocks on our door

the shower drips, drops

gently splashes on our rooftop

autumn’s symphony

bright and blue sky

chases away patchy rain clouds

autumn foliage smile

Tanka Tuesday: Autumn’s Symphony

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Terri Webster Schrandt at the Second Wind Leisure Perspectives started The Flower Hour Photo Challenge this month. My contribution to the challenge this week is the autumn leaves.

The following photo is a mature Japanese maple in front of our house in its autumn color.

The next photo is the street in front of our house. The trees change colors overnight, and the leaves fall within a few days, creating a yellow carpet.

The following one is the third house on our right, located behind the tree at the top right of the above photo. They have many Japanese maples. The one in the foreground is a dwarf Japanese maple.

The next photo is the street lined with Ginkgo Biloba trees on both sides, about a mile from our house.

I took the following photo a few days ago at the Costco parking lot. Autumn is showing off its beautiful foliage in Oregon. I wish my eyes were a camera taking photos when I drive around town.

The Flower Hour: Autumn Leaves

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I’m delighted to have my friend and fellow author, Denise, visiting my blog today. She has published a new Christmas Collection and is excited to share it with you all. Please join me to welcome Denise!

 

Thank you, Miriam, for having me on your beautiful blog today to share the release of Ghosts & Miracles Past: A Christmas Collection Two. I’m extremely grateful for your support!

When I grew up as an only child, except for the couple of years I had a much older stepbrother, I knew the fears of a stranger coming to the door when I was home alone. Once, my parents were golfing, and two people came to our door. They claimed to be from the FBI and said my mother’s purse had been stolen and they were checking on the house. They commended me for having the screen door locked. A neighbor peeked out to see what was going on, and they left. Turns out they were the ones who had broken into my parents’ car and stolen her purse. I got lucky opening the door, having a locked screen, and a concerned neighbor, but this got me thinking. What if a young girl were at home waiting for her mom when a huge storm hits? The power and phones went out, and the only neighbors were out of town. She was truly alone with no neighbors watching in “She’s Home Alone.”

BLURB:

Miracles saturate the sweet-scented Christmas season—a reminder we aren’t alone.

Miracles & Ghosts Past: A Christmas Collection brings eight stories from past holidays. Rita buys train tickets for her and Morris’s 30th anniversary in the novelette, “The Christmas Train Mystery.” She’s convinced this trip will bring her and Morris closer—if he can find the time. A murder mystery excursion will change Rita’s life in more ways than one, but will she go with her workaholic husband or by herself? In the first short story, “Christmas Rescue,” Opal trusts the wrong man and loses her mother in the same year, leaving her feeling lost. On a mission to get candles for the dinner table, she makes an unexpected find. “Is There a Santa?” goes back to the 1920s, where a widower is desperate to hold on to his farm and children. He doesn’t want charity, just a bit of luck or a miracle. In the final stories, you’ll meet an eleven-year-old who’s home alone, a family living in the aftermath of war, a girl who gets some shocking news, a widow with a warning from beyond, and a woman trapped on an elevator with Santa. Hope underlies these stories; it endures even in the direst of circumstances. Whether help comes from a ghost, Santa, or an angel, miracles are just within reach.

EXCERPT FROM: She’s Home Alone, 1965

Debbie added a shiny red ribbon and bow to the candy cane wrapping paper. She made the gift as pretty as possible for her mom, who was working another double shift at the general store. Her mom took every extra shift to make ends meet. Despite all the hard work, there wasn’t much left for the holiday season after rent, food, and bills. Debbie helped the Williams family across the street by babysitting or doing anything she could to earn money to help buy the extras. Even with school and babysitting, Debbie was home alone often, but she always kept busy and helped her mom by cleaning the house and cooking simple dinners.

Tonight, they were expecting what was being called the snowstorm of the century. She kept checking the ticking wall clock, hoping her mom would come home soon, before it hit. Too bad her mom needed to do some shopping after her shift for Christmas dinner, which would make her even later than normal.

She flipped on the radio, and her mom’s favorite version of “Silent Night” was playing on the local station.

“It really is a silent night without the TV. I wish our old one could have been repaired, but hopefully, we’ll get another one next year,” Debbie sighed to herself.

It was also lonely without the Williamses, who were the only other people living in their cul-de-sac. The six-year-old twins, Dean and Justin, would be outside playing no matter what the weather, and their mom would be inside with the two little girls, Kathy and Lisa. Sometimes they’d invite her over to dinner if her mom worked late. Now their house was dark; the family of six was spending the holidays with relatives.

“Just me and Mom this Christmas.” She put her feet on the coffee table. The only time she got away with that was when her mom wasn’t there. Leaning back on the couch, she studied the heavy clouds through the front window. “At least it’ll be a white Christmas.”

It had been Debbie, her mom, and her grandma for a while since her dad left them. She’d overheard her dad telling her mom the night he left that he wasn’t cut out to be a husband or father. They hadn’t heard from him since the divorce papers were signed three years ago. Child support payments failed to materialize, and his whereabouts remained unknown, but her mom heard a rumor that he was living in Mexico. With no money to hunt him down, they sold their home, found this rental, and her mom went to work.

Debbie put a snowman name tag on her gift.

“I hope you like this, Mom,” she said, placing the gift under the little decorated pine that reminded her of the tree in that new cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas. She got to watch it at Williams’s house this year while babysitting. “It’s the brown gloves you admired in the store.” Debbie paused for a moment and grinned, thinking about her best friend, who’d also left town for the holiday break. “I know, Sarah, you’d make fun of me for talking to myself, but you have a lot of people to talk to. I don’t. Besides, my mom’s right—being an only child makes it okay.”

Debbie stood and smoothed her long, straight brown hair that Sarah said was perfect. Debbie hated it, though, and loved Sarah’s blond pixie cut.

She tilted the package on its side so her mom would see it when she came home. “I wish I had a second gift to give you so we could have the same amount under the tree. While I’m making wishes, I hope you find a man who will be good to you. Your other half, as Grandma used to call it. And if I could ask for one more thing, I’d love to get a puppy.” Debbie straightened the silver star on top of the tree. The puppy was less likely to happen than her mom dating again. She knew they couldn’t afford it. Stepping back, she sensed a wave of holiday spirit emanating from the vibrant tree and music before a power outage ended the moment. “Great!”

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Trailer

About D. L. Finn

FUN FINN FACTS

I was an only child, mostly. I had a very active imagination and was scared of the dark and quiet of the night.I can’t wait to get the Christmas tree up. It gets earlier every year!

D. L. Finn is an independent California local who encourages everyone to embrace their inner child. She was born and raised in the foggy Bay Area, but in 1990, she relocated with her husband, kids, dogs, and cats to Nevada City, in the Sierra foothills. She immersed herself in reading all types of books, but especially loved romance, horror, and fantasy. She always treasured creating her own reality on paper. Finally, surrounded by towering pines, oaks, and cedars, her creativity was nurtured until it bloomed. Her creations include children’s books, adult fiction, and poetry. She continues on her adventure with an open invitation to all readers to join her.

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D.L. Finn blog
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D. L. Finn’s Gratitude Store

To celebrate the release, I will be giving away three Amazon Gift Cards: $5, $10, and $15. At the end of the tour, I will randomly pick the three winners from those who leave comments during the blog tour. Good Luck!

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The autumnal equinox was on September 22, 2025, almost a week ago. On the autumnal equinox, the Sun is directly over the Earth’s equator, making nearly equal amounts of daylight and darkness for the entire globe. This event marks the official beginning of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere. The Earth’s axis doesn’t tilt toward or away from the sun at this moment. 

What happens after the autumnal equinox, especially in the Pacific Northwest, where I am? Well, after the autumnal equinox, the sun sets earlier each day in the Pacific Northwest, with a loss of approximately three to four minutes of daylight per day in locations like Portland and Seattle, accelerating to around five minutes daily in areas further north. The reduction in sunlight brings cooler weather and a distinct chill in the air. 

I didn’t do very well with the cooler weather in the last two winters. I suffered a nonstop runny nose and squeezing for several months each winter, and it even happened in the summer this year. After seeing many allergy specialists, ENT doctors, and going through many tests, the results were that I was allergic to dust mites. Staying indoors most of the time during the winter isn’t helpful. Finally, I did something drastic six weeks ago: I bought 1) the bed bug-proof, zipped six-sided mattress encasement, 2) bed bug-proof zipped pillow protectors, 3) a 1,000 thread count sheet set, and 4) two air purifiers, one for the bedroom and one for the living room. It has worked so far. I haven’t had the symptoms mentioned. Fingers crossed for the winter.  I’ll try to bundle up and go to my garden often in the winter to get some fresh air.

Autumn showed us the game she wanted to play

School started a month ago. I signed up to volunteer in Autumn and Nora’s classrooms. Autumn’s teacher wants help with reading in the morning and math in the afternoon. Nora’s teacher is flexible. This will be my Monday schedule from 9:30 am to 2:00 pm with a lunch break, of course.

Nora was sorting sea creatures

After on and off searching for a choir, I finally found one and had an audition. My rehearsal will start tomorrow, September 28, in the evening. I’ll share more with you later.

Autumn is turning eight years old tomorrow, September 28th. The birthday party will be in the afternoon. There’ll be about 45 guests, with about 25 kids.

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I’m at Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord Magazine today. She shares a post from my archives in 2024. I invite you to stop by to visit her lovely blog. You’ll find many interesting features, including health, stories, music, humor, and more. If you’re an author, she’ll be delighted to add your book to her shelf and promote it.

Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives 2025 – My Pick of two of your posts from last six months of 2024 – Summer Delight by Miriam Hurdle

Have a Lovely Day and Week!

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The first week of September is gone. September evokes certain emotions and senses in me. The pressing summer heat retreated. The temperatures are cooler with cloudy skies. It has been drizzling for the last two days.

September 2022 set the motion for our move from Southern California. It was the most exciting, yet extremely stressful and chaotic time in my life. The real estate team of two young women was energetic and forceful. They gave us one month to move our thirty-one years of belongings to the storage or garage so they could stage our home for the open house. We eventually made it in two months.

Do I miss Southern California? Honestly, I do!

I missed the monarchs. It was amazing to watch them. The tiny egg hatches into a 1/16-inch caterpillar. It grows until it’s ready to build a chamber for its metamorphosis. Its wings and legs grow inside the chrysalis until it’s ready to emerge. It then hangs its wings to dry before flying. The collage is from the photos I took in 2021 and 2022.

Another thing I missed was my baby Ruby-throated Hummingbird, which was born in my garden in 2018. When Hubby trimmed the orange tree, he missed the nest by one branch. For five years before moving, Hummie stayed in my garden every single day, and didn’t go south with Mama and Dada in the winter. I knew because I looked out the window first thing in the morning until I spotted him.

I missed the annual Messiah performance. It was my enjoyable highlight of the year. Most of the singers had been singing for five to forty years. We needed only ten rehearsals before the performance. Well, COVID stopped our tradition, but my friends and I attended another Messiah performance.

I also missed my writing group from Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), a program for retirees and semi-retirees.

Of course, I missed my family in California. We now join them for the Thanksgiving gathering every year.

How do I like our life in Portland, Oregon?

The Pacific Northwest is not a monarch migration route, so I don’t see monarch butterflies here. I see tiger swallowtails and some white cabbage butterflies in the summer.

The hummingbirds found my feeder in my new garden. Two weeks ago, one hummingbird flapped its wings behind my right ear, then flew in front of my left eye, humming for a few seconds. How I wish my eyes were a camera. I was so happy he came to say “hi” to me.

My new garden is much bigger than what I had before. I planted some berries, two apple trees, and one Asian pear tree. My son-in-law built three raised beds for me to grow vegetables.

Some of my summer annual blooms are done, but the Impatiens like the shade and are still in bloom. The second crop of Heritage raspberries started last week. They are not as big and sweet as the first crop. Probably the soil is dry from the summer heat.

I love the autumn season here. Some trees changed color two weeks ago. In just a few blinks of my eyes, there will be yellow, orange, red, and brown everywhere. The following photos were taken in my neighborhood last year.

Our purpose in moving to Portland is to be with my daughter’s family. For almost three years, the only week we didn’t see the grandkids was when we went to Italy. We enjoyed going places with them, such as Enchanted Forest and the Tulip Farm.

School started in the last week of August. Autumn is in second grade, and Nora is in kindergarten. Mom and Dad just walk them across the street to go to school. Super convenient! Before they begin after-school curricula, Grandpa and Grandma pick them up once a week to spend the afternoon with them. They loved to do art projects. I provided them with some ideas, and they created their own. They loved to make sugar cookies and decorate them.

Autumn will be eight years old on the 28th of this month. I’m thankful to be here for the grandkids as they grow so fast.

Happy September to you!

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August 19, 2025, was our 29th anniversary. We were going to take a brief trip to the Oregon Coast area. Because Hubby had a doctor’s appointment, we postponed the trip to Monday, the 25th, this week, and went to Lincoln City for two days.

Lincoln City is about 82 miles southwest of our home. My daughter recommended it because it has miles of walkable, sandy beaches along the Pacific Ocean. We booked a hotel right on the beach facing the ocean. The low tide exposed a larger area of the sand covered with driftwood. We spent most of the afternoon walking on the beach. A seafood restaurant was next to the hotel. We both had fish and chips for dinner before going back to our room.

Driftwood on the beach

On the second day, we visited the Lincoln City Glass Center. The main artist and co-owner at the center is Kelly Howard. She sells her artwork there and provides guided sessions for visitors to create their own glass pieces. We stopped and watched while their lessons were in session. Several shops nearby display and sell her creations.

Lincoln City Glass CenterGlass blowing classSome of the blown glass on display

There are other glass artists and glassworks centers in Lincoln City, but we didn’t visit them. Another type of glasswork at Mor Art Fused Glass Studio also offers classes. Visitors can create any artwork on one layer of glass using small glass pieces and glass frit, then choose a second layer of colorful glass as the background. The instructor stacked the two pieces and placed them into a giant kiln to fuse the two layers together.

Mor Art Glass Fusing StudioSome Fused glasswork on displayThis piece is $185

I took a photo of the dragon mural because my older granddaughter is into dragon books.

The artist who painted the dragon mural in Lincoln City in 2019 was local artist Justin Sparks.

Lincoln City News

We visited some souvenir shops and walked along the coast, admiring the waves and the openings of the caves under the rocks.

Marijuana shop on the left advertising flower powerThe seagull watched the whale watching boats going byWhale watching boat tourA foggy dayCaves under the rocks, even underneath the homes.

This post contributes to Dan Antion’s Thursday Doors, a weekly challenge for people who love doors and architecture.

Thursday Doors: Lincoln City – Anniversary Trip

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I’m over at Sally Cronin’s Smorgasbord Magazine. She picked two posts from my archives and featured one of them today. I invite you to go over to visit. Sally is the most generous and supportive person in this blogging community. Her blog covers a wide range of content, including music, humor, book reviews, and more.

Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives 2025 – My Pick of two of your posts from last six months of 2024 – Maple in Four Seasons by Miriam Hurdle

I’ll meet you at Sally’s site! Have a beautiful day!

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This is a re-post from April 2024.

Our family traveled to Hong Kong and Kyoto, Japan, in 2019. I highlighted two places we visited in Kyoto.

Iwatayama Monkey Park

Iwatayama Monkey Park is the home of 120 snow monkeys, which are Japanese macaques in the Arashiyama Mountains of Kyoto, Japan. These monkeys live freely in the park. The park is at the top of the hill, with a 0.9-mile trail and steps connecting the entrance to the actual monkey area. It’s about a 20-30minute hike, but some areas are steep.

Nara Park

We took a 45-minute bus ride from Kyoto to travel south to Nara Park. Nara Park is 1,240 acres (502 hectares) in size, but the area around the park, including the grounds of Tōdai-ji, Kōfuku-ji, Kasuga Grand Shrine, and Nara National Museum, is 1,600 acres (660 hectares). Nara Park is home to around 1,400 wild deer, which are also known as sika or shika deer, that have learned to bow for treats. Tourists can buy crackers to feed the deer.

There are many temples and shrines in Nara. Some temples flourished before Japan’s capital moved from Nara to Kyoto in 795. We visited Kasugataisha Shrine and walked by a few temples.

Kasugataisha Shrine

https://www.youtube.com/embed/aP2UugtALLs?feature=oembedSika deer bows for treats.

This week for Tanka Tuesday, Colleen Chesebro asked us to create a Taiga. A tanka is a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable structure, or s-l-s-l-l, which consists of 5 lines written in the first-person point of view from the perspective of the poet. A taiga, created by Robbie Cheadle and Colleen Chesebro, is a poetic form that consists of a tanka poem (5 lines with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable structure) paired with a black-and-white photograph. 

I took a photograph of the yellow Daylily in my garden and edited it into a black-and-white image, overlaying it with the poem.

My Gardening Joy

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cold winds linger still

yet the soil breathes soft and damp

mud stains all my hands

dreams seep warmth between fingers

summer waits beneath the ground

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the frost drifts away

bulbs rest in my open palm

precious as fine gems

I trust roots will find their way

birds return with assurance

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sunlight floods the sky

petals breathe in fragrant waves

bees buzz at their feast

blossoms, berries, burst of joy

my heart tastes the season’s glee

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Tanka Tuesday: Tanka Tuesday #25 Taiga

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