Author Archives: Miriam Hurdle

Thursday Doors – Beaverton City

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The Thursday Doors is a weekly challenge at Dan Antion’s site No Facility for people who love doors and architecture to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos, drawings, or other images or stories from around the world. If you’d like to join us, simply create your own Thursday Doors post and then share a link to your post in the comments in Dan’s post.

When Hubby and I were house searching after summer in 2022, we wanted to find a home within twenty minutes of drive from my daughter’s house. Beaverton and Tigard cities had larger inventories in the housing market. Friends recommended Beaverton. Eventually, it was the city of my focus.

Even though we’ve moved into our new home for almost four months, other than going to my daughter’s house, I still like to use Google Maps. I’ve saved about thirty locations for our frequent visits.

I did a little “Getting to Know You” about Beaverton City. What I’ve learned is more than what’s included here. I may bring up other information later.

Beaverton is a city in Washington County in the Tualatin Valley, Oregon, U.S. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. It is the second-largest city in the county and the seventh largest city in Oregon. Beaverton is an economic center for Washington County. It is home to the world headquarters of Nike, Inc. Incidentally, our previous owner was a Nike employee. He moved because he was relocated.

Beaverton covers a total area of 19.7 square miles (51 km2), all of it land except for small creeks, ponds, and lakes. The city is located along the eastern edge of the Tualatin Valley, just west of the Tualatin Mountain. It is bordered by Portland to the east, Hillsboro to the west, and Tigard to the south. Much of the remaining area surrounding Beaverton in the north and southwest constitutes unincorporated Washington County.

Beaverton City is divided into 13 neighborhoods: Central Beaverton, Denney Whitford, Raleigh West, Five Oaks, Triple Creek, Greenway, Highland, Neighbors Southwest, Sexton Mountain, South Beaverton, Vose, West Beaverton, and West Slope.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaverton,_Oregon

Tourist attractions

I’ll tell you some more after I visit these attractions. Several of them are close to my home.

The weather is getting warmer in Portland. In fact, Friday will be 86o F, and Saturday will be 80oF.

I took some photos of the doors when I was out and about. There are two sets of doors included. The first set has basically brown doors with different styles.

The second set has colorful doors.

This pink flower tree and its counterpart white flower tree are in bloom right now. I see them everywhere on the road.

Thursday Doors – Beaverton City

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Sunday Book Review – The Winding Road: A Journey of Survival by Miriam Hurdle #Cancer #Memoir

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I’m humbled and honored that Debby Gies (D.G. Kaye) featured me on her blog and shared a thoughtful and insightful review of The Winding Road: Journey of Survival. She read my book with her heart and mind. She went along with me through my journey and felt what I felt every step of the way. What else could I ask for when a reader understood me? Please visit her blog to read this heartfelt review.

D.G. Kaye is a nonfiction/memoir writer, writing from her life experiences and self-medicating with a daily dose of humor.

Her latest book is Fifteen First Times: Beginnings: A Collection of Indelible First. This book is a collection of stories about some of Kaye’s first-time experiences with life’s most natural events. Told through the intimate conversational writing we’ve come to know from this author, poignant personal stepping stones to learning moments are revealed. She encompasses the heart of each matter with sincerity and sprinkles inflections of humor.

Amazon Purchase Link

DGKayewriter.com

Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I am thrilled to be sharing my review for Miriam Hurdle’s – The Winding Road: A Journey of Survival – surviving near fatal cancer. This book is both, a heartfelt and heart-wrenching journey, bravely told by Miriam, and miraculously she was gifted the opportunity to live. Not only is this book a tale of Miriam’s diagnosis and her physical fight for survival, but a testament to her diligence and being her own advocate to push through the medical system.

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Blurb:

In the summer of 2008, Miriam Hurdle was diagnosed with melanoma-an aggressive and invasive cancer in her internal organs. The survival rate before 2008 was low. Besides risking harsh treatments for a slim chance of survival, Miriam had hoops to jump through. By the time she received treatment at the beginning of 2009, her cancer had progressed from stage II to stage…

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Day 3 of Poetry Treasure 3: Passion – Blog Tour with Diana W. Peach and Abbie J. Taylor

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I’m delighted to host the blog tour for the anthology Poetry Treasure 3: Passion. My guests today are Diana Wallace Peach and Abby Johnson Taylor.

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 Passions treasures within.

Open the cover

and you will discover

the Poetry Treasures

of guests on

 Roberta Eaton Cheadle’s

2022 “Treasuring Poetry” blog series

on Writing to be Read.

Included are treasures from:

Patty Fletcher, D. Wallace Peach, Yvette Prior,

Penny Wilson, Colleen M. Chesebro, Abbie Taylor,

Yvette Calliero, Smitha Vishwaneth,

Chris Hall, Willow Willers, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer,

and Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Giveaway

Comment and let us know you were there and get a chance to win a copy of Poetry Treasures 3: Passions in the digital format of your choice. Follow the tour and leave your comments along the way. One entry per stop.

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My first guest is Diana Wallace Peach. Diana and I have been friends in this blogging community for years. Many of you agree she is the most supportive person in this blogosphere. On every blog I go to, she is there reading and commenting in the most positive and meaningful way. Diana, Terri Webster Schrandt, and Marsha Ingaro, met in Portland, Oregon in September 2022. It was my first bloggers’ get-together. It felt like we had known each other for ages. And now, I moved to Portland four months ago. When I told Diana, I only used the umbrella once during the four months of raining and snowing. She said, “You’re a true Oregonian!” What a great way to welcome me. “Thank you, Diana.” I have to remember wearing something with a hood to keep my hair dry, though.

One poem Diana includes in this anthology is “Timeless.” Here’s her poem and her reading of it.

Diana, please share with us about “Timeless.”

The inspiration for the poem “Timeless” came from my relationship with my husband. We’re in our mid-sixties now, but when we met, we were in our twenties, at the peak of youth – no gray, no wrinkles, no flubber, no aches and pains. We could dance all night. One of the beautiful things about getting older with a loved one is that our current vision of our partners tends to reflect those early imprints on our hearts. When I look at him, or he at me, we still see each other with those youthful eyes – still in love, still beautiful. It’s an exquisite illusion.

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About Diana Wallace Peach

Best-selling fantasy author D. Wallace Peach indulges her imagination in the world of words. She’s published twenty fantasy novels and participated in anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. An avid supporter of the arts, she’s produced annual anthologies of Oregon prose, poetry, and photography.

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My next guest is Abbie Johnson Taylor. I met Abbie Taylor through our mutual friends in this blogging community. She is a talented poet, writer, compassionate therapist, and a great supporter of visually impaired adults.

One poem Abbie includes in Poetry Treasure 3 is “The Black Hole.” Here’s her poem and her reading of it.

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About Abbie Taylor

Abbie Johnson Taylor is the author of three novels, two poetry collections, and a memoir. Her work has appeared in The Weekly Avocet, The Writer’s Grapevine, and Magnets and Ladders. She’s visually impaired and lives in Sheridan, Wyoming, where for six years, she cared for her totally blind late husband, who became partially paralyzed as a result of a stroke soon after they were married. With a BA in music, she has worked as a registered music therapist with nursing home residents, facilitated a support group for visually impaired adults, taught Braille, and served on the advisory board of a trust fund providing adaptive equipment and services to the blind and visually impaired.

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Amazon Purchase Link

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Thank you very much for your visit and comment.

Have a Wonderful Day!

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The Winding Road, Journey of Survival – BOOK by MIRIAM HURDLE & PRIORHOUSE INTERVIEW

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I’m so excited that Yvette Prior invited me for an interview on her Priorhouse blog. Yvette and I met and followed each other in this blogging community many years ago. She is enthusiastic and friendly. When I was formatting my debut publication, Song of Heartstring: Poems of Gratitude and Beatitude, she kindly offered to look at my manuscript and gave me valuable input. We helped each other to spread the word about each other’s books. She read my latest book, The Winding Road, and wanted to interview me, not only about this book but also about other aspects of my life.

I invite you to head over to the Priorhouse to read about this interview. While you’re there, check out her book Lady by the River: Stories of Perseverance, which is an anthology with Yvette as the author and compiler. This is a valuable self-help book with stories contributed by nine authors.

Today’s Priorhouse Interview features MIRIAM HURDLE 

MIRIAM: Hi Yvette, thank you for inviting me to share my book with your readers. I also hope to get to know your readers as they find out a little more about me. 

Hello everyone. I am Miriam Hurdle. I grew up in Hong Kong where I finished college and worked for several years before coming to the United States for my graduate studies. After my schooling, I worked two years as a rehabilitation counselor, then went into education, taught for 14 years, and was in administration for 10 before retirement. In my retired life, I enjoy volunteer counseling, reading, writing, blogging, gardening, photographing, and traveling. I’m married to Lynton and we have one married daughter. My older granddaughter, Autumn, was born on September 28, 2017, and my younger granddaughter, Nora, was born on March 22, 2020.

PRIOR: Congrats on your blessed grandchildren – and for those readers who already follow Miriam’s blog, you know how cute they are!

MIRIAM’S MEMOIR: THE WINDING ROAD

PRIOR: Many readers might already know about Miriam’s memoir, The Winding Road. I ordered a paperback copy of the book to read because I wanted to pass it along to a widow friend who lost her spouse to cancer in 2022. However, my second cousin’s wife, Nancy, was recently diagnosed with skin cancer and so I am going to gift her a copy of the book too. I think she will be encouraged by Miriam’s journey.

Can you tell us a little about The Winding Road? 

MIRIAM: I would love to share about my book, The Winding Road, Journey of Survival.

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It is a memoir of my cancer journey between 2008 and 2009. Four of my close relatives had cancer, and three died from it. Cancer affects a lot more people than we realize. What I had was something terrible, but it is also a common disease. Yet my cancer experience had several layers of impossibilities, which further complicated the disease itself. Each circumstance pushed and expanded my limit of patience, faith, trust, and gratitude.

My healing journey taught me to let down my guard, show my vulnerability, and accept my being rather than doing.

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Continue reading…

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Happy Easter

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I hope you had a wonderful day today, whether you celebrated Easter or enjoyed your relaxing day!

I went to my daughter’s church yesterday when they had a pancake breakfast and an egg hunt for the children. The breakfast was well attended. The helpers laid hundreds of eggs on the playground and grass area. After children’s story time, they dashed outside with their own baskets. There was plenty for every kid.

Nora picked up an egg, shook it, and opened it. If she didn’t like the content, she put it back on the grass. On the other hand, Autumn went for quantity and worried about the content later.

Nora wore her birthday party hat. She turned three two and a half weeks ago

Mercy and Will had an Easter egg hunt for the girls yearly, but they had a project in their backyard. I volunteered to cook lunch, and the girls could have an egg hunt at my house.

It has been raining off and on since we moved into our new home three months ago. The backyard is wet and muddy. I decided to have the egg hunt inside the house. I hid the eggs inside drawers, under the couch cushions, in the pantry, and in the bathroom on Friday night. After hiding the eggs, I wanted to remind myself where I hid them. The first time I went around, three eggs were short on my counting. Finally, all the eggs were counted after going around three times. I took pictures of all the places with hidden eggs!

As soon as Mercy, Will, and the girls walked into our house around noon today, the girls wanted to look for the eggs. Nora and Autumn each found one egg before we even started lunch. But they volunteered to hide them again.

The girls could hardly sit still to have lunch. They were done eating long before we were halfway done. They wanted their Razzleberries pie dessert. So, they waited patiently at the table. I’m a slow eater and didn’t want them to wait for me. I gave them instructions so that they could get started. Lynton followed Nora, and I followed Autumn in case they couldn’t open some drawers. Mercy followed them to take photos. They announced, “I found one,” “I found one,” with excitement. Mercy found my paper to keep track of the eggs. We helped to count the eggs the girls found. They didn’t want to stop even when we told them they found all the eggs.

Autumn tried out her newfound treasure
Nora put the necklace on Mommy
The girls shared the chocolate eggs with Mommy and Daddy

Before they got ready to go home, Nora put some eggs back into the drawers and places. She wanted to hunt for the eggs again!

Mercy sent me a text after they got home to let me know she was happy that we live close to each other and can easily get together! I’m thankful that we can easily do things with each other.

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