Hello blog friends,
Today I'm excited to welcome writer Elizabeth Gauffreau to my site. If you're familiar with Liz's writing, you know that she is an artist with words. She takes the everyday experience, unravels its delicacy, and offers the reader a rare perspective.
Simple Pleasures is a beautiful example of Liz's skill. It is a collection of Haiku poems written in response to exquisite photos of nature. I loved strolling through the pages. As I did so, I felt the seasons and their nostalgic power. I also re-remembered the miracle of life. Just as the title suggests, this is a book of simple pleasures. It invites us to sit back and savor both the poems and nature's majesty.
Please join me in welcoming Liz!
Today I'm excited to welcome writer Elizabeth Gauffreau to my site. If you're familiar with Liz's writing, you know that she is an artist with words. She takes the everyday experience, unravels its delicacy, and offers the reader a rare perspective.
Simple Pleasures is a beautiful example of Liz's skill. It is a collection of Haiku poems written in response to exquisite photos of nature. I loved strolling through the pages. As I did so, I felt the seasons and their nostalgic power. I also re-remembered the miracle of life. Just as the title suggests, this is a book of simple pleasures. It invites us to sit back and savor both the poems and nature's majesty.
Please join me in welcoming Liz!
Thank you, Gwen, for hosting me on Day #4 of my blog tour for Simple Pleasures: Haiku from
the Place Just Right!
For this tour stop, I’m going to provide some context for one of the places that appears in the book: Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
the Place Just Right!
For this tour stop, I’m going to provide some context for one of the places that appears in the book: Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
| In the featured photograph in Simple Pleasures, the lighthouse is out of frame, so here’s the lightkeeper’s house with the lighthouse behind it. | This 1921 postcard gives a better view of the lighthouse itself. |
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The Coast Guard opens the lighthouse to visitors once a year, and in 2019, my husband and I realized my childhood dream of climbing to the top. We had to be Johnny-on-the-spot to get tickets. We then had to wait in line in a vicious wind—but it was so worth it!
Adjacent to Portland Head Light is a decommissioned Army base, Fort Williams, which has been made into a recreation park.
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Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free
Tis the gift to come down where I ought to be . . . .
~ Shaker song attributed to Joseph Brackett
Tis the gift to come down where I ought to be . . . .
~ Shaker song attributed to Joseph Brackett
The simple pleasures of our favorite places in nature are gifts of the spirit to be shared with
others. In this collection of 53 haiku, each paired with a photograph, poet Liz Gauffreau invites
readers to come with her to some of her favorite places in Vermont, New Hampshire, and
Maine. Some places are long-time favorites going back years; others have become favorites by
virtue of inspiring poetry.
AUTHOR 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 published a novel, Telling Sonny, and a collection of photopoetry, Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance. She is currently working on a novel, The Weight of Snow and Regret, based on the closing of the last poor farm in Vermont in 1968.
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.com.
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 published a novel, Telling Sonny, and a collection of photopoetry, Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance. She is currently working on a novel, The Weight of Snow and Regret, based on the closing of the last poor farm in Vermont in 1968.
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.com.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
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