Monday, December 31, 2007

Second Chances

Well, the good Lord took pity on me and gave me another chance to redeem myself by allowing me once again on the radio. I'll be on Fiction Nation, with host Kim Alexander, on Satellite Radio, XM 155. Here are the dates: Sat. Jan 5 at 3 p.m., Sun. Jan.6 at 10 a.m., and for those of you who can't sleep at night, there's Mon. Jan. 7 at 3 a.m. Also, Sonic Theater, Thursday Jan. 10, at 3 p.m. all EST. I'll be reading a bit from my second book Still Life With Elephant (from my favorite chapter, so tune in to find out which one it is) and in general talking about my book and how to help with the elephant problem, both globally and locally.
Thank you to those who have sent me comments on my blog. I am trying to answer them, and publish them, but i'm one of those types who has trouble turning on the television from my remote control, so i will get your stuff on the net, just be patient. I had someone ask me to reccommend a place to take dressage lessons when she gets to NYC, and i since i don't know how to answer my comments yet, I want to ask her to please email me and i will answer.
So, i am preparing for my January holidays. For those of you who don't know, i pulled a white rabbit this holiday season, late, late, late for a very important date (Alice in Wonderland, if you don't get the reference.) I am just sitting down now and writing out my holiday cards, even adding in the few birthdays i missed back in September and October. I take consolation in knowing that I will be brightening up someone's dreary blah January with a holiday card and a late, unexpected gift.
Tonight is the last day of December, the last few minutes of 2007. It was both a good and terrible year. My book came out to really good reviews. We got a new puppy and we rescued a critically ill Moluccan cockatoo, who is doing better (will post reports on his health as time goes on). Also, speaking of second chances, I got very sick but survived (still wrapping my mind around that one) and made a ton of wonderful new cyberfriends courtesy of my website and email. I wish all of you a really good, joyous, prosperous, love filled, great-sex filled, animal filled year ahead.
Party on,
Judy

Monday, December 24, 2007

Glad To Be Here to Write This

In between glasses of eggnog, and noshing on trays of red and green decorated sugar cookies, I am taking the time to sit down and ponder on the Importance of Things. I had a near death experience not too long ago, early October, to be exact, and for a while, didn't think I would see this holiday. And what came to mind was not the Ipod I wanted, or the Palm Pilot, but my daughters and how much I loved them, and how much I suddenly wanted to tell them that.
Now that the crisis is pretty much over, I am left with the odd, disquieting sensation that I have been given this holiday season to not only put things in order, but to keep them there. To remember that the important things are family and good friends and all the good animals in your life.
Take a few minutes to tell everyone that you love dearly, how you feel. Be charitable. Let the little crappy things go. (I'm working real hard on that.)
I want to thank every one of you who bought my books. And every one of you who took the time to write me via my email. I met some incredible people through my website, and made some wonderful friends. I appreciate all of you.
I wish you all love, and good health, and close friends, and lots of animals. I wish the same things for me. Especially the continued good health.

And I still want my Palm Pilot, of course.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Best Intentions

I know I promised to post frequently and wittily. I also promised to lose fifteen pounds, straighten out my bedroom closet and clean the basement. I have done none of these. I'm sorry.
But I did add to my menagerie. We got a Moluccan cockatoo. His name is Sammy and he is sweet and adorable and had been owned by a little old man, who had gotten too sick to care for him. The l.o.m. was of Puerto Rican descent, so Sammy favors rice and beans and yells "Hola!" whenever he wants to greet you, which i think is very amusing. He joins my African Grey parrot, two cats, two dogs and two half dogs (will explain later), a canary and a guinea pig. Not to mention three horses. It's a full house, but it's exactly the way i like it.

Okay, I have to explain the math on the dogs.
Our first full dog is a Boston terrier, Jean-Luc, who was a rescue. He's a tad big for a Boston T., about forty-five pounds big, and my vet has a sneaking suspicion that he might have had a pit bull grandma or something. But he is very sweet, even if he is one of the dumbest dogs i have ever owned. It took him a whole year to learn to sit, and he still hasn't learned that the kitchen floor is slick, so he races into the kitchen and does the water slide, like the scene in "Risky Business", crashing into the wall on the other side of the room. At least once a day.
Our second full dog is a toy poodle, light red, named Lola. She is the polar opposite of J-L, and has not only learned to sit, but stays, lays down, makes my morning coffee and toast, and dances on her toes, for our entertainment. The two half-dogs are "tea cup" shih tzus. Mimsy is full grown, topping out at four pounds and is so utterly adorable (and untrainable) that we ran right back to the breeder and snapped up her half sister, whom we named Sadie Petunia. Sadie, named for my grandmother, weighs two and half pounds at three months old, and looks like an ewok. In fact, that is what we tell people when they ask us what breed she is. Ewok. Let them figure it out.
It is snowing right now, and i am sitting in my office and trying to write my next book, and the dogs are all wrestling, and the parrot is yelling hello, and the cockatoo is answering Hola! and the phone rings., and it is my mother, who thinks i am certifiable for owning all these creatures. She has called to tell me that it is snowing outside and that she misses Phoenix, from which she moved only a week ago, and that she is unpacking and can't find her make up. I can hardly hear her over the noise.
Perfect.