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WHY THIS WEBSITE?
I promised my Mom,
from the time I won the 8th Grade Graduation Prize for Creative Writing in 1963,
(see Chapter 4 : “Moving” in “How Did I Get Here?”)
that I would write a book.
When she was in Hospice, I started creating
The Chronicles of Judy
and it started me thinking about fulfilling my pledge to my Mom.
Well, at the age of 74, I did. BUT! It didn't take 61 years to write it.
Unfortunately, Mom didn't live to see it published,
(but I did dedicate it to her)
but as my therapist said when I told her I had finally done it,
“Your Mom is dancing a tarantella in Heaven!”
(Actually, she's very Irish, and at first,
she said my Mom was doing an Irish Jig.)
I'll hope that you read about some of my blogs and the
"Hopefully Amusing Biography”,
and you'll see how and why I wrote
TRAVELS WITH RUDOLPH
It's on Amazon, and it would make Mom continue
hoofing it in Paradise
if you take a look at it and maybe even buy it!
So here's the link:
https://a.co/d/elRCA8j
Now there's a second book called
IT CAN ONLY HAPPEN TO ME
It's a hilarious, real-life rollercoaster of misadventures
that will leave you shaking your head,
laughing out loud, and wondering how
on earth one person could have such bizarre,
unexpected, and downright absurd things happen to them.
You can get it here:
https://a.co/d/1uqBOnb
And here's where you can begin
The Chronicles of Judy
It's meant to make you laugh, and realize there really are people like me in the world who only have MISadventures.
That would be me.
I promised my Mom,
from the time I won the 8th Grade Graduation Prize for Creative Writing in 1963,
(see Chapter 4 : “Moving” in “How Did I Get Here?”)
that I would write a book.
When she was in Hospice, I started creating
The Chronicles of Judy
and it started me thinking about fulfilling my pledge to my Mom.
Well, at the age of 74, I did. BUT! It didn't take 61 years to write it.
Unfortunately, Mom didn't live to see it published,
(but I did dedicate it to her)
but as my therapist said when I told her I had finally done it,
“Your Mom is dancing a tarantella in Heaven!”
(Actually, she's very Irish, and at first,
she said my Mom was doing an Irish Jig.)
I'll hope that you read about some of my blogs and the
"Hopefully Amusing Biography”,
and you'll see how and why I wrote
TRAVELS WITH RUDOLPH
It's on Amazon, and it would make Mom continue
hoofing it in Paradise
if you take a look at it and maybe even buy it!
So here's the link:
https://a.co/d/elRCA8j
Now there's a second book called
IT CAN ONLY HAPPEN TO ME
It's a hilarious, real-life rollercoaster of misadventures
that will leave you shaking your head,
laughing out loud, and wondering how
on earth one person could have such bizarre,
unexpected, and downright absurd things happen to them.
You can get it here:
https://a.co/d/1uqBOnb
And here's where you can begin
The Chronicles of Judy
It's meant to make you laugh, and realize there really are people like me in the world who only have MISadventures.
That would be me.
WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT IF I EVEN VAGUELY RESEMBLED
MY CARTOON CHARACTER?
MY CARTOON CHARACTER?
I'm now 75 years old, but I still think I'm 17...except when I get up in the morning, and my back hurts, my knees hurt, and I need my glasses to find my way to the bathroom. None of those were problems when I WAS 17. Actually, when I created this website I was a mere 74 1/2 years old, but who counts half birthdays when you get past 12? I guess I do.
I live in Orange County, California, and it is undeniable when you meet me that I most definitely am NOT one of “The Housewives.”
But I didn't always live here. I was born and raised in NYC, married young (20), finished college as a married senior, and moved to NJ when I started having kids. I was married for 38 years, and then my marriage and, consequently, the life I'd known, were blown up...not physically, but emotionally and financially. I became one of the group of “gray divorcees”…seniors whose long-term marriages came to an end abruptly...although I am not convinced that nearly two years of divorce negotiations and a bazillion dollars in attorney's fees would be categorized as “abruptly.” Maybe only half a bazillion; I'm often told that I exaggerate.
I had two choices when this all happened.
I was 58; I could become a self-pitying, whiny, bitter bitch and complain to anyone who would listen (or didn't know how to get away fast enough). Or, I could take what had happened as a chance to reinvent myself and build a new life. I chose the latter, but that does not mean that some days I'm NOT a whiny bitch. But that's usually when my back and my knees hurt, and I can't find my glasses, all of which are only results of aging and NOT the divorce!
So, pretty much everything in the two houses we owned in NJ was sold; I packed my SUV and drove cross-country by myself.
Oh, correction: I wasn't entirely on my own… Riding shotgun was a reindeer made of birch and twigs with a red wooden ball for a nose, a favorite Christmas gift from my daughter-in-law. His name, of course, is “Rudolph,”…and he turned out to be a pretty witty conversationalist, especially on those long passages of miles and miles of miles and miles.
While traveling, I wrote a travelogue detailing what I'd seen that day and some of the things that happened to me during the trip. I wrote this at first for myself, and then when I shared some of what I'd produced with friends, they passed it on to their friends. Everyone thought my stuff was hilarious (well, at least funny), and I should make it available to more than just my inner circle of 2,175 friends…of course, that “friends” count is, according to Facebook.
Thus was born Travels with Rudolph, the first book I've ever published. You can read a sample of it here on the website. If you like it, go to Amazon and buy it, and in case you skipped the first paragraph on this page, I've shamelessly put the link AGAIN here:
https://a.co/d/elRCA8j
It is relatively cheap, and I can really use the money. It is not Pulitzer worthy (or ANY prize) but it was fun to do, and I'd always promised my Mom I'd write a book, which she always urged me to do. It's not a Christmas story, but in one sense it is a book about a REbirth, when I started to build a new life 3,000 miles away from everything and everyone I'd ever known.
I wanted to fill you in on how I got here...not just California, but where I am in life. I've written A Brief But, Hopefully, Amusing Autobiography. That is a “work in progress” and I'm adding to the chapters. I got slowed up a bit while finishing the Rudolph book, but I'm ramping up and if you are on my email list, you'll know when I added more.
Besides my abridged life story, you will find “The Chronicles of Judy,” from which I drew the name for this website. The first several are from a series of blogs I wrote after arriving in California. I am adding more and have also added some new ones. Some of the happenings I've recorded may seem a bit far-fetched, but I assure you Every. Single. One. Is. True.
That is followed by “Why Do I Like to Cook?” which has accounts of my creating culinary delights as well as culinary disasters...and I've included some recipes! And there will be more.
Cooking is as much a part of my life as writing. Unfortunately, I usually eat what I make, which is one of the (many) contributing factors to why I am not one of the “Housewives.” Although I've also been known to “eat my words.”
I hope you enjoy my observations as much as I enjoyed writing them, but not necessarily LIVING them.
I live in Orange County, California, and it is undeniable when you meet me that I most definitely am NOT one of “The Housewives.”
But I didn't always live here. I was born and raised in NYC, married young (20), finished college as a married senior, and moved to NJ when I started having kids. I was married for 38 years, and then my marriage and, consequently, the life I'd known, were blown up...not physically, but emotionally and financially. I became one of the group of “gray divorcees”…seniors whose long-term marriages came to an end abruptly...although I am not convinced that nearly two years of divorce negotiations and a bazillion dollars in attorney's fees would be categorized as “abruptly.” Maybe only half a bazillion; I'm often told that I exaggerate.
I had two choices when this all happened.
I was 58; I could become a self-pitying, whiny, bitter bitch and complain to anyone who would listen (or didn't know how to get away fast enough). Or, I could take what had happened as a chance to reinvent myself and build a new life. I chose the latter, but that does not mean that some days I'm NOT a whiny bitch. But that's usually when my back and my knees hurt, and I can't find my glasses, all of which are only results of aging and NOT the divorce!
So, pretty much everything in the two houses we owned in NJ was sold; I packed my SUV and drove cross-country by myself.
Oh, correction: I wasn't entirely on my own… Riding shotgun was a reindeer made of birch and twigs with a red wooden ball for a nose, a favorite Christmas gift from my daughter-in-law. His name, of course, is “Rudolph,”…and he turned out to be a pretty witty conversationalist, especially on those long passages of miles and miles of miles and miles.
While traveling, I wrote a travelogue detailing what I'd seen that day and some of the things that happened to me during the trip. I wrote this at first for myself, and then when I shared some of what I'd produced with friends, they passed it on to their friends. Everyone thought my stuff was hilarious (well, at least funny), and I should make it available to more than just my inner circle of 2,175 friends…of course, that “friends” count is, according to Facebook.
Thus was born Travels with Rudolph, the first book I've ever published. You can read a sample of it here on the website. If you like it, go to Amazon and buy it, and in case you skipped the first paragraph on this page, I've shamelessly put the link AGAIN here:
https://a.co/d/elRCA8j
It is relatively cheap, and I can really use the money. It is not Pulitzer worthy (or ANY prize) but it was fun to do, and I'd always promised my Mom I'd write a book, which she always urged me to do. It's not a Christmas story, but in one sense it is a book about a REbirth, when I started to build a new life 3,000 miles away from everything and everyone I'd ever known.
I wanted to fill you in on how I got here...not just California, but where I am in life. I've written A Brief But, Hopefully, Amusing Autobiography. That is a “work in progress” and I'm adding to the chapters. I got slowed up a bit while finishing the Rudolph book, but I'm ramping up and if you are on my email list, you'll know when I added more.
Besides my abridged life story, you will find “The Chronicles of Judy,” from which I drew the name for this website. The first several are from a series of blogs I wrote after arriving in California. I am adding more and have also added some new ones. Some of the happenings I've recorded may seem a bit far-fetched, but I assure you Every. Single. One. Is. True.
That is followed by “Why Do I Like to Cook?” which has accounts of my creating culinary delights as well as culinary disasters...and I've included some recipes! And there will be more.
Cooking is as much a part of my life as writing. Unfortunately, I usually eat what I make, which is one of the (many) contributing factors to why I am not one of the “Housewives.” Although I've also been known to “eat my words.”
I hope you enjoy my observations as much as I enjoyed writing them, but not necessarily LIVING them.
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