Compare On This Day

 
 


 Thanksgiving is a day when we, as a country,   give thanks for not only the food on our plate and the material things that we have, but also for the freedom  we enjoy – a freedom that gives us a  lifestyle, which is unique to  the USA.  The turkey on the Thanksgiving table does not arrive without a price. 

 

 

 

As a nation, two weeks before this November day of thanksgiving, we pause on Veterans Day to give thanks to our veterans and their families –– the reason we remain strong –– that we live in peace

and enjoy all the bounties that Thanksgiving represents.

Because of their sacrifices, we have the luxury to appreciate a fiery sunset and have the time to contemplate the wonders of nature …

Instead of the flames of human destruction, that many others throughout the world live with on a daily basis.

Millions visit Yellowstone National Park. They come in peace from all over the world to observe the explosion of nature’s power…..

While others must witness explosions of unrest and destruction on a daily basis.

 

When I hike the hills surrounding my home in California I relish in the vastness, the serenity and the freedom the scene portrays. A feeling of indebtedness to our veterans overcomes me.

Because of our veterans' sacrifices, I do not have to experience this instead.

  

 

On this Veterans Day, please take a moment.  

Remember our veterans.

 

 

 

Let your voice be heard.

Thank a veteran.

Pay it forward with an act of kindness.
Judy Howard's two books in the
Masada Series  --

 Masada's Marine
and
 Masada's Mission  
will be available

 throughout this weekend 

for $ .99,

 beginning Friday , November  11th at 7pm through 7 am on Monday, November 14th.

Masada's Mission

 on Kindle

 

 

 

Masada's Marine

 on Kindle

 

 

Back in California! From San Diego To Ontario, CaLIfornia

Back in California!
 From San Diego to Ontario, California
Tenth Ave Arts Center & The Auto Club Speedway

GET READY AND GET SET!!
I met Mark a few years ago at an FMCA RV Rally when he attended one of my writing workshops. After the attending my seminar and after reading my first book, COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST, Mark submitted a raving review to the Road Trek Magazine.

 

 Now Mark Sickman has his own amazing accomplishment, ROPE THE MUSICAL, opening at the Tenth Avenue Arts Center in San Diego . I am so  excited to  see the play.

 

 

 

March 17th thru April 3rd. Two showings are already sold out. So get your tickets now. ROPE THE MUSICAL

 

 The Story?  A western and a comedy.

The ultimate Old West showdown … this time between a man and his wife. Respected hangman William Maledon wants to retire. His spouse Mildred, who enjoys the notoriety of being “the hangman’s wife,” resists. They clash. Maledon is at peace. Mildred is enraged. She takes actions that assure she will remain in the spotlight. High Noon meets Virginia Woolf … and it’s all done to music.

 

 

If the theater is not your forte … and even if it is …MIX IT UP!

AND GO!!!!!

Come to the Auto Club Speedway and sign up with me to participate in the The Mario Andretti Racing Experience.   I will be celebrating my 70^th birthday and checking this thrill ride off of my bucket list.

The Andretti Qualifier is voted the most popular racing experience.  I will drive an Indy-style racecar for an 8 minute timed racing session on the speedway. Every minute counts in this amazing experience!

Mark your calendars! Start your engines!! On April 17^th.  Join me and feel the thrill!  Or just cheer me on!

For those who are not thrill seekers, but want inspiration and an unforgettable adventure mark March 26^th on your calendar. If you have ever thought about writing or even if you are way past the thinking stage with books on the Amazon shelves, come to The Diamond Valley Writers Guild at the Hemet Library on  the fourth Saturday, March 26^th from 9am to 11a to listen to the Indie award winning  author, Jim Hitt  as he speaks about developing your writing style. You will be able to purchase a signed copy of his latest book, The Courage Of Others.

 

Check out all of  Judy's books on :

     Judy Howard's Amazon Author Page

 

 

 

Staying Fit, Helping Others, and Living Life

"It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?"

Henry David Thoreau

Everyone is busy.  I get that. It is the major excuse I hear for not achieving your goals. Remember those? Only ten days ago, you were pumped and ready to hit the computer, the treadmill, or the produce section of the grocery store.

Where did that inspiration disappear? It has been ten days, and like the cloud of dust at the starting gate, it has vanished in the wind.

This happens to me EVERY DAY.  So what do I do?

First of all, I examine what I have accomplished since my new burst of motivation, which  began twenty  days ago. ( I start my new year’s resolutions  the day after Christmas.)  I pretty much know what my goals will be by Dec 25th, but between then and Jan 1st  I may tweak them, making them more specific.

 I believe part of my success comes about from constantly tracking my progress. For  example, my first resolution, Getting Fit and Staying Fit, I use the app, S Health App. According to the app, I am averaging 2400 steps per day. That’s one mile a day. 

No, that is NOT 10,000 steps, but I believe it is more than the average.  2400 steps is 24% of 10,000 steps. To be completely honest, I have absolutely no intension of reaching 10,000 step. My goal is to keep moving, that’s all.  So, ten days into my news year’s resolution. I am a success.

MY MISTAKE is to focus on the days I don't walk. That, my friends, is the path to discouragement with a  destination called, Giving Up, located in  Nowhereville.

The other popular resolutions such as, Get Organized, Enjoy Life To The Fullest and Spend More Time With Family are interlinked with one another.

To sum this up, I look at only the positive aspects of my activities.  Here is what I have accomplished in the past ten days.

1.     I have walked an average of one mile per day.

2.     I have spent  5% of my time with family.

It is easy to shove family time aside for more urgent responsibilities. Since I live alone, I organize Spending More Time With Family into my schedule. Building, renewing, and strengthening family ties leads to enjoying life to the fullest.  

3.     Already this year, I have satisfied my goal To Volunteer and To Help Others by conducting two seminars from my series titled THE ROAD TO WRITING.

As Vice President of Programs for The Diamond Valley Wrriters Guild in Hemet, California, I am proud to say I have assisted the President, Lynne Morgan Spreen to invent the  this organization that will inspire and motivate writers everywhere. Please join us at our inaugural, ribbon-cutting meeting at the Hemet Library on Saturday, January 23rd 9-11am. Check out the website to find more information about the speaker, Ray (Rusty) Strait.   

  4.Finally, Enjoying Life To The Fullest, you may be surprised, is not always the easiest for me to do.
For someone who has already traveled over 600 miles in her motorhome I am a workaholic. I make excuses to avoid experiencing new places and doing new things. But, here is what I have accomplished so far.

 

The Palm Spring Aerial Tramway in Palm Springs, California has been on my bucket list for a long time. I finished up my seminars at the Western Area Family Motor Coach Association Rally  charged up on a high from the great feedback of the attendees and decided to go for it.

By itself, the two and one half mile ride straight up the side of the San Jacinto Mountain is breathtaking and just a bit nerve rattling as the tramcar swings as it passes over each of the four towers. . We passed through five eco systems from 2600 feet elevation, similar to the Mexican Sonoran Desert, all the way up to an elevation of 8500 feet, which supports an Alpine wilderness.

Over two feet of bright, pristine snow and temperatures at 32 degrees, greeted me.  What a ride! What a landscape!

 

 

The Airdale

 Surviving my tram ride, and returning to the Indio Elks Lodge where I intended to spend the next few nights, I discovered The Kennel Club of Palm Springs was hosting the AKC All Breed Dog Show at the Empire Polo Grounds. Here is a small sampling of some very proud dogs.

 



 

The Afghan

 

 

The Old English Sheepdog



The Saluki



My favorite, The German Shepherd

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

I will hang out here at the Elks Lodge for a few days and  then head just a few miles down the road to The Fantasy Springs Resort Casino to catch the performances of The Temptations and the Four Tops  and Tony Bennett.

 And finally, I will return to the Quartzite, Arizona  where the population will have  peaked while I have been gone from one thousand people   to over a million. 

Check out Judy Howard's Books on Amazon

 

Special Veteran's Day Promotion

Special Veteran's Day Promotion.

81% Discount of Judy's Howard's Latest Novel,

MASADA'S MARINE

 $ .99

For A Limited Time!

Begins Sunday,

November 8 at 3pm PST 

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR OF MASADA’S MARINE

              Before I began writing MASADA’S MARINE, I, like most Americans, never gave much thought to our American service men and women who serve and sacrifice their lives so that I may bask in the California sunshine, sip a $4.00 Caramel Frappuccino, and discuss the latest episode of The Black List or Dancing With The Stars.

              When the subject of our military arose, I proudly stated my patriotic views and gave a blanket, but silent ‘thank you’ to all who lost their lives to keep me safe. My heart twisted in sadness every Veterans Day and Memorial Day. I consider myself an average American.

              When I decided to write MASADA’S MARINE, I imagined it as a nice story about a puppy named Masada who grows up to become a service dog and changes the lives of two men.

              One man, who began his life as a patriotic boy, graduates high school, starts his own family and becomes a gung-ho Marine. The young man has everything to live for until he comes home from his first tour in Iraq with PTSD and loses it all, even his will to live.

              Another man, who began life as the son of a drug addicted mother, learns how to fight a war of survival on the streets and exists inside a life of crime. The pressures of the young man’s illicit career takes its toll, and he ends up in prison, defeated. He, too, has nothing to live for.

              As I penned my story, the characters took on lives of their own and demanded that this not be a nice story about a man and his dog. During hours of research and interviews the characters became people, electric with emotions, and sometimes terrifying, like the firefight that promises only one victor. As I learned more about the invisible disease, PTSD, the story’s heartbeat pulsed out of my control, like the disease itself.

              Masada and her littermates, the real heroes in this drama, matured into valuable service dogs. They changed not only the characters’ lives, but my life as well. I am no longer the silent American. I hope Masada will change your life, too.

Every hour a veteran takes his own life.

Please enjoy an excerpt from Chapter One of Masada’s Marine

MASADA’S MARINE

CHAPTER ONE

She lay on the hardwood floor next to Lance Corporal Alexander March, USMC, as he slept in the dark. An astringent odor mixed in the autumn air drifted down to her nose. She lay still, but opened her eyes. The bedside clock cast shadows across the gold oak floor. She squinted at its green glow and listened to the Marine’s breathing- the only sound – air escaping in jagged puffs from his lungs. The glass patio door in the room allowed light from a flickering streetlamp to beat against the wadded bed sheets. She jerked her head up, ears pointed, just before the Marine’s flailing arms and legs rustled the covers and his cries pierced her ears. The stinging smells of panic signaled her to action. Twenty months of intensive training kicked in.

Her name was Masada. She was an American Service Dog. She was a professional.

She stood ready and would never quit. She would never leave her comrade’s side.

 

Waiting For New Journeys

 

Recently life has interfered with my travels.  I miss the hum of my new tires on the asphalt, the camaraderie of other travelers, and the hospitality of the locals in every town I visit. I long for the sound of the surf crashing against the Oregon coast, the silence of the Olympic forest at night, and the rain on my motorhome roof.

Sportster, too, sits by the patio door staring out at his Winnebago- Bed and Breakfast parked in the driveway.  He turns his sad eyes to me and meows for the excitement of sleeping on the RV’s dash as the world races by, and the adventures of sniffing all the unfamiliar scents at every campsite.

New tires, new, shocks, and new brakes. Spit shined and ready to roll.  But for now I wait for life to unfold and release me to a new chapter. When I do head out this time I will have said good bye to my beloved sister who is now approaching her final journey.

Have you ever wondered how strange it is that time can stand still, forcing us to crawl through the dreaded episodes yet, in contrast, when we reach the other side, we soar to heights we never dreamed?  And once past the pain of it all we thrive within the next welcomed chapters with new eyes and a new aspect?

For now I wait with Sportster, who contemplates his own story he’s titled SPORTSTER’S ADVENTURES.  Writing passes the time and nurtures my wounded heart.  Words bubble below the surface like a thick, rich concoction which will become delightful after it has cooled. But for now the heated cauldron of the alphabet scalds the skin.

Enjoy a wonderful Labor Day. 

Please share the message in my latest novel, MASADA'S MARINE, with your family and friends.

Every hour a veteran commits  suicide.

Service Dogs Save Lives.

MASADA'S MARINE The story of A Service Dog and Her Wounded Marine Warrior