Last Thursday evening found me at She Sells Yarn Shop in Daytona Beach for a speaking engagement and book signing.  I was thrilled with the wonderful turn-out, so a huge thank you to each and every one of you that stopped by to meet me!

And here I am with some of my fans............

This is Mary Ann above and one of those fans that authors LOVE.....she had traveled from Daytona to Gainesville last year to meet me at the Yarnworks, where I was doing a signing.  Over 3 hours to get there and she came with a few other women, one of which was "Berkley" and yes, that is where I got the name for my main character in book 4.  These women are loyal and devoted fans, so needless to say, like so many others, they will always be special to me!

This is Astrid..........my friend, Joyce, knows her from a Chinese language class that they're taking together.  Astrid is originally from France and is a French teacher.  I wish I'd had more time to spend talking with her!  (Francophile that I am!)

And here I am with Chi-Chi, also known as "Joyce"........it was our first time meeting, but she was one of those people that you feel like you've known forever.  She had also sent me a very nice message on Ravelry saying how she was looking forward to meeting me at the yarn shop.

The group wanted to see what I was working on for a knitting project.............so here I am with my friend, Joyce, showing the lace pattern scarf, which is one (of many) of my current projects.

And here I am with Kathleen, the owner of the shop.  A huge thank you to her for hosting my very successful signing!  It was such a fun evening...........telling everyone about my writing career, my books, little tidbits, stories behind the stories and most of all...........having the opportunity to meet so many wonderful women!

All of it was so great, but the couple that showed up and surprised me left me momentarily speechless.  Literally.  And trust me, authors are very seldom speechless!  I saw the couple sitting on the sofa and my first thought was, "How nice.  This wife brought her husband along for my speaking engagement."  And when I asked their names, he said, "Bob and Melinda and do you know Naomi Caryl?"   Yes, I certainly DID know Naomi, but confusion set in and my mind was racing trying to figure out WHAT this couple in Daytona Beach, Florida had to do with my very dear friend, Naomi, in the Hollywood Hills.............

So I'll briefly backtrack to explain......when I began blogging here on Island Writer 6 years ago, one of the first bloggers I met online was Naomi........She did and still does the blog, Sitten In The Hills. 

Those of you that have been following my blog since then might remember me mentioning Naomi a lot and sending my readers to her blog.  She was one of those people that I immediately clicked with.........I loved everything about her and found her to be one of the most interesting women I've ever met.  Her career was in theater and stage as composer, singer, performer and screen writer and I was blown away by some of her dearest friends........people that you and I see and hear about on Entertainment Tonight or on stage or film.  Photos of her with so many celebrities appeared on her blogs with commentary that quickly made me realize they really were regular people and all of this was due to Naomi's lack of ego.  One of her best and dearest friends was Betty Garrett, who unfortunately passed away this past February.  Many of you will remember her from stage, but also from Lavern and Shirley and All In The Family.  Because of Naomi, I have a wonderful hand-written note from Betty to me, which I will treasure forever!  And talk about a legend....I always admired the kind of woman that Betty was, right up until she left us. 

I had spoken on the phone with Naomi a couple months ago, so when Bob mentioned her name I couldn't piece anything together as to who THEY were or WHY they were at my signing.  Well..........THEY are the parents of Karen Parks, who is married to Betty Garrett's son, Garrett Parks.  Believe me, after so many years of seeing all the photos, etc. on Naomi's blog, I "feel" like I know them personally.  And I finally began to understand.....it seems that Naomi emailed Karen, told her about my signing in Daytona Beach (knowing that Karen's parents live there) and sent the info, saying that they might want to attend.  HOW sweet is THAT!  I was so overcome with Naomi's kindness and the kindness of Melinda and Bob for coming that I filled up with tears while I tried to speak coherently despite my utter surprise!   I think the first words out of my mouth were, "Oh! My gosh!  So you're Maddie's Grandparents?"  Maddie is the beautiful and lovely fifteen-year old daughter of Karen and Garrett and over the years, I've seen her grow up due to Naomi's wonderful blog.  And here I am with Melinda and Bob as I sign a copy of my book for them...............

What a special evening that was!  So thank you to each and every one of you that made that happen, especially Naomi, Karen, Melinda and Bob.  Like I said Thursday evening, "I am SO blessed!  The most incredible things happen in my life" and they DO!

See you here next time...................