Green Thumb shopper checking out the book's Magnifying Bookmark

What a great day we had a Green Thumb International in Newhall, CA. First off, the weather was absolutely picture perfect – cool, clear, crisp and full of autumn. It was a football Saturday and UCLA was playing ball, but thank goodness everyone didn’t go to the game. Plenty of folks showed up for Green Thumbs “Open House” for the Holidays, and they surprisingly I think saw this author with a children’s picture book standing at a potting table near the store’s entrance.

This was my first book signing ever, and it was a thrill to do. I’ve attended many trade shows for my various companies over the years, but this day was special. It was hard to sleep Friday night – “Did I remember everything?” I had some wonderful old friends and neighbors show up, and I made some new acquaintances too. I stayed the entire day (9 – 5pm), and frankly speaking, it zipped by in a flash.

One of the funnest aspects of the book signing was affixing a gold seal to emboss in the book with some of the kids. The scrapbooking part of me kicked in and I let the kids do the handiwork with the seal. It always amazes and surprises me how much pleasure kids get out of “doing” something so simple as putting a sticky seal on a sheet of paper and pressing it with an embosser… cutting, pasting or threading – it doesn’t matter, kids love it!

My thanks goes out to Kirki, Bryan, Evelyn and all the wonderful people that make Green Thumb such a special and personable place to shop. I hope to visit the store for a second book signing soon!!

My friend Rich Samuels drops by for a "bud" shot