Turtles, Carbs and Gattica

 Got up at 4:45 for a morning meeting. That may sound early to you but back in LA, it was 7:45 and an 8:00 am meeting wasn't unreasonable. 

As the sky lightened, I greeted the day with a pot of hot Kona coffee and cream that I barely pass over the cup to achieve the perfect color of black on the side of brown. Meetings aside, I set to writing on the lanai as Lynn and JoJo headed out the door in the beat-up Maui Cruisermobile to exercise the little canine for the day, before it got hot.

Trying to make a routine of it, I forced myself to get on running clothes and head out through the neighborhood and down to the lower Honoapiilani Highway, past S Turn to Kahana where I remembered my days on Maui selling timeshare at the very corner where I stopped. Good times, good times. 

Back at S Turn, I removed my shoes and walked into the cool ocean to get my body temperature back to normal and hopefully assist my purple face from over-exertion to returning to a normal color for human faces. The day was cloudy, slightly breezy and the temp was much nicer than the day before for running. 

When I got back to Lynn's house, I was determined to get my friend in the ocean for the first time in over 18 months. Although she lives 2 blocks from the beach, she's been fearful of her fragility after chemo, surgeries, radiation, surgeries and then a year of not leaving the property. At the water's edge she saw a giant green sea turtle and I grabbed my mask, snorkel and fins to leave her fending for herself while I pursued the green sea turtle for a look-see. I ended up way out on the southern point, looking at a group of 5 sea turtles, some with large tumors on their necks and wondered what's happening in Hawaii to the turtles. When I got out, I asked my personal assistant (Siri) and found out that FP is common in green sea turtles. You don't want to know what FP stands for because the name uses every letter in the alphabet and you'll be no further ahead knowing. When I taught diving in Hawaii for 11 years, I saw plenty of turtles and never saw FP but it was concerning to see a turtle with tumors at S Turn. 

Two swims and a lie on the hot beach in the sun (that decided to show itself) later, Lynn and I found ourselves back at home napping. Hey, I was up at 4:45. 

I couldn't sleep maybe from all the Kona coffee and instead watched my saved/coveted 2nd episode of The Mosquito Coast with Justin Theroux. By the end of the episode I was wide awake (if  you've seen it, you'll know why) so I got up and started to make dinner. I'm trying to stay low carb because I recently lost 15 pounds of quaran weight and do not want that slab of fat back. I cheated with a little pineapple.

I made another salad and chicken accompanied by a baguette for Lynn. After Lynn and JoJo returned from their sunset walk, we ate on the lanai, watched the sun duck behind the horizon and went inside to watch a movie. Lynn's friend Bryant had suggested Gattica with Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurmin which was strange and wonderful to see them and Jude Law as young adults. I rolled into bed as soon as I saw THE END, passed out immediately and dreamed of rearranging furniture in a house to accommodate turning it into a preschool that included monkeys.

Such is my imagination. Three days until my birthday! Lynn and I plan to have some fun on Saturday!

More tomorrow!

KIM HORNSBY is a USA Today Bestselling Author of 15 novels as well as an award-winning screenwriter who has several movies in development with producers. She lives in the Seattle area where her office overlooks a tree-lined lake and has foot warming muses in the form of large, hairy rescue dogs.

Website: www.bit.ly/KimHornsby

 

Floating, Makawao & Salad Recipe!

 Today on Maui seemed three days long!

Woke at 5:30 and worked for hours, thinking how much nicer it is to watch the morning light creep into the night sky on Maui than Seattle. Feeling like I accomplished something, I took a break for an hour to go for a run and there is something so wonderful about running on Maui compared to a treadmill at home. My goal was a beach called S turns and there, I went in the ocean in my clothes (shoes off) to cool off. It was glorious. The ocean here is so wonderful and lovely and rejuvenating. I floated around in my running clothes feeling grateful for having the energy and health to run, then grateful to find the ocean for dip with no one around because it was still early. With shoes in hand, I walked back to Lynn's street, sitting on a grassy spot at the top of the street and put the shoes back on so I could run up the driveway looking like the athlete I am. Lynn was impressed, so my brag goal was met.

We made a brunch of salads, fruit, fresh bakery bread and sat on the lanai eating while JoJo stared at us with his puppy dog eyes because, well, he's a dog. I gave in and fed him from the table because Lynn told me that's his kuleana (his thing). Even though I picked out this little rescue dog several years ago for Lynn at an adopt, don't shop event at the Maui Mall, JoJo doesn't remember me and is scared shootless of me. He has no memory of his first night with us when I took him to a hula show and held him like a baby in my arms daring the cocktail waitress to kick us out for having a newly adopted rescue dog. She let us keep him.

After my run, I grabbed the car keys and took off north to Kapalua to do a little snorkel but at 11 am, the beaches were already packed and parking was non-existent. Where did all the people come from? I drove down the road to Napili Surf to find the next public beach access spot and snagged the last parking spot with Lynn's car that has dents and a door barely hanging off the chassis. It's fun to see people's reactions to this old KIA as I drive by because it honestly looks like the person driving is semi-blind and has been in lots of accidents. I feel like a proper badass.

I walked through the beach access to Napili Bay and never having snorkeled there before, I had little to compare it to but, after realizing I brought the wrong snorkel mask to Maui and did not have the one with the vision corrector diopter built in, I decided to give it a go and see how compromised my vision was with no vision correction. I snorkeled around the bay cursing Climate Change and the lack of live coral, then headed into the beach and back to the car. It was a Wham Bam Thank You Snorkel and soon I was showering at the house to get ready to head "upcountry" with Lynn to cruise the shops of Makawao. Leaving JoJo at home for a few hours, we drove through Lahaina and over to Kahului and upcountry to the cowboy town of Makawao. It used to be you could shop and actually afford a piece of jewelry or a piece of clothing in this quaint town but the price tags were around $300 for a linen top from Italy and browsing was mostly what we did. It rained and we ran between shops, laughing and talking, then back to the car and through Paia to West Maui. 

At home, JoJo had waited for his mommy and pulling up, the awesome twosome, (Lynn and JoJo) took off immediately for his sunset beach walk while I reported to the fridge to make us a salad and to take on Happy Hour alone. 90 minutes later, we ate on the lanai, got into a discussion on diversity in the film industry over some drinks with Lynn's friend Bryant, and eventually called it a day. A wonderful day.

 Here's the salad I made to go with my Michelob Ultra Spiked Seltzer (no carbs!)

Low Carb MAUI Salad

Romaine lettuce - 1 head

Tomato - from Lynn's garden

Celery - chopped

Carrot - stuck in upright (just kidding, chopped or shaved)

Parsley - Lynn's garden

Avocado - Lynn's tree

20 Toasted Almonds

10 chopped Mac Nuts

Shaved Parmesan - a lot1

Beechers Just Jack Cheese cubes - Bought at SeaTac airport

Broccoli

Snow Peas - Lynn's garden

Green Pepper - Lynn's garden

2 Hard Boiled Eggs

Bacon bits

Chicken - Costco Roast Chicken cut in cubes, sautéed in garlic butter and salt

Full Fat Creamy Caesar Dressing with low carbs

KIM HORNSBY is a USA Today Bestselling Author of 15 novels as well as an award-winning screenwriter who has several movies in development with producers. She lives in the Seattle area where her office overlooks a tree-lined lake and has foot warming muses in the form of large, hairy rescue dogs.

Website: www.bit.ly/KimHornsby

Dragon's Teeth, Humpbacks & Cockatoos

No morning showers here!
Solar panels on the Maui house need a few hours to warm up the water so the first few hours of my days on Maui are spent drinking coffee in PJ's, writing and whale watching.

Every morning, humpback whales jump off shore in exactly the same spot between two palm trees in my field of vision. Not sure why but I can look to the right down the coast and see nothing, yet almost every twenty minutes there's big breaches out of the water between those trees.

For my last full day on Maui, I have to say I did one final read through of the screenplay I wrote about a caterer renting a perfect house in the snow for her parents at Christmas only to find the house occupied by an architectural team hoping to work quietly and avoid Christmas. It's not a book yet but if Hallmark picks it up, you can bet it will be by the end of the year. Fingers crossed.

Once that file was sent I went off snorkeling to watch the little fishies at Kapalua Bay. These days, that is a wonderful place to snorkel with the clarity and a nice little reef on the left that's easy to get to. I followed a sea turtle for a bit and got out of the water feeling satisfied.

Back at the house, we gardened for a few hours, working on the snow peas, the tomatoes, the weeds. Things grow well in this climate and gardening is a full-time job.

Plumeria tree in Winter

The plumeria trees are just starting to grow buds again that will turn into lush green leaves and fragrant flowers. The avocado tree has buds that will turn into baseball-sized avocados in a few months too. I'm here for snow peas and tomatoes. It started to rain, the trade winds blowing the weather in from the north so we decided to a make chicken noodle soup and put on sweatshirts.

Dragon's Teeth

The rain stopped and the wee doggy needed his last walk of the day so I took him up north to the Ritz Hotel where the Hawaiian burial ground is protected land near the golf course. We strolled around to what is now referred to as Dragon's Teeth then home for soup.
Because of the rain, I got a lovely sunset shot just as the big ball of warmth disappeared behind Lanai!

Kris, a neighbor and friend stopped by for soup for her sick husband and I ran to the store for a bottle of wine in her car that blocked the driveway. We each had a glass with our soup and Navajo fry bread and Kris went home two hours later, proclaiming her hubby was probably asleep by now.
Lynn popped in the movie Grand Budapest Hotel and that quirky story was the ending to another perfect day on Maui!

Trail Near the Burial Ground

As I type this, the woman next door is driving off to go ride her horse. Her cockatoo is calling after her, "Bye" in her exact voice. This lasts a full minute. That bird hates to be left alone.
I called over there, "Hello!" The big white bird stopped and mimicked my voice.
Now we're trading "Hellooooo's" across the lawn!

KIM HORNSBY is the bestselling Amazon Author of The Dream Jumper's Promise, Book    1 in a Supernatural Suspense series. She lives in the Seattle area and writes stories for        women about overcoming tragedy, adversity and coming out the other end.

Find her on Amazon Books.

www.twitter.com/kimhornsby
  www.facebook.com/kimhornsbyauthor

Pineapple, Snorkeling & Screenplays

Monday was a work day for me on Maui. I needed to get this Christmas Romance Screenplay off to a producer on Tuesday so I had to plant my butt in the chair, overlooking the ocean and get busy. It didn't seem strange to be writing about snow and mistletoe and going caroling while listening to the palm tree fronds swish together off the deck in the trade breeze. Not at all. I wrote for 2 hours before I allowed myself a break to walk around the garden and make some breakfast.

I'd bought a pineapple at the store, something I would never pay for when I lived here because of all the pineapple fields near my house, fields that went to waste, not harvested because of expense. And I'd bought a papaya, something I threw away the first time I cut one open to see the black ball seeds inside. I made a fruit salad with bananas from the garden and these two fruits.

The day was spent writing with a break for lunch and a break for beach time at 3. I went to Kapalua Bay, the place where my husband and I were married decades ago. The beach was packed with tourists, something that always surprises me when I'm remembering the island of yesteryear. It was calm, clear water, sunny skies and absolutely gorgeous.

The snorkel was fun and because I had Lynn's car and she needed to get to work, I soaked up the sun quickly and left after an hour.
I met my reader friend, Ray and his wonderful wife, Diane, from Iowa, at the Barefoot Bar at the Hula Grill and seated right beside the bar we listened to the music, talked, laughed, talked story, drank Mai Tais and ordered food to soak up the rum, Curacao, orgeet and lime juice. I had the coconut crusted calamari with salsa and it was yummy!

Such great fun with two lovely people who absolutely love the Hawaiian Islands and the culture.
Back to KBH to wait for Lynn to finish work and one more Mai Tai later, we were heading home to hit the hay early. We wake up early around here so ten o'clock bedtime is just about perfect. My plan was to spend the morning, doing a final read-through of the screenplay before sending it off, then snorkel tomorrow as my reward!

KIM HORNSBY is the bestselling Amazon Author of The Dream Jumper's Promise, Book    1 in a Supernatural Suspense series. She lives in the Seattle area and writes stories for        women about overcoming tragedy, adversity and coming out the other end.

Find her on Amazon Books.

www.twitter.com/kimhornsby
  www.facebook.com/kimhornsbyauthor

Barnes & Noble Booksigning and Brussels Sprouts

Book Signing Day on Maui!

Barnes & Noble, Maui was kind enough to invite me to sign books at their new location near the Kahului Airport and although the Saturday spot was taken, the Sunday spot was not and so I toted my big honkin' banner across the Pacific to erect for the event.


The people at B&N are so lovely and dedicated to getting books to deserving people, I just love what they stand for--Jenifer, Jordan, Kelani etc. And the new spot is very nice considering they had to get out of Lahaina PDQ and find another venue if Maui wanted to have a bookstore.
Lots if familiar faces dropped in including Ray and Diane who I originally met at a booksigning years ago and Suzi O' who knows me from the days when I used to sing on Maui and a host of other people. Even Sci Fi author Charlie Magee dropped by with his lovely mother and cousin to buy books.

Book signings are strange beasts for a mid-list author and when it was time to leave, I signed any remaining books and went to lunch with a group of friends who'd come by. After a quick stop at Costco to get one of those delicious $5 chickens and some veggies, we got on the road, the three women, to drive back to Lahaina side. Somewhere around Ma'alaea traffic was backed up and we found out via our smart phone technology and tweets from friends that there was a two-hour hold up on the road due to an accident at Mile 14 marker. We didn't know what happened except a silver Mustang side-swiped a car, spun, crossed the center line and there was a head on collision. The ambulance passed us as we sat waiting to move forward a few feet at a time. No fatality.
Luckily when you are stuck in this situation with women friends like Lynn and Rebecca, we had so much to discuss the two hours flew by!
Also, it's a coastal road during whale season so you do the math on that one. Hello Whales!

Back home, Lynn took the wee doggy (who'd come with us and enjoyed my book signing event too) for a beach walk while I continued writing the screenplay I have been working on all week. As Lynn says, "You have to hand in the paper on Tuesday!"
Lynn made Brussels Sprouts with bacon and blue cheese, pasta with parm, and I sliced the chicken (big effort) and we enjoyed a wonderful meal at her new dining room table.
Bedtime found us early. By the time we finished dinner all awards had been given out for the Oscars and I watched some acceptance speeches while Lynn watched Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on her laptop.

Another amazing sunny, warm, friendly, awesome day also because I think I might have 20 new readers on Maui!

KIM HORNSBY is the bestselling Amazon Author of The Dream Jumper's Promise, Book    1 in a Supernatural Suspense series. She lives in the Seattle area and writes stories for        women about overcoming tragedy, adversity and coming out the other end.

Find her on Amazon Books.

www.twitter.com/kimhornsby
  www.facebook.com/kimhornsbyauthor

Chocolate, Rejection & Mai Tais

Day 2 on Maui involved chocolate cake for breakfast!

Lynn practically forced me to have some by putting cream cheese icing on top so once I had my first cuppa Kona coffee, I knew I had to have a big slice of that cake calling me from the fridge.

I worked most of the day on a screenplay, taking breaks to walk in Lynn's garden where she was pulling weeds and harvesting oranges and snow peas. Things grow really easily here. No babying and tending and coddling plants--they just shoot up!

I drove Lynn to work at Kaanapali Beach Hotel where she's a cocktail waitress at the Tiki Bar and then took the doggy for a walk along the beach and boardwalk. It's law that every 200 ft or so, there has to be beach access for the public so there are these little parking spots at the major hotels for beach goers. I parked at the Hyatt, walked through and had a nice time with my buddy on a leash.

Thing was, once I took that 'lil stinker off the leash, JoJo would not let me within 20 feet of him. When it came time to take him for a sunset walk at 6:30, I couldn't get him in the car or close enough to leash him. He's a skittish rescue boy who lived on the streets of Hilo so his nature is understandable but I had plans to take him for drinks at the Tiki Bar to see his mom last night and he just wouldn't follow me to the car. Rejected by a fifteen pound dog who is mostly ears!



At the Tiki Bar, I had a Mai Tai and talked to the gentleman at the next table who'd brought his elderly mom and dad on the trip of a lifetime to Hawaii. The islands are full of people who never in their wildest dreams thought they would be able to afford such a trip but find it affordable in the winter if you do a package. Just when I'm crabbing about the island being too busy and crowded, I meet someone who is just so dang grateful to be here.

As I type this the doves are enjoying the morning sun on the rooftops across the street, chattering away, a lonely dog is moaning down the street, Molokai in the distance is now bathed in the morning sun and topped with a pink puffy cloud and I'm going to get another piece of chocolate cake.
Aloha Everyone!

KIM HORNSBY is the bestselling Amazon Author of The Dream Jumper's Promise, Book    1 in a Supernatural Suspense series. She lives in the Seattle area and writes stories for        women about overcoming tragedy, adversity and coming out the other end.

Find her on Amazon Books.

www.twitter.com/kimhornsby
  www.facebook.com/kimhornsbyauthor

DAILY BLOGGING from MAUI!

Aloha~

I'm headed to Maui on Tuesday evening and plan to write my daily escapades on the blog starting Wednesday!
I do this every year, but this year things will be slightly different. I will also do daily Vlogs, video blogs, to show you where I am, what I'm doing, and how lovely Maui is.

If you're interested in tuning in, make sure you follow this blog (Click FOLLOW on the sidebar) and make sure you are a Beach Club member on Facebook over here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/188081488503196/




This is a group of people interested in my books and me as an author. I'm always looking to add more people to the Kim Hornsby Beach Club. Even people who have just met me. It's a big beach where everyone looks fantastic in their bathing suit!

I'll show you some locations on Maui where The Dream Jumper's Promise (my optioned for film book series!) takes place. And take you with me on a ferry to Lanai, the pineapple island to cruise around with my friend Bill. Then I'm off to sign books at Maui's Barnes & Noble!

It's Humpback Whale season so I just might have some whale footage too.

I hope you'll join me on Maui!





KIM HORNSBY is an Amazon #1 Bestselling novelist who lives in the Seattle area and writes books about women in dire circumstances rescuing themselves. She tweets her dreams most mornings on Twitter under the hashtag #StrangeDreams
www.twitter.com/kimhornsby

Newsletter Signup for Book Releases & Free Stuff www.bit.ly/KimHNews

Kim's Website https://kimhornsby.godaddysites.com

Or find Kim's AMAZON books' site www.bit.ly/kimamzn

Scuba Diving, Mermaid Hair and Wandering Makawao!

I haven't eaten in 17 hours.
I'm still full from lunch yesterday.
Does that ever happen to you?

First scuba:
Yesterday I was determined to get my neighbor and friend, Cresty, out on a dive. I'd promised her if she came to Maui with me, I'd get her scuba diving. We'd tried last week when the Kona storm blew in and it was not great. At all.
After I dropped Bill off at the ferry to Lanai in Lahaina, I rented some gear for Cresty and told her today was the day!
This time we set ourselves up for success, and in we went. The beach was relatively calm, Cresty was not panicking, the water was pretty clear considering the rain and red dirt runoff we've had.
The good news...Cresty got below the surface, horizontal and we went on a nice little dive around coral heads and tropical fish! She did GREAT!
The bad news...I was over weighted by about 10 pounds (you wear a weight belt to get under in this salty water) and my buoyancy control device fell apart at the beginning, which isn't horrible until you try to stay on the surface to talk or breathe. I was too heavy to stay on the surface so I stayed under, but when the connector hose came off in my hand and the jacket started to fill up with water, I considered dropping my weight belt. Instead, I signaled for us to go in to shore. I could dive, I just couldn't get off the sandy bottom. Cresty was done anyhow. She'd signaled she needed a break.
We headed in to shore, surfaced, got caught in a little surf, enough to know that we'd have sand up our bathing suits. Back at the car, we congratulated ourselves on Cresty's first scuba dive! Yay! I hesitate to include Cresty in these photos because it's hard to look presentable after the salt water. I'm okay with looking wet and strange and squinty.

After showers at Lynn's house, we took off in the car to the upcountry area of Maui - part way up the side of the volcano Haleakala, which hasn't been active since 1790. There are lovely towns dotting the side of the volcano and we landed in the cowboy town, Makawao, at a Mexican restaurant called Polli's. Food was ordered, consumed and we took off to walk the downtown and check out the boutiques of the town, something Lynn loves to do. It was now pouring rain and we ran between shops, ducking in to look at gorgeous clothing, jewelry, and high-end boutique items for wear and decor. Galleries too!
Driving home, we hit sunset right at the Pali lookout and stopped so Cresty could get a shot of the peachy blue sky with a giant tangerine-colored ball at the water line. Whales jumped and slapped their pectoral fins in the ocean just off the cliff. Cresty took photos while Lynn and I joked about some inconsiderate man named Walter who would not move his car that blocked the entrance to the parking lot because it was his god-given right to watch the whales. "Zip it!" he told his poor wife.

Back at Lynn's we were tired and over glasses of wine, we settled on the couch to watch the movie Joy, with Jennifer Lawrence.

Today is our last day on Maui, and Cresty has gone off to play tennis at the Royal Lahaina. Lynn is walking JoJo under the cloudless blue sky and I'm sitting on the deck chronicling my adventures. This trip has been amazing! I haven't written as much as I intended, but I've been out there experiencing life, meeting people, hanging with friends, talking, doing, living, which is never bad. I've kept up with my screenwriting lessons and will always remember that I learned the basics of writing a treatment (synopsis for screenplays) on Lynn's deck while staring at Molokai in the distance.
On our way to the airport today to catch our red eye flight, I'm dropping off The Dream Jumper's Promise books to the Lahaina Library -- a book club kit with the reading group questions included. If you like to read print and Barnes & Noble is out of my books, head to the Lahaina Library and ask to sign out the kit.

As with all vacations, I'm eager to get home and see my daughter, husband, dogs and look back on the memories of these 9 days on Maui that I was so very fortunate to have. All year, I forgo pedicures, manicures, haircuts, makeup, eating out, buying things I don't need to justify a cheap plane ticket twice a year to feed my Maui addiction.
Maui is one of my happy places, to be sure.

Thanks for reading, folks and if you haven't read my Dream Jumper series, you may want to pick up a copy of the first book which is 99 cents on Amazon (ebook) this week. There is a really good chance you'll enjoy the book. It's been downloaded over 100,000 times and has very few negative reviews. Just sayin'.

The Dream Jumper's Promise on Amazon
The Dream Jumper's Promise on Barnes & Noble

KIM HORNSBY is an Amazon #1 Bestselling Author who lives in Seattle, writing Suspense and Romance. Find her on Amazon to see how she opened shows for Jamie Foxx and The Smother's Brothers in Hawaii, then became a novelist.

Sign up for Kim's Newsletter to get info on FREE books, new book launches and Kim News!

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Snorkeling and Bar Hopping on Maui

Day 7 on Maui
We are talking about extending our stay another 3-12 days. Bill knows a doctor who might write a note to say we are not fit to travel.
As if.

Today, I got everyone up and out before 9 with snorkel gear in hand. The water looked better and we were eager to have a wonderful snorkeling experience in this week of Kona storms. Parking karma was working and we got a great spot near the walkway to Kapalua Bay. It was cloudy with sunny patches and with snorkel gear in hand we walked to the far end of the bay where the surf wasn't so bad and inched our way in.
This photo was taken when there were no rollers, I guess, because I swear there was large surf.

Cresty did great again considering her fear of the waves and her lungs seizing up with the cold water. We got far enough out that the water cleared and fish could be seen. We went way out on the point and saw a huge sea turtle, then came back in through the surf. Our surf exits are getting better every day!

After showers, we headed out to Fleetwoods rooftop. You know Fleetwood Mac? The drummer, Mick Fleetwood has a restaurant on Front Street on Maui. Our friend Eric Gilliom was playing there from 2-4 and I hadn't heard him play in years. Staring out at the ocean off Lahaina, listening to Eric sing Hana Po, drinking a lavender lemonade was just stunningly beautiful and brought tears to my eyes. These two gentlemen posing with me in the photo below were talented performers I used to work with back in the day when I sang, danced and did musical theater. Twenty-five years later, we are still in the mutual admiration society.

Bill Hensley, Kimberley Horn, Eric Gilliom

Eric's 2-hour set was over all too soon and off we went to Bar #2 - Fridas for fish tacos. The Superbowl was on and we sat at the bar and stayed for a drink and a taco and Justin Timberlake's half time show. We couldn't hear the music but the show looked great.
Back at Lynn's, I worked for two hours, writing, Bill napped, Lynn went to work, Cresty did stuff and then we went to walk JoJo at the Hawaiian burial ground at the Ritz Hotel and down the golf course where Jamey goes in Promise to get his thoughts together. Everywhere I go here, I tell Cresty "this is the place in the book where Tina and Jamey..." Because she's read the first book 3x, she finds it interesting and is now reading Girl of his Dream to reference the Hyatt Hotel from yesterday. She's finding my tour of The Dream Jumper locations interesting.

We headed to Kaanapali Beach Hotel at 7 for a drink, a pu pu, and to see Lynn. For a trio of people over 50, this was what we call bar hopping because it was our third bar of the day! It's hard to smuggle a dog into a bar, even an open air bar where our cocktail waitress is the dog's owner. But I did and JoJo sat nicely under the table while we listened to Gilbert's band play. Bill was called up to sing and hit the high notes like the consummate showman he is.
JoJo snuggled with us in the car on the way home, probably because we had a to-go tub of meat scraps from the bar for him. But, as soon as we entered the house, he ran from us again, not letting us close.






If you read yesterday's blog, there is a guy who bikes around Lahaina balancing a cross and here is a photo of the man at the shopping center! I wonder what his story is.
Everyone has a story.
And that's why I write.

KIM HORNSBY is an Amazon #1 Bestselling novelist who lives in the Seattle area and writes books about women in dire circumstances rescuing themselves.

Newsletter Signup for Book Releases & Free Stuff www.bit.ly/KimHNews

Kim's AMAZON site www.bit.ly/kimamzn

Palm Trees, Barnes & Noble & Gnocchi

Woke to a calm ocean yesterday and I was wondering why we didn't go snorkeling. Cresty was playing tennis and I was blogging though.

I worked on the deck, staring at the ocean. A man walked down the street strumming a ukulele. Not something you see everyday. There is also a bike rider in Lahaina who carries a fifteen foot white cross on his shoulder. We've seen him five times, balancing that crucifix. And a guy who roller blades the highway in only black shorts, his roller blades lit up.

I picked up my friend Bill at the Lanai ferry, we had a lunch on Lynn's deck and headed off to my Barnes & Noble book signing.

I set up my big, honkin' retractable poster and immediately started selling books twenty minutes early. Over the next two hours, I talked to such amazingly interesting, lovely people including a guy named Jim who had a photo of a ghost. It certainly looked creepy and real. And a couple who just got married--her a writer named Holly and him a literary agent. And a retired couple named Rose and Craig who have 4 weeks of timeshare and are waiting for their child to join them on Maui from Israel.

Wonderful people end up in bookstores.

After the books sold out, we went grocery shopping for ingredients to make Italian gnocchi--something Lynn loves. Back at the house, the potatoes started baking, the wine got opened, the conversation flowed and the four of us eventually prepared dinner.


There is something so decent about a candlelit dinner on a deck overlooking the ocean with good friends. Gnocchi, Salad, Chicken, Wine, Friendship, Laughter...

After cleanup in the kitchen where the dog let us feed him chicken, we had a round table discussion in the living room around the coffee table about world affairs, Bill playing Santa Claus every Christmas at the Lahaina Sugar Cane Train, Lynn's garden, and vaping! Bed came early for the girls while Billy watched golf on the couch.

Another amazing day.










KIM HORNSBY is an Amazon #1 Bestselling novelist who lives in the Seattle area and writes books about women in dire circumstances rescuing themselves. She tweets her dreams most mornings on Twitter under the hashtag #StrangeDreams
www.twitter.com/kimhornsby

Newsletter Signup for Book Releases & Free Stuff www.bit.ly/KimHNews

Kim's Website https://kimhornsby.godaddysites.com

Or find Kim's AMAZON books' site www.bit.ly/kimamzn

Maui Writers, Snorkeling and the Hyatt Pool

I woke on Maui feeling slightly better and my cough didn't seem such a big deal. Yay!

The sky was cloudy, the doves were calling, and I got coffee brewing in Lynn's open air kitchen. Cresty went to play tennis, Lynn was leaving to take JoJo for a morning walk and I worked on my laptop until it was time to drive to Kaanapali to Maui Writers Ink and the West Maui Book Club where a lovely woman and fellow author of Suspense, Elaine Gallant,  had set up a meeting at her housing development's pool, complete with cupcakes and cakepops, something that impressed me to no end.

I erected my big honkin' banner, met some writers and after a brief intro by Elaine, I began my talk. The group had lots of questions along the way, keeping me on track to talk about what they were interested in--how an author balances all the PR necessary to get your book in front of eyes, and getting optioned for film. Many of the group were writers, the rest were readers. I got a lot out of talking to them afterwards.
I was extremely relieved that my cough held off and I didn't need cough drops (which I did not bring, anyhow because I'm a disorganized mess most of the time.)

Back at Lynn's, lunch was being served on the deck. Lasagna and salad was consumed and Cresty and I decided to find a snorkeling spot, regardless of the high surf advisory everywhere. Black Rock was my choice and we actually got in through the surf in the corner of the rock, swam out to the point of land and saw some fish. (As I type this, I'm looking out on a flat calm ocean and thinking tomorrow morning at 9 a..m. is our prime snorkel day and time and if all goes well, Monday, we'll dive again, early.) On the way in to shore, we saw a small sea turtle, which was a highlight. Enjoy this picture of me going snorkeling but if it was yesterday, add four foot waves, and murky water. Man, Cresty is such a trooper for a newbie!
I took Cresty over to the Hyatt to see the flamingos, and penguins and then we found two lounge chairs by the pool where we ordered drinks and our second lunch of the day, accompanied by our first cocktail of the day. We swam through the waterfalls in the clear blue pool water and when we started to notice reddish shoulders, we left, bought a pineapple at a corner store and came home to chillax until sunset.

After putting on a little makeup and clean clothes, we continued on to KBH (Kaanapali Beach Hotel) to the Keiki Hula show, a wonderful highlight on Kaanapali Beach's Friday night. The costumes were fantastic, the dancers were equally wonderful and the place was packed.
Back at Lynn's we got ready for bed and another big day tomorrow with singer extraordinaire, Bill Hensley coming to join the party at Lynn's.
Poor JoJo.