NEWS FROM HATQUARTERS

Dear Red Hatters,

PIED PIPER

Five hundred Red Hatters from New Brunswick, Canada, joined by chapters from bordering U.S. towns gathered in Woodstock, New Brunswick for their second annual Spring Hoot. The ladies of the Purple Haze chapter did a great job, according to attendee, Carol Arbeau. After being welcomed by the mayor, the throngs of Red Hatters were led on a parade through town by a piper! This, undoubtedly, made them even more noticeable than they would normally have been. We Red Hatters do like to come out of our shells, donâ€™t we?

NEW YORK ADVENTURE

Rebecca Brenton, Queen of the Indy Ritzy Azzd Henz (Indianapolis, Indiana) sent a highly entertaining report of her chapter's venture to the Big Apple. It is hard to convey the extent of this jaunt in a brief summary, but here goes: They were picked up by a limo upon a 12:30 a.m. arrival at the airport. Apparently, they don't require a lot of sleep, because they were up in time to join the crowds outside the Today show to see Al Roker, Matt Lauer and Katie Couric. They then attended The View, enjoying guests Nicole Kidman and Delta Burke. They power shopped, went sight-seeing and visited the Empire State Building with a special guide, a retired FBI agent. While there, they posed for lots of pictures for foreign tourists, who undoubtedly thought they were celebrities of some kind. They saw the show, Mama Mia, toured Ground Zero, visited St. Paul's Cathedral, ate at Lombardi's Pizza in Little Italy and checked out Chinatown.

After all this, they still found energy to recruit some visitors from Holland, extracting promises that a new chapter will soon be up and running over there.

The above activities summarize only days one and two. (I need a nap after just reading about them!)

CLEVER WOMEN!

With over 41,000 chapters, wouldn’t you think that every possible cute name for a group would have already been thought of? Well, nothing is impossible where Red Hatters are concerned! Here is a sampling of some new chapter names that tickled our funny bones:
Red Hat Reign Dears Bend, Oregon
Red Hats & Rinkles Covington, Tennessee
Red Hat Art Attack Boise, Idaho
Red Hat Loonachicks Pinson, Tennessee
Wrinkle Ranch Ladies Silt, Colorado
Lilac Ladies with a Cherry on Top Somerset, Massachusetts
Red Hat Cubbetts Olney, Texas

PEARLS FROM RUBY’S GIRLS

Sue Ellen is beginning to write her next book, Pearls From Ruby’s Girls (publication scheduled for spring 2006). We are grateful for all of you who have shared your wonderful pearls of wisdom with us. We are still welcoming submissions if you would like to share a story or two with us. Please use one or more of the 14 questions we have posed to help you get started: http://www.redhatsociety.com/bookquestions.html

AGE GAP? WHAT’S THAT?

The Hen-der-Hatters (Henderson, Tennessee) recently gathered at a Mother-Daughter Tea at a local tea room. Guests included mothers, daughters, granddaughters, daughters-in-law, and friends. Hen-der-Hat Hysterian, Sue (Ellen) Stein says, Thirteen families were represented, including two three-generation families. The youngest in attendance was Lydia, three weeks, and the oldest was Stephanie, 94 years. It was a beautiful pre-spring day brightened by everyone’s smiles and laughter under pink and red hats!

In the photo, the red hats appear to have a slight edge: 16 red hats to 13 pinks. The joy on the faces is unanimous.

CONNECTIONS ON THE HIGH SEAS

Yet again we hear of spontaneous gatherings of Red Hatters. Jean McLaughlin, Princess of Paperwork (Old Bats in Red Hats, Gloucester City, New Jersey) and her Queen Mum, Dorothy Randolph, recently cruised the Panama Canal. They saw a notice posted by another RHS Queen asking any Red Hatters on board to meet poolside at a designated time. To their delight, eleven women appeared!

PURPLE AND RED

Two alert Red Hatters sent us newspaper clippings, from different newspapers, on the same subject - the recent unpopularity of the color red in public schools. Apparently, corrective notes from teachers on tests and homework, if written in red ink, are causing stress to students. Many teachers are now being instructed to use more pleasant tones, such as blue or green. Interestingly enough though, the current most popular color for corrections, cited by pen manufacturers, is purple!

The article sent by Queen Pat Latreille (Amarillo’s Audacious Adorables, Amarillo, Texas) has a sidebar listing qualities, which are attributed to certain colors by psychologists (taken from the Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color):
PURPLE elegant and expensive, purple has a hands-on sophistication. It is also associated with creativity.
RED an emotionally intense, aggressive color that is considered stimulating and provocative.

Pat Morgart (no chapter mentioned) adds a postscripted question to her clipping: Does this make us Red Hatters disturbingly pleasant?

THERE’S NOTHING TO DO

Remember when your kids used to whine those words at you, usually about two days after school let out? We Red Hatters never have an excuse to mouth these words though.

The Citrus Springs Chicks (Citrus Springs, Florida) created an opportunity for a big party. They put on a lavish coronation for their Queen Mother Hen, Doris Holdread. The photo spread in the local newspaper, The Visitor makes it clear that this event was a bit belated: The fact that she [Holdread] has been serving as queen for more than two years made little difference. She had never been officially crowned.

By the same token, we have heard of some chapters throwing belated Reduations too. After all, it’s never too late to celebrate anything, no matter how long ago it occurred.

The Northern Delights (Escanaba, Michigan) provided an outlet for their cumulative creativity by having an old-fashioned crafting party. Queen Joyce Heynssens comments that they fortified themselves with a few Mimosas and then went to work at three work stations one for hats, one for shirts and one for nametags. Joyce says that the feathers really flew and the craft-challenged members got good-natured help from those more adept in artistic pursuits.

HAULING OUT THE RHINESTONES!

Over 5,000 of us are hitting the roads (and the skies) for Las Vegas! For the next few days we will be attending the Red Hat Society’s fourth annual convention! For those of you who are new, here is a brief annual convention history:
April, 2002 425 Red Hatters gather in Chicago
April, 2003 2,000 Red Hatters descend on Nashville
May, 2004 2,500 Red Hatters party in Dallas
June, 2005 Las Vegas, here we come in record numbers!

Although the vast majority of our members will not be there with us, we hope you know that we will all feel united with you in spirit. It feels so good to be part of such unity of hearts. It is our hope that we will see a lot more of you at various events as they come up. It is our mission to take the fun to as many places as we possibly can and to continually honor our mission statement, which seeks to unite our members in every way possible. If not this time, maybe one of the next perhaps regional gatherings!

Whether you are joining us in Las Vegas or not, I hope you find a way to go for the glitter soon. (Now that I think about it, July 4 is coming up!)

In friendship,
Sue Ellen and All of Us From Hatquarters

RED HAT SOCIETY’S FABULOUS AT 50 AT DISNEYLAND PARK

Join us as we reduate Disneyland Park at Red Hat Society’s Fabulous at 50 3rd Regional Convention at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. Click here for more information: http://www.redhatsociety.com/events/convention2005/disney/

FALL FIESTA CRUISE

We know what it feels like to be royalty, now it’s time to be treated like celebrities. Get ready to set sail on the Fall Fiesta cruise for a 6-night Mexican Riviera cruise on the Celebrity Summit. You will enjoy participating in Red Hat Society exclusive events and meeting your Red Hat Society sisters from across the country. Sailing October 17-23, 2005, you won’t want to miss this chance to treat yourself like the celebrity you are! Click here for more information: http://www.redhatsociety.com/travel/fallfiestacruise.html

Looking for a roommate for the Fall Fiesta Cruise? Please check our Queen Mother Board:
http://forum.redhatsociety.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=26086 <http://forum.redhatsociety.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=26086> <http://forum.redhatsociety.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=26086>