Red Hat Society...WHAT?

I'm behind again. I will get graduation and the 4th and trek up soon...

But I had to post this tonight!

read on my friends...read on.








"The Red Hat Society began as a result of a few women deciding to greet middle age with verve, humor and elan. We believe silliness is the comedy relief of life, and since we are all in it together, we might as well join red-gloved hands and go for the gusto together. Underneath the frivolity, we share a bond of affection, forged by common life experiences and a genuine enthusiasm for wherever life takes us next."

- Sue Ellen Cooper, Queen Mother

While visiting a friend in Tucson several years ago, Sue Ellen impulsively bought a bright red fedora at a thrift shop, for no other reason than that it was cheap and, she thought, quite dashing. A year or two later she read the poem "Warning" by Jenny Joseph, which depicts an older woman in purple clothing with a red hat. Sue Ellen felt an immediate kinship with Ms. Joseph. She decided that her birthday gift to her dear friend, Linda Murphy, would be a vintage red hat and a copy of the poem. She has always enjoyed whimsical decorating ideas, so she thought the hat would look nice hanging on a hook next to the framed poem. Linda got so much enjoyment out of the hat and the poem that Sue Ellen gave the same gift to another friend, then another, then another.

One day it occurred to these friends that they were becoming a sort of "Red Hat Society" and that perhaps they should go out to tea... in full regalia. They decided they would find purple dresses which didn't go with their red hats to complete the poem's image.

The tea was a smashing success.

Soon, each of them thought of another woman or two she wanted to include, and they bought more red hats. Their group swelled to 18, and they began to encourage other interested people to start their own chapters (18 women don't fit well around a tea table). One of their members passed along the idea to a friend of hers in Florida, and their first "sibling" group was born.

Sue Ellen's fondest hope is that these societies will proliferate far and wide. We have now held three successful Red Hat Society conventions entire hotels filled with women of a certain age wearing red hats and purple outfits! Could world domination be far behind? (Taken directly from the Red Hat Society Website)

Why am I sharing this with you?

Today I had to pick up lunch for some people at work so I went over to La Sage. Yummy Food that's too expensive for me to eat very often...but yummy all the same.

I decided to order Morgan and I some lunch as a treat for us when I got home from work and told Gary (the owner of the restaurant) I'd be back to pick it up later.
As I was looking around this small, simple establishment I noticed these ladies, and to the side of them was seated 2 big burly tattooed men. It was an interesting sight! I asked Gary who the ladies were in Red and Purple,
and that's when he told me about the
Red Hat Society.

I didn't have my camera with me so I left to go back to work empty handed (besides the food for the office) disappointed that I had missed an amazing opportunity, but secretly hoping they'd be at the restaurant when I came back for my own food.

And they WERE!!!!
So I snuck a picture of this intriguing group of ladies
And then of course Me being who I am (Don't you know who I am? he he)
I asked them if I could take their Picture!

...And wouldn't you know it, they said yes!

Look at those beautiful women, so proud of themselves, so sure of themselves that they had no problem stepping out into public together in Red and Purple, having lunch and chatting and just enjoying this little part of their lives together.

Gives me something to look forward too...A life of "Fun and Frivolity"
(Which makes me wish I'd danced more...really danced, at the DeGraws BBQ on the 4th)

Thank you Ladies
And
Thank you Red Hat Society
For adding a big splash of color to my day!

(The Poem)

Jenny Jones

Warning

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes

But now we much have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple

Jenny Jones