Fun and Games in the Spring Sunshine

The Ruby Gumnut Goddesses have two planning days every year. On these days we plan the activities for the next six months. That doesn’t mean that we don’t add in other activities as the months progress; of course we do! Red Hatters love spontaneity. This could mean starting out doing something on a planned activity and ending up somewhere completely unplanned. It can also mean popping in other activities at short notice.  

Just recently we have changed our plans a little bit. One of our members has been unable to attend a function recently due to surgery and she was supposed to organise a tour of Rod Laver arena. That was changed very quickly and we took Red Hats to her. We all turned up at her new home with champers, food and ready for fun while she sat back and enjoyed the laughter and company.

 Recently one of our members had a new garden shed erected in her garden and she decided that it needed an opening ceremony. So in a matter of a couple of days an activity was organised. Ten Red Hatters all beautifully dressed appropriately for a garden shed opening ceremony arrived at the home of Princess Spend a Lot and a wonderful day was had by everyone. We certainly laughed as we made up the ceremony as we went along being that none of us had ever attended such an event. Lots of photos were taken as the ribbon was dutifully cut and all was going to take place in the shed was blessed.

Some events are planned well in advance. Our annual Oak’s Day lunch is one such event. We have horse races with homemade horses around the cherry tree in the backyard. 

Silly games are also the order of the day and of course the delicious food and champers. We were lucky enough to have four guests from the Chirnside Chicks share our day of fun with us. 

 

 

A couple of weeks ago three of us attended a Meeting of Minds where Red Hat Queens from all over Victoria gathered together to catch up and to exchange ideas.

 


In the next couple of weeks we are going to attend a 
Multi Chapter picnic in the Fitzroy Gardens, go to performances of  More Sex Please We are Seniors and Calendar Girls. We will be going out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant and be holding our Christmas event at the Strawberry Farm at Red Hill.

Remembering Vera The Very Delightful Dowager-1910-2012

Vera joined Red Hats in 2009. She came along to events with her daughter Pam, Grand Duchess Bojangles. Vera had her title, The Delightful Dowager conferred on her at our teddy bear picnic in 2009.

Vera was very happy to join in all activities to the best of her abilities, she enjoyed chatting to all who would sit with her and loved a glass of bubbly.







Vera often sat with her friend Doris and when the event was finished she would often tell Pam that she had a lovely chat with that nice young lady, Doris who is 90 years of age.

 Vera would never acknowledge her advancing age. When she turned 99 we threw a party but had to put on the cake 95 plus GST as she would always tell us she was just 95. She loved getting dressed up in the purple clothes and red hats.






Vera was very lucky to have Pam as her daughter as Pam made red hats. Vera turned up to each event in a different hat. She also wore her brilliant bling with elegance.





Vera loved our Easter Egg hunts although she sent Pam to do the egg hunting for her. She certainly enjoyed eating the easter eggs that were found for her.

When Vera turned 100 we organised for birthday cards from Red Hatters all over Australia to be sent to her. On that day we made her queen for the day and changed her title to The Very Delightful Dowager.








Vera participated in activities up until September last year.








Even though she no longer participated we always considered one of us right up until the end.I imagine she would have been the oldest Red Hatter in the world. She never let her age deter her from having lots of fun in her Red Hat life. That is the way we  all will always remember Vera The Very Delightful Dowager.

Winter:- a time of fun and laughter for all Red Hats

Winter is usually a time of hibernation but not if you are a Red Hatter. We don't let the weather get to us, we just rug up and out we go. Just recently we went on a tour of the local opportunity shops. These second hand goods shops are a source of wonderment for Red Hatters. We visited six shops in one day and everyone came away with some wonderful bargains:- things that we will alter and make into something else, things we will use just the way they are. There were lots of oohhs and aaahhs as we hunted the racks. If someone found a treasure that wasn't for them the cry went up; "look what I have found!' and Red Hatters would come running and decide who it suited best.




A couple of days later we visited the other end of the shopping experience and went to have coffee and cake in the exclusive Maling Road shopping strip. We certainly drew a few funny looks but once again we found the just right bargain. It was cold but sunny so it was the perfect day for walking, talking and shopping.





Of course in Australia we sometimes like to celebrate Christmas in July so that we can experience the delight of hot Christmas food on a cold night in front of the open fire. This event was one of our three social events we hold where the men in our lives are welcome to join us.












Just last night six of us braved one of the coldest nights for a long time to go out for dinner. It had snowed not far from where we live yesterday and last night the weather was appalling, rain, wind and freezing temperatures all thrown into the mix.

 We had a lovely time and twice joined in the singing of Happy Birthday for someone who was at the restaurant for a celebration.



When it came to leave the weather was throwing everything at us so the Goddess of Bling and Queen Mini Munchkin chose some interesting methods of staying warm and dry.










In the next couple of months we will be having a beauty spa day with a fish and chips lunch and visiting a local community kitchen where they train people to go back into the workforce. We will rug up and got out and have fun. The weather is not going to deter these little red hatters.

Goddess of Chocolate Swirl has her Reduation

Please click on read more to find post. Clicked on wrong button and don't know how to undo it. Shouldn't do this when I am tired.

Photographs and fun for Red Hatters

It's had work catching a tram at 7.30 in the morning.

One of the things Red Hatters find is that people love to take our photos. Often people just ask outright and we are very happy to oblige and pose readily for the camera. Sometimes they ask to be included in our photos as happened to us when the Ruby Gumnut Goddesses travelled to Bendigo to visit the Grace Kelly exhibition. As we boarded the train and walked through to our carriage we heard lots of comments; some positive, some bewildered and some who recognised what we were about. There were also lots of smiles and the occasional phone whipped out as we walked by.

In front of the famous Bendigo fountain.

As we walked up Mitchell Street to go to the Art Gallery a group of female teenage students from a local college waved to us. They called out for us to stop and quickly crossed the road to ask if they could have their photo taken with us. They told us we were “really cool”. Obviously we had made an impression and a good one at that. As we sat down and posed with the girls they were full of questions as to what we were about and where we were going. They liked our response that we dressed like we did so that we stood out. No beige clothing for us! They were laughing with us as they took turns to take our photo and one girl promptly stated that she had just posted us on Facebook.  Is that the ultimate compliment from a teenager? They walked away waving good bye and saying they couldn’t wait to tell their Mum’s what a cool bunch of old ladies they had met down the street. If only they knew that we feel as young and love to have fun as much as they do.

The older and the young in Bendigo

On that day we had our photos taken about five different times. Some people are too shy to ask and quickly pull out a camera when they think we are not looking. Often we have been stopped by tourists from all over the world. There are photos of us in Asia, Europe and America that I know of. One year at the International Flower Show in Melbourne we spent the whole day being stopped for photos. We believed that the photographers must have thought we were part of the show. That could have had something to do with the fact that we all wore hats covered with flowers. 

Ahhh Blue Heaven

Apart from going to Bendigo we have been having lots of fun. Just recently we went to have lunch at the Pancake Parlour where three of our girls told us all about their trip to the Darwin Convention. It sounds as though they had a ball.  

Looks like the five red hat dwarfs

We took the opportunity to have some delicious food and catch up with old friends. Of course we couldn't resist taking our own photo in front of the funny mirror outside the restaurant. 

A winner

In May we went to Wesburn to take part in a Biggest Morning tea run by Queen Clownabout. It is always an excellent morning full of delicious food and lots of fun. Quite a few of us came away with prizes and over $6000 was raised for Cancer research. Well done Queen Clownabout! 

In the next few weeks we are going to a few High teas. One is this coming Thursday and we will be watching High Society as a follow up to going to see the Grace Kelly exhibition. And in two weeks we will be having a High Tea to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. We are also going to a local theatre to see a production of Grease with the Pakenham Gypsy Roses. We do have a lot of fun!!

Fairy Tale Characters Mass for Party Time

Red Hatters love to dress up in the normal Red Hat attire of purple clothes and red hats. We also love to let our creative minds go crazy and dress up in costume. On Saturday we held a Fairy Tale Character party. The first reason for the party was just to have fun but as we all know a Queen needs a coronation. So this was the second reason for the party. Queen Glorianna kindly offered to do the crowning for me. She and seven of her Ballarat Ladybird members travelled down to Melbourne to join in with the fun. The event was a lunch time occasion so the table was soon loaded down with delicious food and of course there was plenty to drink. The day started out with a game of guess the fairy tale character. There was very soon a lot of laughter and cheering as the ladies worked out their secret identity. The prize for solving the puzzle was a chocolate frog. Most suitable as we love chocolate and eating a frog is pretty close to kissing one, must keep in fairy tale mode. After lunch we got down to the business of the crowing. Queen Gloriana did a wonderful job and I was soon officially known as Her Royal Shortness Queen Mini Munchkin.















It was then my task to confer titles on two members who had just joined or had missed out. We call this donging in this chapter as I use a decorated fence paling. For those not familiar with the poem Warning by Jenny Joseph, which basically is about getting older while staying young- a Red Hat trait, the fence post features in the poem.
So Lady Avalon and Dames Laughs  A Lot officially received their titles.

























A few of our members decided to change their titles so they received new badges and certificates



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It was a great day with lots of new friendships established between the Ruby Gumnut Goddesses and the Ballarat Ladybirds, lots of laughter and fun had by all.

Where has the time gone?

Hello Again, I have been away on holiday and then unfortunately injured my shoulder which has put a damper on things. But I seem to be improving and can now type again, so I thought I would catch you up on what has been happening.


On March 13th some of the girls went out to dinner at a local restaurant. When the table was booked the person taking the booking thought the name of the group was the Red Hots. This caused a bit of a giggle as of course we do consider ourselves to be rather red hot! Self confidence is high in Red Hatting. The girls had a great time and enjoyed some delicious food.


On the 18th of March the Goddess of Bling held a chocolate afternoon tea at her home. There was lots of delicious chocolate treats to eat and chocolate based games to play. One of the games was eating chocolate ice cream without using your hands. The official Ruby Gumnut Royal Joker took great delight in helping one of the ladies get closer to her ice cream.


The following Sunday a group went shopping at the St Kilda Esplanade market. As usual they had to stop many times to have their photo taken. The weather may have been a little cold and miserable but that has never stopped a red hatter.



On Easter Saturday we had our annual Easter Egg hunt which is always fun. Fifteen women and two young children all appropriately dressed of course spent about ten minutes to find about eighty Easter eggs. A lot were eaten on the spot and some taken home to share with the family.



We are heading off to lunch on Thursday and then to see Putting on the Ritz next Wednesday. We do have a lot of fun.

Coffee, Cake and Walkabout

This event is usually called a coffee, cake and walkabout but as we did it in the morning this time it ended up as a coffee, brunch and walkabout. Just as much fun. We all met at Montania at 11am and settled in for a lovely time. We caused a bit of a sensation with the other people in the restaurant but they soon forgot about us. The conversation was a lot of fun and laughter, the food delicious and the coffee hot. What more can you ask? After the refreshments we decided to partake of the Red Hat national sport of shopping. Some of us made our first purchase in the first shop we went into. I think at the end of the event everyone of us had bought something and we were all very pleased with ourselves. Our next event is a dinner at a local Italian restaurant. That should be great fun. Also in March we are going to be having a Chocolate Tea Party, a visit to Sexy land and lunch and finally a visit to a local craft market on the beach.