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Neil, the son of a member of the Strawberry Tarts Divas (Ashby/Wanneroo, Western Australia), touched Hatters' heartstrings when he wrote about how the Red Hat Society has changed his mother's life. A sampling: "She has found a crowd of friends that could give her what my father and our family friends could no longer give. Spontaneity. How often do we become complacent in life? To see her take off like a teenager at a disco and grab a friend to dance was wonderful. Thank you Red Hatters for giving my mum back her youth... for giving my mum the choice to enjoy life again!"

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Dutch Red Hatters proclaim that you don't have to be from exotic foreign lands to know how to bellydance. Queen "Red Tara" Joyce Wouters of the Rode Hoeden Victorie (Alkmaar, Netherlands) organized an outing for three chapters to participate in a bellydancing workshop. Joining her chapter were ladies from the Rode Hoeden aan Zee and Rode Hoeden Kennemerland.

The Huckleberry Red Hatters (Moscow, Idaho) live in the beautiful countryside of their state's panhandle and enjoy outings seeing historic sites. The chapter recently had tea at The Courtyard in Uniontown, Washington which was formerly the parish house for the oldest Catholic church in the state. Queen "Mother Berry" Eileen Hall said for their next monthly outing, the chapterettes will head down the highway for three days in lovely Leavenworth, Washington.

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The Hats Amore' of Berea (Berea, Ohio) recently visited My Girlfriend's Kitchen where they had fun cooking up meals for the next six days. "Countess Shutterbug" Marjorie Gray, took these photos of the girls having fun and friendship in the name of the Red Hat Society. "That's what it is all about!" commented "Queen Mama Mia" Elaine Trizzino about the gas her 14 members had while preparing the meals. We can't wait to cook them!"

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Forget the glue gun, give a Red Hot Diva (Princeton, Minnesota) a power tool and some scraps of wood and watch what kind of masterpiece she can create! Queen "Cinnamon-E" Betty Will said that the motto of her chapter is "Spice Up Your Life"�thus, her royal title. Their Queen For the Month, "Goddess of Sea Salt" Karen Jensen is on the board at the historic Kelley Farm in Elk River and arranged for a "Fun Fest" woodshop at the farm where they had the opportunity to play with power tools in making a birdhouse. Afterwards, the ladies enjoyed coffee and cookies as they admired each others' creations.

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Don't let their chapter name fool you. The Red Hatters Rested & Retired (Shingle Springs, California) may be retirees but they are far from rested. The former educators keep busy with field trips. Last month, while they trekked by train to San Francisco, they crowned their queen Mary Ann Harper. They had a shopping spree at Pier 39, a seafood luncheon, then topped the evening by seeing "Menopause The Musical." For their next train trip, the chapter would have a blast heading for New Orleans to see HATS!

Every Spring, the Amethyst Roses (Rockwood, Michigan) love creating picnic baskets with a unique theme and exchanging them amongst each other at a local park. Queen Mother Janis Browne puts raffle tickets on each basket that is brought and the members draw a ticket to claim their prize. For the past four years, they've enjoyed this event and each year, the baskets are more are more creative. Most memorable ones include: an Elvis peanut butter/banana sandwich with Hound Dog graham crackers; a shoe box decorated in "fishy" wrapping paper with a seafood lunch of a tuna fish sandwich, fish shaped crackers and fish gummie candy; a green apple box that included a green apple kitchen towel with pot holders, green apple and walnut salad and a green 7-Up soda.

Queen Linda Hayes of the Red Hot Church Ladies of the Quad Cities (Carbon Cliff, Illinois) plans fun activities each month for her 26 active members. Highlights of their events include a dinner cruise down the Mississippi River on the Celebration Belle on one of the hottest days of the summer. And on one of the coldest days of the winter, they braved a blizzard to go to the theater to see "The Gospel According to Scrooge." One of their favorite frolics was their pajama party at the Moline Village Inn where the gals attracted a lot of attention in the busy restaurant�as they always do, wherever they go together in public.