“In Your Easter Bonnet” – that’s the ticket, I thought.  It was my month to host our literary critique group, the Lit Chicks, and since it was Easter week, an Easter bonnet theme seemed to be appropriate.  Only after emailing the members of our group the idea and getting their approval did I realize the problem; I didn’t have an Easter bonnet.

Shirley kicks off shoes & lets her hair down.

Not to be deterred, I went shopping.  The only decent hats I found carried price tags of over a hundred bucks.  Being the cheapskate that I am, I wasn’t about to pay that for a one-day event.  I went home and pulled out the only semblance of a hat that I owned – a black floppy wide-brimmed one (the same one  I had used as a witch hat for our Halloween meeting).  With a bit of creativity, I decided, I could make it work.  To match my cream-colored dress, I found an off-white stocking, tied it around the crown for a band, added a black and white silk flower, and deemed it worthy of the event.

It didn’t feel quite as worthy when Gay, Lori, and Shirley, crowned with beautiful “bonnets” ( apparently they had dished out the dough for theirs), arrived. Athough Alice had already picked out hers, she failed to make the meeting due to a post-surgery doctor’s appointment..

The girls didn’t seem to mind my make-shift bonnet after I served them a good lunch.  We, in turn, read our latest works, offered critisim and encourgement to each other, and laughed a lot.  I had told my husband Steve we would probably be finished early since we had a member misssing.  “We should be finished by 4:00PM, ” I had told him.  At 5:00 we were still chattering.

Barbara in her Easter bonnet

Not to be totally left out, Alice met me in Jacksonville the next day for the two of us to tape a TV show about our literary critique group.  It was only a thirty minute show, so we both were still gabbing when the camera’s red light dimmed and Carl Brady, the emcee sat stunned thinking, “I thought I was to ask questions or say something or someway be in charge here.”

What a blessing to have such a group of collegues and friends!  Maybe by next year I will have sold a best-seller and be able to fork out the bucks for a real Easter bonnet.