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.