Great advice

Many of us are between 65 and death, i.e. old. My friend sent me this excellent list for aging . . . and I have to agree it's good advice to follow. 

1. It’s time to use the money you saved up. Use it and enjoy it.  Don’t just keep it for those who may have no notion of the sacrifices you made to get it. Remember there is nothing more dangerous than a son or daughter-in-law with big ideas for your hard-earned capital. Warning: This is also a bad time for investments, even if it seems wonderful or fool-proof. They only bring problems and worries. This is a time for you to enjoy some peace and quiet.

2. Stop worrying about the financial situation of your children and grandchildren, and don’t feel bad spending your money on yourself. You’ve taken care of them for many years, and you’ve taught them what you could. You gave them an education, food, shelter and support. The responsibility is now theirs to earn their own money.

3. Keep a healthy life, without great physical effort. Do moderate exercise (like walking every day), eat well and get your sleep. It’s easy to become sick, and it gets harder to remain healthy. That is why you need to keep yourself in good shape and be aware of your medical and physical needs. Keep in touch with your doctor, do tests even when you’re feeling well. Stay informed.

4. Always buy the best, most beautiful items for your significant other. The key goal is to enjoy your money with your partner. One day one of you will miss the other, and the money will not provide any comfort then, enjoy it together

5.  Don’t stress over the little things.  Like paying a little extra on price quotes. You’ve already overcome so much in your life.You have good memories and bad ones, but the important thing is the present. Don’t let the past drag you down and don’t let the future frighten you. Feel good in the now. Small issues will soon be forgotten.

6. Regardless of age, always keep love alive. Love your partner, love life, love your family, love your neighbor and remember: “A man is not old as long as he has intelligence and affection.”

7. Be proud, both inside and out. Don’t stop going to your hair salon or barber, do your nails, go to the dermatologist and the dentist, keep your perfumes and creams well stocked. When you are well-maintained on the outside, it seeps in, making you feel proud and strong.

8. Don’t lose sight of fashion trends for your age, but keep your own sense of style. There’s nothing worse than an older person trying to wear the current fashion among youngsters. You’ve developed your own sense of what looks good on you – keep it and be proud of it. It’s part of who you are.

9. ALWAYS stay up-to-date. Read newspapers, watch the news. Go online and read what people are saying. Make sure you have an active email account and try to use some of those social networks. You’ll be surprised what old friends you’ll meet. Keeping in touch with what is going on and with the people you know is important at any age.

10. Respect the younger generation and their opinions. They may not have the same ideals as you, but they are the future, and will take the world in their direction. Give advice, not criticism, and try to remind them that yesterday’s wisdom still applies today.

11. Never use the phrase: “In my time.” Your time is now. As long as you’re alive, you are part of this time. You may have been younger, but you are still you now, having fun and enjoying life.

12. Some people embrace their golden years, while others become bitter and surly. Life is too short to waste your days on the latter. Spend your time with positive, cheerful people, it’ll rub off on you and your days will seem that much better. Spending your time with bitter people will make you older and harder to be around.

13. Do not surrender to the temptation of living with your children or grandchildren (if you have a financial choice, that is). Sure, being surrounded by family sounds great, but we all need our privacy. They need theirs and you need yours. If you’ve lost your partner (our deepest condolences), then find a person to move in with you and help out. Even then, do so only if you feel you really need the help or do not want to live alone.

14. Don’t abandon your hobbies. If you don’t have any, make new ones. You can travel, hike, cook, read, dance. You can adopt a cat or a dog, grow a garden, play cards, checkers, chess, dominoes, golf. You can paint, volunteer or just collect certain items. Find something you like and spend some real time having fun with it.

15. Even if you don’t feel like it, try to accept invitations. Baptisms, graduations, birthdays, weddings, conferences. Try to go. Get out of the house, meet people you haven’t seen in a while, experience something new (or something old). But don’t get upset when you’re not invited. Some events are limited by resources, and not everyone can be hosted. The important thing is to leave the house from time to time. Go to museums, go walk through a field. Get out there.

16. Be a conversationalist. Talk less and listen more. Some people go on and on about the past, not caring if their listeners are really interested. That’s a great way of reducing their desire to speak with you. Listen first and answer questions, but don’t go off into long stories unless asked to. Speak in courteous tones and try not to complain or criticize too much unless you really need to. Try to accept situations as they are. Everyone is going through the same things, and people have a low tolerance for hearing complaints. Always find some good things to say as well.

17. Pain and discomfort go hand in hand with getting older. Try not to dwell on them but accept them as a part of the cycle of life we’re all going through. Try to minimize them in your mind. They are not who you are, they are something that life added to you. If they become your entire focus, you lose sight of the person you used to be.

18. If you’ve been offended by someone – forgive them. If you’ve offended someone - apologize. Don’t drag around resentment with you. It only serves to make you sad and bitter. It doesn’t matter who was right. Someone once said: “Holding a grudge is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Don’t take that poison. Forgive, forget and move on with your life.

19. If you have a strong belief, savor it. But don’t waste your time trying to convince others. They will make their own choices no matter what you tell them, and it will only bring you frustration. Live your faith and set an example. Live true to your beliefs and let that memory sway them.

20. Laugh. Laugh A LOT. Laugh at everything. Remember, you are one of the lucky ones. You managed to have a life, a long one. Many never get to this age, never get to experience a full life. But you did. So what’s not to laugh about? Find the humor in your situation.

21. Take no notice of what others say about you and even less notice of what they might be thinking. They’ll do it anyway, and you should have pride in yourself and what you’ve achieved. Let them talk and don’t worry. They have no idea about your history, your memories and the life you’ve lived so far. There’s still much to be written, so get busy writing and don’t waste time thinking about what others might think. Now is the time to be at rest, at peace and as happy as you can be!

REMEMBER: “Life is too short to drink bad wine and warm beer.”

Flowers....

It's the nice time of year when everything starts to bloom.  We have wild rabbits.  Cec found a rabbit hole in our back yard.  We've had a coyote who has been dining on our rabbits and there are now very few here.  We haven't seen the coyote but our neighbours have.  Once he was sleeping in a neighbours backyard.  She was afraid he was hurt but then he disappeared so she knew he was okay.  There are a lot of small dogs in our complex so they've been warned about the coyote.  Apparently he likes dogs and cats too!

We planted a dogwood tree four years ago.  To date, no blossoms.  Our gardener came around earlier this year and said we need a female tree for it to bloom.  Apparently that's on order so maybe next year we will get blossoms.

Dogwood in front of Cheryl's house. 
She said it's just started to bloom.  It's late this year.

My porch flowers!

Things to ponder...

Only in This Foolish World...do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes
at the front.

Only in This Foolish World.....do people order large fries, double cheeseburgers
and a diet coke.

Only in This Foolish World...do banks leave vault doors open and chain
the pens to the counters..

Only in This Foolish World...do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

Only in This Foolish World...do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in Packages of eight.

Only in This Foolish World...do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

EVER WONDER...

Why the sun lightens Our hair, but darkens our skin?

Why don't you ever see the Headline 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?

Why is 'abbreviated' such a long word?

Why is it that doctors call what they do 'practice'?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor and dish washing liquid made with real lemons?

Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?

Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?

Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?!

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

Smuggler's Inn - update

The owner of a bed and breakfast that hugs the B.C.-Washington border has been released on bail on condition that he erect a large sign on his property warning against crossing into Canada.

The bail hearing for Smuggler's Inn owner Robert Joseph Boulé was held in the Provincial Court of British Columbia, in Surrey, on Thursday morning. He faces 21 charges, laid earlier this month for allegedly "inducing, aiding or abetting" seven people who attempted to illegally enter the country.

The sign is one of 16 conditions he agreed to as part of his bail. The sign, to be about one by two and a half metres, must be placed within three metres of the border and read on both sides: "Warning. It is illegal to enter Canada from this property."

The sign has now been erected.  I wonder if it reads the same on both sides as this is the sign from Canada!

We will take a drive down zero avenue next week.

The alleged offences occurred between May 2018 and March 2019, and include breaches of court orders that Boulé was "not to assist any person in the United States with attempting to enter Canada illegally."

I hoped they made him build a fence.  It will be interesting how many people still walk across the border.

South Fraser Community Rail Group - interesting proposal

Plan to put hydrogen trains on interurban line from Surrey to Chilliwack picks up speed

Group pitching 99-kilometre, 90-minute route with 12 stops that they say would serve 1.2M people

While the Surrey to Langley SkyTrain extension is still very much in the early planning process, another group is pitching a passenger train linking Surrey with stations across the Fraser Valley.

The South Fraser Community Rail Group believes rapid transit could be built south of the Fraser River utilizing the existing interurban rail line that runs from Chilliwack to the Pattullo Bridge at a fraction of the cost of SkyTrain, or even the light-rail project that was scrapped last year.

The group believes using hydrogen power would save on the expense of electrifying the entire 99 kilometre network of track.

Rick Green, a former mayor of Township of Langley and spokesman for the South Fraser Community Rail Group, says the cars will be more expensive to buy but cheaper to run, producing nothing but water as emissions.

He believes all the pieces are in place — it’s just a matter of political will to get it done.

“We can build this thing for somewhere between $12.5 million and $14 million per kilometre. We can build the whole thing including rolling stock, construction, and road closures for around $1.3 billion,” he said.

“The line will be accessible to 1.2 million people, and it goes right by 14 post-secondary institutions and connects 16 communities.”

The old interurban line was operated until the 1950s by the B.C. Electric Railway. The government-owned tracks were sold off, but a provision in the sales contract still allows for the re-introduction of passenger traffic.

Patrick Condon, a UBC urban planner who has been studying the problem of transportation south of the Fraser, says his research suggests Surrey is not only set to become the province’s largest city, but the entire population south of the Fraser could swell to three million people by 2060.

“There are only two options: build reasonably dense housing around existing infrastructure, or continue to sprawl out and eat up all the farmland. We can’t continue to build more roads to ease congestion,” Condon said.

According to the experts, those who live south of the Fraser can’t continue to rely on getting around by car, but spending billions on SkyTrain technology isn’t the right solution either.

Green agrees, calling the SkyTrain down the Fraser Highway “insanity” and adding the $1.6 billion to get the train to Fleetwood seems excessive.

“It just makes so much sense,” he said when comparing his proposal.

Just announced by the Province of BC was the widening of Highway 1. Here is some information from Rick Green:

Widening Highway #1 will happen over time…. But it IS NOT the solution!

Mayors, past and present have promised Highway widening suggesting it was the answer? Two current examples - widening 202^nd to 216th and NOW 216^th to 264^th

• 13 kms at a total cost of $294 million (cost shared, Province, Feds and Township of Langley) started in 2017 due to finish in 2025 (8 Years).
• The distance between Langley and Chilliwack is 56 kms @ 3.25 kms per 2 years equates to finishing an extra lane (HOV) each way by 2051. (32 years)
• The exponential increase in growth and traffic will out strip the benefits of Highway widening by three times! We will be three times worse off than we are today!
• The above suggests that all Provincial, Federal and Municipal budgets align annually, planning started now and didn’t stop until finished. Estimated total cost of widening in 2018 dollars - $1.2 Billion! It will not solve our problem!
• NOTE: The Township of Langley has contributed $41,433,000 on the above two projects, so a precedent has been set, will Abbotsford and Chilliwack be willing to do the same, and when?

Norwegian Joy

If you watched the local news today, the NCL Joy came into Vancouver.  They said it was the largest ship to enter Vancouver harbour with only five feet at low tide between the ship and the Lions Gate Bridge.  As of today it is, but that record will be broken next month:

The Norwegian Joy is 167,725 gross tons, 3,804 passengers, 1,094 feet

Ovation of the Seas is 168,666 gross tons, 4,190 passengers. 1,142 feet

Vancouver is missing out on these large ships.  Our port is awesome to sail into as you dock right downtown at a fabulous cruise terminal.  We need to look at having another port that will allow these larger ships to come weekly.   Seattle has two ports and Paris and Rome ports are far from the cities.

Ovation of the Seas sailing into Vancouver on May 12th

4,190 passengers, 168,666 tons!

Ovation of the Seas will be the largest ship to enter Vancouver Harbour on Sunday, May 12th around 8 PM!  Cec and I are booked on the Ovation of the Seas, Vancouver to Hawaii sailing on September 17, 2020!  We booked early as we know how nice the ship is and how popular it will be.  We also go some nice early booking savings.  Let me know if you want to join us.  It's one way Vancouver to Honolulu.  The ship will then be heading for the South Pacific!

Here is a letter sent out by Royal Caribbean for the lucky people who booked Honolulu - Vancouver this year:

We have a change to share with you regarding our itinerary for your upcoming May 2nd, 2019 Ovation of the Seas cruise.

A new safety requirement has been put in place by local port authorities and marine pilots in Vancouver, British Columbia that limits when very large ships can sail under the Lions Gate Bridge. We will be the largest cruise ship to have ever navigated under this bridge, while impressive, it does end up changing our schedule.

Due to the tide and the need for very still waters, we only have a 35-minute window to sail under the bridge when there is no current. It's that precise! We have nautical scientists working on formulas to make sure we arrive at the perfect moment to clear the bridge. Consequently, our time in Victoria, British Columbia will be adjusted to 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and we'll arrive early into Vancouver, British Columbia at 8:00 PM instead. We are sorry about this last-minute change; however, your safety and comfort is our number one priority. Plus, we hope you'll take advantage of the additional time in Vancouver, especially that you'll be able to explore this magical city at night. 

I still can't figure out how it will take seven hours to get from Victoria to Vancouver!
Day            Port of Call                                                         
Thu      Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii                    Embark
Fri        Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii            Depart    5:00 PM
Sat       Cruising
Sat       Kilauea Volcano                                    9:00 PM    10:00 PM
Sun      Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii      Arrive             9:00 AM
Mon     Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii      Depart            5:00 PM
Tue      Cruising
Wed     Cruising
Thu      Cruising
Fri        Cruising
Sat       Cruising
Sun      Victoria, British Columbia  Arrive      9:00 AM  Depart 2:00 PM

Sun      Vancouver, British Columbia        Arrive approx. 8:00 PM
Mon     Vancouver, British Columbia Departure time not announced

A good laugh

Alaska Marine Pilots Concerned.....

We sailed on Royal Princess around the British Isles last August. 
Gorgeous ship!

From Travelpulse:

The Southeast Alaska Pilots Association (SEAPA) is concerned with how well one mega-cruise ship will be able to maneuver the state this season.

Marine pilots from the association tested the limits of four mega-ships – the Norwegian Bliss and its sister ship, Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas and Princess Cruises' Royal Princess – that will be visiting southeast Alaska through virtual reality.

While the Ovation of the Seas will be the largest ship to ever visit Alaska, the marine pilots were far more concerned with Royal Princess.

“Overall the simulations (for the Royal Princess) produced serious challenges in wind and current conditions common to Southeast Alaska,” the pilots wrote in a report.

Apparently, the Royal Princess doesn’t do well at low speeds especially with its standard propulsion system which uses propellers and rudders. Azipod propulsion is used in the three other ships.

Keir Moorhead, an engineer who teaches at California State University Maritime Academy explained, “With an Azipod-style propulsion, the propeller is actually on a pod below the ship, and what you can do is rotate that pod.”

“At any given moment, you can rotate a propeller 360 degrees to give you thrust in any direction,” Moorhead said, indicating that it allows big ships to maneuver in tight spots at lower speeds.

The SEAPA suggests that Royal Princess doesn’t attempt to pass through the Tongass Narrow, which is only 220-meters-wide, at more than 15 knots of wind (though there is a 7-knot speed limit for this area). With little room to maneuver through this pass to get to Ketchikan port, the cruise ship could have some trouble.

In response, Princess Cruises' vice president of fleet operations, Keith Taylor said, “While we appreciate SEAPA’s (Southeast Alaska Pilots Association) efforts to date, we believe the model they used to assess this ship requires further refinement. There are three Royal Class ships operating safely around the globe, in many challenging navigational areas.”

While it doesn’t appear that Princess Cruises is too concerned, hopefully, all goes well on Royal Princess' first visit to southeast Alaska on May 13.

Royal Princess will sail one round trip to Alaska from Vancouver in May and then starts 7 days northbound and 7 days southbound.  Most cruisers in Vancouver enjoy the round trip.  Just once, do a one way cruise and a land tour of Alaska.  You really don't get the feel of Alaska until you go into the interior.  You will see Mt. McKinley/Denali and fantastic scenery.  The views are amazing and the animals in Denali National Park are incredible!  From the port the train will take you to your destination.  An awesome trip!

Funny how some photos come out

These make me smile...Happy Easter Monday!

Brexit explained

Queen Elizabeth's response:

Price of gas in Vancouver!

It's down to 1.699 at the stations right by us!

We all complain about the price of gas/petrol.  We've been filling up in the US for years.  We live close to the border so it's not far out of our way.  Our $50 five year Nexus pass is one of the best investments we've made.  The price difference is just too much not to go south.  On Tuesday, before the Alberta election results were announced, I decided I would fill up.  I drive a large SUV that uses a lot of gas.  I still had a 1/4 tank but rain was coming and so was the long weekend.  I'm glad I didn't wait until Friday as the lineups at the border exceeded three hours and the Nexus line was blocked with travellers trying to get ahead in the Nexus lane.  This happens most long weekends but this was exceptionally bad.

On Tuesday I had nine people coming for dinner and I only had time after school to get gas.  I didn't go to Costco in Bellingham: their price was US$3.25 a US Gallon and it was US$3.59 in Blaine.  I put 52 litres (13.894 US gallons) in my tank.  The price on our Visa in Canadian Dollars was $68.00.  If I filled it up close to home I would have paid $1.699 a litre or $87.88.  That's almost $20 a tank, $1,000 a year or more I save by driving 15 kms out of my way!  I would have saved more, if I drove to Bellingham but you also have to factor in the cost of gas to travel 21 miles.  On a nice day it's an enjoyable drive.  Sometimes we have lunch in the US and Costco Bellingham has 36 gas pumps!  A lot of Canadians do the drive.

Here is breakdown of the taxes we pay as of April 4th:
GST         7.6
Carbon     8.8
Federal   10
Transit    17
BC Tax     9.6

We pay the highest price for fuel in North America!

UPDATE:  9:44 AM THE PRICE IS NOW $1.729 AT OUR CORNER!

Easter Shopping Ideas!

Red Hat lunch!

Yesterday our Red Hat group had a nice lunch at Garden Works/Mandeville Gardens in Burnaby. For over 50 years, Mandeville Gardens operated at Marine Drive and Nelson Ave.  It was founded by the Kuypers family. The family moved to BC in the late 1940’s, started market gardening and eventually grew bedding plants and established their garden centre. The garden centre has long been considered one of the premiere garden centres in British Columbia and had been owned and operated by Summer Winds Garden Centres from 1998 to 2005.

Gardenworks at Mandeville was acquired in January, 2005. The store was completely renovated in the early 1990’s to incorporate a much larger covered selling area for annuals and perennials, an attractive floral and gift area, and the first café in a garden centre in BC. The store is large, on a 4.5 acre site, with 60,000 sq. ft. of indoor selling space, and an additional 40,000 sq. ft. of selling space outside.  They offer children's birthday parties, many different events and workshops and a wonderful cafe!  We had our lunch at the cafe.

A great turnout!

Very unique kitchen items

Both Pat and I had a smoked salmon croussant!  It was delicious.

The orchids were gorgeous!

The colours of the flowers and the scent was incredible!

Lots of great plants!

Great to walk around and see all the greenery!

Queen Elizabeth's upcoming 93rd Birthday

At the 2019Commonwealth Day Service
That outfit would be awesome for a Red Hat tea!

THE QUEEN TURNS 93 APRIL 21

HOW TO SEND GREETINGS

Our Queen enjoys a number of "Official Birthday" dates - Victoria Day in Canada. But chronologically HM turns 93 on April 21.  We know many will want to send her greetings.  Here's how:

EITHER: Send your card or letter (no postage required - affix an airmail sticker) to: Her Majesty The Queen, Buckingham Palace, London SW1A 1AA,
United Kingdom. 

OR You can also address your card to 

The Queen c/o Rideau Hall, 1 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A1 - 

again postage-free. Our friends at Rideau Hall will forward it.

It's $2.65 to send a card to the UK so sending it postage free to Rideau Hall sounds like a wonderful idea!

Notre Dame, mon amour.

It was Janice that talked me into blogging.  Yesterday I didn't have the TV on and was on the computer.  I checked out Janice's blog.  I found out about the devastating fire at Notre Dame.  I've followed her blog for a long time and know how much she loves France.

This post is from Janice's Blog yesterday:

I first saw Notre Dame on our first trip to Paris in 1972 and immediately fell in love with this magnificent building. In my subsequent 11 visits to Paris it was pretty much the first thing I went to see. We almost always stayed in the Latin Quarter so were always passing it in our cummulative about 6 months in Paris. I'm glad we decided not to include Paris in our trip to France next year and decided to just leave our wonderful memories as they were. I would never want to go to Paris now without my beloved Notre Dame.

But a little about seeing Notre Dame for the first time. We arrived around midnight in Paris after taking the Hovercraft from Dover....many delays and a very stormy ride. We were concerned about our hotel being given up arriving so late. This was before the days of guarantee on a credit card. We had sent them a letter and they replied by mail. Our room in London had been given up but then we had a 45 hour delay flying but that's another story.

So we were pretty exhausted when we walked up from the Metro. Our stop was St. Michel which is almost where Notre Dame is. It was like arriving in a fantasy world...a warm wonderful Saturday night and everything we looked at was so amazing and the streets were full of people. Notre Dame was almost one of the first things we saw. We thought we'd head straight to bed but we ended up chatting in a café with some Parisians until 3am.. Well, Jim did most of the talking since my French was very limited at the time.

Everytime I saw Notre Dame was memorable but especially in 1987 when we were on a European trip with Richard who was 10 years old. Our friends from Poland were in Paris. In 1976, we met Marian, a professor of French at the University of Katowice, who invited us to visit his family in Poland before heading home and beginning our graduate studies at the University of Oregon. We were all taking courses in French in Cannes. We had preceded this university year with 6 months in Europe. We had both been teaching in Victoria for five years. We probably wouldn't have had Richard if we hadn't met this family so it was quite special to see them again and for them to meet Richard. They were of the Catholic faith so we all went to a service with them at Notre Dame the next day.

I wrote a story about this experience.
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3458295#editor/target=post;postID=3707693827103638566

It was a very special time and this memory becomes even more special to me now and helps with the grief I feel about my beloved Notre Dame.

I really wanted to capture Notre Dame in a painting but didn't have much hope of doing this since the subject isn't really that suitable for a naive art style. But the subject inspired me very much and I think I did capture the essence...the spire, the two bell towers, the flying buttresses. This painting has always had pride of place in our homes. It has even more meaning now.

My painting of Notre Dame de Paris
11 x 14 acrylic on paper
Painted in the south of France in 2003












Strange that I decided to post the link of Paris and its blossoms today. I was going to post this but decided it was bit too bleak and I do try to not be too bleak in my blog.

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3458295#editor/target=post;postID=755191233297018075;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=5;src=link

If you want to check out her other posts:

Janice's Blog

Red Hat Society

In 1988 a group of women who wanted to organize Red Hat Groups in the Greater Vancouver area, gathered at the Bayshore Inn.  Pat, my cousin Stephen's wife went and joined a group who called themselves "The Frisky Fillies".  In 2013 at their 25th anniversary lunch, I joined the Friskie Fillies.  Our group meets once a month for lunch at a restaurant that's easy to access as some of our members are getting up in years.  They are a lovely bunch of ladies and we always have a great time.

21 years ago The Red Hat International Social Organization was founded.  Our group decided not to join as it was a US group and we didn't need organizing.  However, the groups that did join could participate in international functions, hoots, conventions, cruises and lots of other activities.

I joined The International group so I could attend a "hoot" at Harrison Hot Springs. Yesterday, The Raging Red Hat Mama's part of the international organization who live in Richmond, organized this event to celebrate the 21st birthday of the Red Hat Society.  The venue was at Tsawwassen Springs Golf and Country Club.  Over 220 women from British Columbia, Washington, Alberta, Ontario and many other places came to celebrate with us.  The theme was British and the organization of the event was awesome!  They went to a lot of work and had some great entertainment.

The Red Hat Society has 70,000 members in 30 countries.

Two of the greeters, all dress in their red and purple

Hats for sale!

Tea cozies

The theme was British, so we had high tea

This lady had a tea pot purse!

The hats were amazing!

Queen Elizabeth was brought in with a Mountie!

William, Kate and George were a big hit!
George couldn't stop waving at the crowd and they loved it!

Mary's British Home Store in Steveston brought some of their goodies!

Julie from Chilliwack showing me some of her bling!
I sat beside Julie and found out she went to Killarney High School a year after I did.

Some ladies really dressed up.
The picture doesn't show how much her top sparkled.  She looked fabulous!

Just in case you are wondering what's planned, here are some of the events:

April 18
 Menopause the musical
 Clark theatre, Mission 7:30
 Tickets at ticketmaster

April 24
RedHat society 21st birthday
 Northwood golf and country club
 6857 168th st
 Bonnie Elliot 

April 24
  Spring extravaganza
  ***For queens and vice queens only***
  Tickets $27 US
  Farmhouse restaurant, MT Vernon, Washington
  Hosted by northwest queens council

April 25
 Birthday celebration
 ***sold out***
 11:30 till 2
 IHOP in Chilliwack $25
 Hosted by Upper Fraser Valley Queens Council
 Contact Mary Liz B

April 25
  Hoot hosted by Scarlett’s O Hatters
  South Hill Food Court, Puyallup, Washington
  $5 pre registration fee
 Contact Bobby H

May 2
 Cinco de mayo
 El Nopal, Sumas, Washington
 $26 US
 Hosted by Elizabeth W and Bev B

May 3 and 4
 Saskatchewan red hat convention
 Held in Regina
 $129

May 7
 Cruise to nowhere
 BC ferries
 $25 for buffet dinner
 Hosted by Mary Liz B

May 17
 Time to clean your closets
 Red hat sale
 Burlington, Washington
 Lynette E

June 2
  Tea celebrating June, life and red hatting
  Piccadilly Bistro, Naniamo 1:00
  $36.75
  Contact Marion H so she knows numbers


June 2
  Rendezvous in Paris
  Indian summer golf and country club
  Olympia, Washington
  $45. 10:30 TIL 3:00
 Hosted by Scarlett O Hatters of Lacey
  Contact Charlotte W
  Reserve by May 15

June 21 to 23
 Escape the madness convention
 Collingwood, Ontario
 Brenda M

July 17
 Teddy bear picnic
 Peace arch provincial park
 $3.00
 Shirley B

August international convention
 Nashville,
 Red hat society contact

August 29
 Sunflower hoot
 Chilliwack sunflower festival
 Meet and greet at 2pm

September 14
 Fairhaven crab cruise
 $65 US
 Janet C

September 19
 Talk like a pirate day
 ****sold our****
 $27
 Old spaghetti factory, Abbotsford
 Elizabeth W

December 12
 Project runway holiday Inn theme
 $50 US
 Silver reef, Ferndale
 Bonnie H

2020

Sept 11 to 13 2020
 Winnipeg Convention
 $225
 Joy B