NEWS from the SOUTH
Queen Lisa of the Queentessential of Adelaide has recently returned home having spent a wonderful five weeks in Seattle visiting her daughter Jenni and new little grand-daughter Siena who was born in May.
The Pacific North West Red Hatters gave Lisa a wonderful lunch in her honour at the famous Ivars seafood restaurant on the Seattle waterfront which included Redhatters from Vancouver Canada, Portland Oregon, Alaska and Sacramento California.
Q Lisa relays: “Most of the ladies I already knew from the RHS Queen Member Board chat site. My friend Heather from Toronto Canada, who some may remember from the Aussie Convention in Perth, wanted desperately to come but was unable to find a suitable flight.
Jenni, Siena and I also attended a baby shower for Siena put on by The Frankly Scarlets of Chittenden Locks chapter. These ladies adopted Jenni as an honorary Pink Hatter when she moved back to Seattle two years ago to be an early morning Traffic Anchor on a local TV station.
It was overwhelming and quite humbling, the effort these women put in to making this Red Hat sister from the other side of the world feel welcome. My Thanks was extended to the ladies for their kindness and generosity.”
News comes from Stephanie of the Ladybirds of Ballarat who recently attended a High Tea at the Cup Cake Cafe in Buninyong. On arrival the cafe board displayed a quote reading "Life's Short, Eat Dessert First!" and the table settings were absolutely stunning with the 3 layer cake stands filled with beautifully presented food. The glasses held great red hat serviettes and some of the petite fortes had lovely red hat pins that stood in the little choc/raspberry cup cakes.
“Once seated we were served with a glass of beautifully chilled sparkling grape juice to accompany the various flavoured club sandwiches along with the cold mini pastries as well as hot ones. The flavours that evolved from these were amazing and most enjoyable. The waitresses then took our preferences for hot drinks and those who chose tea were served individual pots of their choice.
As everyone began finishing their food and drinks, Queen Glorianna asked the chapter's two newest members to come forward to be dubbed and choose their Royal Title to officially be members of the Ballarat Ladybirds.
Once the official duties were completed we were invited to make our way into the gift shop that adjoined the cafe to browse the beautiful stock that was on display.
All in all it was a superb day, with not only good company to sit with, chat to, and enjoy all aspects of a wonderful afternoon. The entire day was immensely enjoyed by all as well as everyone being very impressed with the extra little touches that the cafe proprietor added to make our Red Hatters event extra special to which she was presented with a signed Certificate of Appreciation from the Chapter."
“Honorary" Queen Patrushka (Trish) has formed a new group in the south west region of Victoria at Casterton. "The Violet Femmes" will hold their first get together for High Tea at the Albion Hotel in Casterton on 4th September at 2.30 pm.
Newcomers of red and pink hatters are invited. Cost: $12.50 RSVP to Trish on 0355812467 violet_femmes@netspace.net.au
Some of the members of the RHIPGOGDU group of Tea Gully SA were part of the support during the Launch of the local Community Lottery with John Jodie and Snowie. Queen Bee Maureen gathered the ladies to have a photo shoot with John of Mix 102.3 and other officials. Some of the ladies would return for the drawing ceremony to be held at Westfield Tea Tree Plaza.
We love to hear about the activities of Aust Red Hatters be it Red hatting related, or at times doing other things relevant to our sense of good living. Following an all-group email out to queens around the states recently to ascertain current contact details and also an attempt to find out just how many ladies there are that are out and about enjoying Red hat friendships, news came back about what some ladies have been doing outside of their red hat activities. Such was an email from Gypsy Queen Marguerita of the Merry Madams of Melbourne who was indulging in some R&R on the Sunshine Coast after working for almost four weeks on two different outback stations both 100+ kms north of Charleville, QLD. Marguerita relayed her stories of her adventure.
“I have had an amazing experience for this city slicker. I drove to Charleville and took up the placements that are coordinated by Frontier Services, an offshoot of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. They are fantastic people there. With the whole of the south and central-west of Queensland recently being affected by the recent floods, there is lots of work for all the building services, farm work, and teaching/home-schooling.
My first job was in a very run down homestead at Noella Station, where I was placed for three weeks to home-school a reluctant 12 year old Matthew. I was just able to help the boy catch up on one unit. He and his parents had had to leave the station before being flooded out so was much behind in his studies.
The property covers over 75,000 hectares of sheep and cattle grazing country that recently received lots of dam-filling rain. The property is owned by a consortium of men in China and managed by two Chinese men who live on the property in a reasonably modern house. The Chinese men do very little and spend most of their time in their house, as one of them has said, they have soft hands and can’t stay out in the hot sun for long periods.
Employees Greg and Angelique (Ang) works on the property, Greg for a five-day week and Ang as required. In reality Greg runs the place on his own with Ang and son, Matthew, helping out when an extra hand is needed. Ang receives payment for her time, but Matt does not They are real Aussie battlers. At the time of my placement Greg was owed 68 days in lieu of the extra days he had worked, including the last 24 days without a break - some of which were spent sleeping rough when he was bringing cattle back from agistment elsewhere. Little wonder that he developed a bad bout of pneumonia that forced him to rest for ten days, but only after all the cattle had been settled in their proper pastures, the calves separated from their mothers and crutched, branded and immunised. It’s hard work.
When there’s action at the station Matt misses out on his schooling as he’s needed outside. I could have been at a loose end but there was plenty for me to do inside the house. I became chief cook and bottle-washer cum roustabout, doing whatever I could to relieve Ang from some of her many chores. Whenever possible I tried to make up for time lost by doing some schoolwork with Matt at the weekends. It was an uphill battle but we managed to complete four weeks’ work in three weeks.
In my spare time I was often assisting Matt in looking after his much-loved chooks, or being driven by him in an old Ford Falcon to check on his yabbies. At other times I was the holder of the bucket with yabbies ready to put on a hook to cast into the dam trying to catch a fish that would be thrown back in! Matt’s a real character.
At the busiest time of my second week Greg and Ang received a surprise call from Frontier Services offering help from a passing retired dairy farmer looking for work with cattle. It truly was a gift from God and I don’t know how they would have managed without this man who put in three days on horseback with Matt separating and mustering the cattle, while Greg led the way on his motor-bike. A friend of Ang’s was also visiting and did her bit as well riding a quad-bike. Both were helping out of love. This meant that the Chinese had the assistance of three unpaid workers. The Chinese are only concerned with how much they can make from giving little.
While the homestead is in a terribly run-down condition with unacceptable plumbing, ventilation and electrical wiring, I never felt lonely, depressed or uncomfortable. I believe it‘s the people that make a home and I always felt valued and included. I have wonderful memories of those three weeks, of glorious sunsets, of shared conversations late at night with Ang, or with Matt at any old time, and feel privileged to have been accepted as part of their family.
My second placement was dramatically different and was at the other end of the spectrum - a wealthy property where I helped a young mum tend a very large garden (over 40 roses) and mind an hefty but gorgeous 18 month old toddler!
After completing my services I took a tiring two-day drive from Charleville to the Sunshine Coast as mind and body were both in need of rest and what better place than there. I really loved it all and will offer my services again next year. The staff at Frontier Services (Outback Links) office in Charleville are extremely supportive.
In my absence the Merry Madams of Melbourne kept things happening, thanks to some committed madams who organised activities until my return."