Our First Anniversary Luncheon

On Wednesday, February 21, 2007 the San Miguel Red Hatters celebrated their first anniversary with a fabulous luncheon at the gorgeous home of Red Hatter, Barbara Porter. Twenty one ladies showed up for a lovely buffet and plenty of wine and Margaritas. Barbara was her usual charming self, making sure everyone was having a good time and enjoying her casa. Her doting parrot, Trina, sat lovingly on her shoulder throughout the afternoon. We were invited to tour Barbara's interesting home and see her many pictures and works of art.


The catered buffet was delicious and the tables, flowers and decorations made for wonderful ambiance. The weather was perfect - clear blue skies and warm temperatures - wonderful for dining in Barbara's beautiful garden.



We were delighted to have many new members join us today - a great start to our second year. Here are a few pictures of the day.

Our First Outing - Queretaro

Our very organized members, Beverly R. and Carol O. planned our first outing: A Tour of Queretaro. Eleven Red Hatters signed up and met at the bus station in San Miguel for our ride to Queretaro. Beverly made sure that the bus dropped us off at a convenient place to catch 3 taxis to the Historic Center. The cab driver of the cab I rode in was very interested to know what we were all about. We explained - he was delighted and smiled all the way - a very nice man.

When we arrived at the plaza we split up and walked around - some of us stopped at Harry's and had coffee, others strolled around the plaza. At the appropriate time we all met at the Tour Trolley for our tour around the historic center. It was bi-lingual and our tour guide was a charming young man who was fluent in English. We had a stop at the Cerro de las Campanas - a lovely, clean park where Maximillian had been executed. After the tour, we walked to the charming Hotel Rosa where Beverly and Carol had made reservations for our group. We had a delicious lunch and a lot of laughs. From the hotel we piled into cabs for the trip to the Queretaro bus station and back to San Miguel. A good time was had by all thanks to Carol and Beverly's great pre-planning. Here are a few pictures.

Queen Jeannie Meets Santa Fe Red Hats

Queens Jeannie & Carol in Santa Fe

I just returned from a very pleasant lunch at the Hotel Santa Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico with a lovely group of about 20 ladies from the Santa Fe Red Hats. Their Queen Mum Carol and I had been in touch by email since before my trip to Santa Fe. I went to the Red Hat Society web site and looked up Santa Fe to see if there were any chapters there. Carol responded and invited me to their lunch today. They are a very active group of about 30 members. They meet for lunch once a month at this hotel. They decided to go the same place every month because the hotel is very accomodating in that they give a set price that includes lunch 4 or 5 choices, beverage, tax and tip. The queen passes an envelope around the table and everyone deposits their $12. Parking is easy there and is a good location for everyone. In addition to their regular lunch, they have a book/movie club that gets together once a month at someone's home. One month they will discuss a book that is chosen in advance and the next month they will discuss a movie. Their next book club will discuss Al Gore's movie about global warming.

Another activity they have is a monthly poker game - usually Texas Hold 'em. Occasionally they will have a special event - in October they are having a PJ party at one of the member's home. Everyone will have to wear purple PJ's and in the morning, they are actually going to go out to breakfast in their purple PJ's. That will be a sight!

So - if you plan on traveling somewhere, check out the Red Hat Society web site and find a Red Hat chapter at your destination - take along your red hat and have fun!

Red Hat Fourth of July

On the 4th of July, Cele & Curt Hahn hosted a picnic at their lovely home in the countryside near San Miguel Viejo. For this special occasion, spouses were invited. Cele had a lovely selection of munchables and then Curt grilled delicious hamburgers with all the trimmings. A fabulous time was had by all.

Red Hatters Go To Pozos

On June 13th, eight San Miguel Red Hatters in full regalia piled into two cars and headed to Pozos and the Posada Las Minas, a lovely boutique hotel owned and managed by Julie and David Winslow. Julie and David purchased a large ruin and magically converted it into this lovely hotel. Upon our arrival, Julie gave us a complete tour of the hotel. Each room is more beautiful than the next. The decorating details were exquisite.


Julie joined us for a delightful, relaxing and delicious lunch in the main courtyard under sunny skies. We all agreed that the food was excellent and of the highest quality. We managed to while away the afternoon and were surprised to see that it was nearly 5:00 when we headed back to San Miguel. A good time was had by all.

Members of the San Miguel Red Hatters

Well - Here we are: Some of our original members.

Queen Mum Jeannie

Vice Queen Mum Donna F.

Lucille K.

Barbara P.

Cindy S.

Cele H

Yolanda Q.

Carol O.

Janice N.

Betty D.

The Founding of the San Miguel Red Hatters

By: Queen Jeannie

A friend of mine in Galveston, Texas is an active member of a Red Hat Society chapter there. She filled me in on all the fun times they have had and I thought it might be interesting to start a chapter in San Miguel. During coffee one morning with Beverly and Donna, I discussed the idea with them and they said, "Let's do it". I went home and got on the Internet to find out more about the Red Hat Society and how to start an official chapter. On their official web site I found all the information we needed and the San Miguel Red Hatters was founded - just like that! The three of us all threw some names into a hat and drew friends to invite to join us. We decided to limit the group size to no more than 20.


Since I started the chapter, the job of queen fell to me. Donna was the VICE queen and Beverly the Countess of Coins. We were on our way and nearly everyone we asked became a member of our little chapter. We held our first get together at my home the end of February 2006. Everyone did the best they could to come up with purple outfits and red hats for the occasion. Since shopping for this kind of clothing isn't all that easy locally, we still had some work to do in the coming months towards acquiring our "full regalia". However, I think we all looked pretty classy!