"...and wear a hat...."

Yesterday afternoon, our friends J and J up the road sent a text message to everyone on this side of our hill, which is about six people. The message said:  "Come to our house tonight at 6:00-- wear outdoor clothes and comfy shoes, and wear a hat."

Within seconds, two of the neighbors sent a text right back saying  "I'll be there."

Me, on the other hand, looked at that note asking us to wear outdoor clothes and a hat and my country-antenna went up. "Outdoor clothes" means old clothes that you would wear to do gardening.  Ditto for comfy shoes. As for the hat-- would we be walking through the woods and have to watch out for spiders? Would we all be trekking through the woods and have to worry about vultures and hawks pooping on our heads?

I called up J...... "Why do we have to wear outdoor clothes and a hat? Are you taking us on a tour of your back pasture?"   It's a surprise, she told me.   I said we'd be there, but I'd be wearing my highest heels and no hat.  My plan was if I had on very high heels, there would be no way I'd be able to walk in a pasture or in the woods. I would stay up on their porch, ready to call the sheriff if they all didn't come back out of the trees within a reasonable amount of time.

During the afternoon, my husband and I kept trying to guess what J's surprise was... did they get a new puppy and they wanted all the neighbors to come and meet the new baby?  Were their blueberry bushes bursting forth with fruit and they wanted us to pick as many berries as we could eat?  Did they want us to help them pull up weeds in their flowerbeds?  Had they planted new trees and wanted us to see the beginnings of a fledgling forest?

As we were getting ready to drive up the hill to J and J's yesterday, I changed my mind.  Wearing my highest heels would have me sinking into the gravel of their driveway before I even got to the front door. So I did wear comfy shoes, but not my outside gardening shoes.  And my idea of 'outdoor clothes' is a pair of white capris and a pretty shirt that has pearls sewn around the neck.  As for the hat.... I don't have outdoor gardening hats, but I do have a flowered, feathered and be-ribboned tea party hat, and that's what I wore.

At a few minutes to six o'clock, my husband and I were ready to leave. He looked at me in my flowered hat and said "Are you really wearing that up there?"  I told him that if my hat was good enough for a tea party, then it was good enough for J's surprise.  Had we not just been driving further up the hill here, my husband might have told me to take my own car so he wouldn't have to be seen driving with me and that hat.

And the surprise at J and J's....... they had set up a croquet set in their back yard, in the smooth part of their lawn just outside their back porch.  The comfy shoes and outdoor clothes made sense after all. As for the hats.... when we were all watching "Downton Abbey" a couple of months ago, they all wore hats when they were playing croquet on their manicured and perfect lawn.  (I looked around but didn't see Carson and Mrs. Hughes, so I was guessing we'd be on our own for dessert and iced tea.)

We all had a nice time..... a game of croquet on the lawn (not an ant hill in sight).... then cake and fruit salad afterwards on their porch.  I guess I'll have to look for another hat.... one with less flowers and less feathers and rhinestones..... the ribbons kept fluttering in the breeze and getting in my eyes.

I know that I will be telling this story to my cousin F up in New York.  And her reply will be something like this....... "All of you are living in a bubble down there... protected from reality and the six o'clock news."

Yes, we are.  And isn't it grand?