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🪶 Letter from the Editor

There's a sound that comes once a year, right around now. It's the sound of chairs being dragged across porches. Of folding tables being unloaded from truck beds. Of church ladies calling to ask if you need an extra casserole dish. Of someone, somewhere in the Hill Country, lighting the first chuck wagon fire of spring.

That sound says: we're ready. We're gathering.

This week, Easter lands on Sunday. The wildflowers are going crazy — Wildseed Farms' whole festival runs through April 12. The Mason Arts & Wine Festival is Saturday. The Junction Easter Pageant hits its 75th anniversary Saturday at sunset. The weather is right. The timing is right. Everything conspires to pull us outside, to set the table, to remember that this is what we do here. We feed people. We gather them in. We make space.

You know Q1 was different. Those first twelve weeks, we sat with the harder questions. We looked inward. We asked what was changing — the population numbers, the business landscape, the pace of life itself. That was necessary work. Contemplative work.

But something shifted last week. I felt it in the April Business Circle data we released yesterday — when you look at the real numbers, what becomes clear isn't despair. It's clarity. The operators and families staying in the Hill Country aren't here by accident. You're here on purpose. And right now, in spring, that purpose is visible. It's in the wildflower tourists booking your restaurants. It's in the weekend crowds at the farmers market. It's in the families driving three hours to eat brisket at the fire and sit under the oaks.

Q2 is supposed to feel different than Q1. Alive. Moving. Here's what I think that means: it's time to set the table like we mean it. Not timidly. Not apologetically. With the confidence of people who know how to do this — who have the recipes, the recipes' grandmothers, the land, the timber, the skill, the love.

This edition is about the gathering itself. The ritual. The way we do it here — and why it matters, especially now.

Welcome to the second quarter. The table is set. Pull up a chair.

— Katie Milton Jordan
Editor, The Townie
📬 [email protected] // 📞 325-475-499

The Two Insights Your Business Needs Right Now

Running a business in this region has never been simple — but right now, it’s especially easy to misread the signals.

Some things are working better than they look. Other things feel “fine” right up until they aren’t. Based on what we’re seeing across shops, services, ranch-adjacent businesses, and Main Street operations, here are two insights worth sitting with this week.

Insight #1: Seasonal Staffing: Hiring Before You Need To

Here's what you already know: spring is coming, the tourists are coming, and you're short-handed. You've known this for six weeks. The mistake is thinking there's still time to find good people before the rush hits.

There isn't.

In rural labor markets — especially in the Hill Country — the hiring window closes fast. The people who would be great servers, kitchen hands, retail associates, ranch workers? They're already hired by someone else. They took the first decent offer. By the time you post your help-wanted sign on Facebook, you're competing with five other businesses doing the exact same thing, and your candidate pool is whoever's left.

The instinct to hire "before you need to" isn't overcorrection. It's the only sensible move.

Here's the reframe: you're not hiring early. You're hiring at the right time. You're hiring in season. Spring is your hiring season — not because you're desperate, but because that's when good people are available, when the weather is right for onboarding, when you have time to train before things get insane in June.

Two things to do this week:

One: Call your most reliable past employees — the ones who left seasonally, the ones who moved away but come home for summer, the ones you'd rehire in a heartbeat. Tell them you're staffing up. Make them an offer they remember. Personal relationships are your edge in a small labor market.

Two: Post your openings now, but reframe the timeline. Don't say "start immediately." Say "start April 20" or "start May 1." This gives someone time to wrap up a current job, wrap their head around the commitment, and come ready rather than scattered.

The best operators in the Hill Country aren't the ones scrambling in May. They're the ones who knew in March that April was the month to hire.

Insight #2: Pricing for Peak Season — What the Spring Rush Actually Costs

This is the week your guilt starts. You've got tourists coming, festival crowds, Easter families driving in from Austin and San Antonio, and suddenly you have options. You could charge more. You could raise prices 20%, 30%, even 50% for the next eight weeks, and the market would bear it. People would still come.

And you probably won't do it. Because charging more feels like gouging.

Let's talk about what the spring rush actually costs.

If you run a restaurant: you need extra staff (see above). You're running equipment longer, burning more electricity, gas, propane. You're buying more inventory faster, which means logistics costs, potential waste, time managing the chaos. You're probably paying overtime. You might be paying your farmer for produce at premium prices because demand is up. You're washing dishes faster, replacing them faster, running the whole place at 150% capacity — which wears things out.

If you run a lodging business: spring cleaning, peak linens laundry, faster turnover on rooms means more cleaning costs. You might hire temporary housekeeping. You're restocking more often. Your utility costs per guest-night actually go up.

If you run any retail or service operation: same story. Everything costs more to deliver at scale. The myth is that busy season = pure profit. The reality is that busy season = higher margins on higher volume, but the per-unit cost of delivery goes up.

Here's the question nobody asks: if you had to tell the truth about what it costs to serve 300 people instead of 100 in a week, what would you charge?

Charge that.

Peak season pricing isn't gouging. It's honest accounting. It's sustainability. It's the difference between a profitable spring that funds the lean months, and a chaotic spring that leaves you burned out and broke. And — this matters — it's the difference between hiring carefully and burning out your staff by September.

The operators who thrive in the Hill Country aren't the ones who offer the cheapest spring special. They're the ones who do good work at honest prices and keep showing up year after year, because the business works. Because it sustains them and their team.

You're allowed to be one of them.

A Small Townie Takeaway

When you set a table — really set it, with intention — you're making a promise. I had time. I thought of you. I prepared something for you. That promise is expensive. It takes labor, care, and real resources. Honoring that work by pricing it fairly? That's not greed. That's respect. For your work. For your people. For the privilege of feeding and serving your community.

📬 The April Business Circle just dropped. This month: the real population numbers for our five-county region, what declining population actually costs your business (I did the math), and a new interactive tool — Your Ecosystem Purpose Map. If you own a business in the Hill Country, this one's worth your time. $10/month. [Join the Business Circle →]

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🌾 Fresh off the Porch

What's Happening — Your Hill Country Calendar

This Weekend (April 4–5)

Easter Fires of Fredericksburg Pageant — Saturday at dusk, Gillespie County Fairgrounds. The beloved living-history pageant retelling the 1847 Meusebach-Comanche Treaty legend celebrates another year. Cast of hundreds, fires lit on the surrounding hills. Tickets: $15 box seats, $10 adults, $2 ages 6–12, under 6 free.

Junction Easter Sunset Pageant — 75th Anniversary — Saturday at sunset, Lovers Leap Amphitheater, FM 2169 at Cedar Creek Road. The Men's Bible Class presents the annual outdoor reenactment of the crucifixion and resurrection. Free admission. Boy Scouts assist with parking.

48th Annual Llano Fiddle Fest — Saturday 8:30 AM–10:30 PM, John L. Kuykendall Events Center. Open fiddle contest (all ages), air fiddle contest, and evening concert featuring Kelly Spinks & Miles of Texas. VIP $30 / GA $20.

Spring Art & Wine Fest — Saturday on the Historic Downtown Mason Square. Fine art by local and regional artisans, Hill Country wines, live music. Info: (325) 347-0230.

Wildseed Farms Wildflower Celebration — Through April 12, Fredericksburg. 200 acres of blooms at the nation's largest working wildflower farm. Butterfly gardens, nursery, Brewbonnet Biergarten.

Coming Up

Sadie's Treasures Ribbon Cutting — Monday, April 7, 5:15–6:15 PM, 407 E. Young St, Llano. Llano Chamber Business After Hours. Welcome a new business to the square.

Hill Country Master Gardeners Blooms & Barrels Sale — Saturday, April 11, 9 AM–noon, Fredericksburg area.

Burnet Bluebonnet Festival — April 10–12, Burnet. Parade, live music, vendors, food, carnival rides.

Llano Crawfish Open — April 17–18, Robinson Park, Llano. 22,500+ lbs of crawfish, charity golf tournament, 5K Crawfish Crawler, arts & crafts, BBQ, live music. This one's a big deal.

Luckenbach 5th Annual Bluegrass Festival — April 17–18. Yonder Mountain String Band, Volume Five, Shelby Means Trio & The Fretliners. Pets on leash welcome.

Fredericksburg Trade Days — April 17–19, 9 AM–6 PM. One of the largest monthly outdoor markets in the Hill Country.

Mason County City-Wide Garage Sale — Saturday, April 18. Official map from the Chamber the day before at noon. $10 registration. Confirm with Chamber: (325) 347-5758.

Outdoor Women Gone Wild — Saturday, April 18, Junction. Archery, bird watching, fly fishing, shooting, outdoor photography, self-defense, mosaic cross making, team wagon driving, and more.

Fredericksburg VFD Fish Fry Fundraiser — Saturday, April 18, 5–8 PM, Marktplatz. Support your volunteer firefighters.

Lukas Nelson at Luckenbach — Friday, April 24, 8 PM.

Becker Vineyards 27th Annual Lavender Festival — April 25–26, Stonewall. Lavender vendor market, live music, food, crafts.

Menard Farmers Market Season Opening — Friday, April 24, Menard. Vendors welcome.

Mark Your Calendar: Castell Testicle Festival (May 16), Llano Memorial Weekend Classic Car Show (May 23–25), Stonewall Peach JAMboree (June 18–20), Menard River Rat Fest with Pat Green & Cory Morrow (June 13).

Llano Farmers & Crafters Market runs 1st & 3rd Saturdays. Llano Junk in the Trunk runs 4th Saturdays.

Community Highlights

Six Hill Country school districts launched a joint career pipeline program connecting students with regional employers and apprenticeships in agriculture, healthcare, tourism, and trades. The goal: show young people there's a viable path right here.

The Women Ranchers of the Hill Country formed a grassroots support network — 34 women managing approximately 85,000 acres, meeting monthly to share knowledge and strategies. Something worth watching.

A Hill Country cattle producer earned a State Ag Innovation Award from the Texas Farm Bureau for rotational grazing practices that improved productivity 23% while cutting input costs.

The Menard County Library launched a free maker space — 3D printers, woodworking tools, design software — supported by a $75,000 state grant. Drawing students, entrepreneurs, and hobbyists from across the region.

Regional broadband expansion hit 87% rural coverage across all six counties. Mason County phase 2 launches April 15. Service up to 1 Gbps at $79–$129/month with early adoption discount.

Hill Country Weather — April 1–15

Expect above-normal temps this stretch — daytime highs in the 80–86°F range, overnights 55–62°F. We may see scattered showers early April (light), with a possible weekend shower system April 11–13 that could bring 0.2–0.8 inches depending on placement. Isolated strong thunderstorms possible that weekend — wind is the primary threat. Frost risk is minimal after April 5. Wildfire danger remains elevated; burn bans are active in all six counties. Lake Buchanan is at 94% (good shape), but LCRA is monitoring weekly — February inflows came in at just 18% of historical average. Sun protection essential. Cedar and oak allergies elevated.

Rural Policy & Funding Watch

Water legislation moving: Senate Bills 4 & 7 (water rights reform) and House Bill 156 (ag property tax exemption expansion) are in committee. Floor votes likely May/June. These directly impact rural property values and operational costs.

USDA extended the Livestock Forage Disaster Program through June 30, 2026, supporting producers affected by ongoing drought. Apply through your county FSA office by June 15. Reimbursement covers 70–90% of livestock feed replacement costs.

New drought contingency rules are live: LCRA and Hill Country water authorities rolled out a tiered system. We're at Stage 1 (5% voluntary reduction). Stage 2 kicks in if Lake Buchanan drops below 85% — that means mandatory 10% cuts and weekly usage reporting for ag producers. Fines: $250/day per violation.

TPWD opened FY2027 habitat restoration grants — $500K to $1.5M awards, rolling applications starting April 1. Priority areas: water quality, native grassland, wildlife corridors. Ag producers eligible for working lands conservation.

Mason County Extension launched a free spring rangeland health workshop series (April–June). First session: Saturday, April 5. Topics: rotational grazing, brush control, drought-resilient species. Show up.

COVID-era USDA loan forgiveness ended March 31. If you didn't apply, that window is closed. Standard programs at normal rates going forward.

Legislative seniority watch: Multiple veteran rural legislators are retiring — Sen. Robert Nichols, Reps. Phelan, VanDeaver — creating a seniority vacuum that could weaken rural clout on water rights, property taxes, and public education funding.

Economic & Small Business Intel

Tourism and hospitality hiring is ramping up hard for summer. Average wage in Gillespie/Llano hotels: $18–$22/hr. Businesses across the region are struggling to find 40+ workers for peak season (May–September). Smaller cow-calf operations (under 200 head) represent a shrinking share of county economics; equipment shortages persist, with used tractors selling above list value. Main Street recovery is uneven — boutique and artisan shops thriving, fast food robust, everything in between mixed. New residential construction in the Fredericksburg area (retirees, remote workers) is driving demand for skilled trades at $25–$45/hr. Three new ag-tech startups launched by Hill Country residents in Blanco and Llano, backed by a regional angel investor network. On the other side: a historic 70-year-old restaurant in Brady closed due to generational transition. Building available for lease.

Agriculture & Livestock Notes

Drought persists. 18.2 million Texans are in drought areas. February was the 19th driest on record. The Hill Country ranges D0 to D2 (Abnormally Dry to Severe Drought). La Niña is transitioning to ENSO-neutral, but outlook favors above-normal temps and below-normal precipitation through spring.

🔴 All six counties are under active burn bans. Mason (90-day ban since March 14), McCulloch (since January 12), Gillespie (since February 2), Kimble, Llano, and Menard all active. Wildfire response is trending 136% above normal.

🚨 Screwworm Alert: New World Screwworm has been detected in northern Mexico — less than 200 miles from the Texas border. Governor Abbott issued a statewide disaster declaration January 29. USDA is dispersing 100 million sterile flies per week and opened a new facility in Edinburg. Not yet detected in Texas, but producers should monitor for draining wounds, larvae in wounds, and excessive scratching. The U.S.-Mexico border closure to live cattle is contributing to historically tight supply and elevated prices.

Pasture and range conditions: Very poor to fair across Central/West Texas. 58% of state pasture rated very poor/poor. Supplemental feeding running heavy. Spring green-up awaited but hindered by dry conditions.

Herd numbers: U.S. beef cattle herd at a 75-year low. Texas beef cow numbers dipped ~30,000 head, but producers held back 50,000 more heifers — an early signal of slow herd rebuild. Bred-heifer values reaching $4,000–$5,000.

Market Snapshot

Fed Cattle: Negotiated cash (TX Panhandle, live) at $234–$236/cwt. Choice boxed beef cutout: $399.13. Post-Easter period historically strong for beef demand. Carcass weights at 966 lbs, 47 lbs heavier year-over-year.

Feeder Cattle (San Angelo, 3/23): 500–600 lb steers $412–$489/cwt; 600–700 lb $422–$440; 700–800 lb $347–$390. Producers Livestock (3/26, 609 head): steers at 328 lb bringing $625/cwt, heifers at 412 lb bringing $525.

Sheep & Goat (San Angelo, 3/24, 6,004 head): Slaughter lambs $3.50–$4.08/lb. Kid goats $3.50–$5.00/lb. Trend: lambs $20–$30 lower, kid goats $15–$25 lower vs. prior week.

Hay: Central TX Bermuda (good, large round) $50–$55/bale FOB. Prices steady with tight supply and strong demand.

Pecans: In-shell $2–$3/lb, shelled ~$4/lb. Terminal market steady.

Grant Watch

⚠️ CLOSING SOON: USDA Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) — Deadline April 15, 2026, 1:00 PM ET. For agricultural producers entering value-added activities. 1:1 matching required. If you've been thinking about this, the clock is ticking.

Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country — Community Impact Fund — Deadline June 23. Open to 501(c)(3) nonprofits in Bandera, Blanco, Edwards, Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr, Kimble, Mason, Real, or Uvalde counties. Covers arts & culture, basic needs, environment, workforce development, youth.

USDA Rural Economic Development Loan & Grant — Next deadline June 30. Grants up to $300K (revolving loan fund), loans up to $1M (zero-interest). For communities under 50,000 pop.

TPWD Local Park Grants — Application deadline August 1. 50% matching for cities, counties, special districts. January 2026 cycle awarded a record $21.2M.

USDA Rural Business Development Grants — Rolling applications. No maximum, no cost-sharing. Open to public bodies and nonprofits serving areas under 50,000 pop. Uses: feasibility studies, business incubators, training, equipment.

More opportunities: texasruralfunders.org/grant/

Tourism Pulse

Bluebonnet season is "moderate" and patchy this year — dry fall and warm winter reduced germination. Peak bloom: early April. Willow City Loop near Fredericksburg remains the iconic 13-mile drive, but managed locations (Wildseed Farms, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center) may have more reliable blooms than roadsides. Carolina jessamine is the 2026 Wildflower of the Year.

Fredericksburg is positioned for a record 2026. Visitor spending hit $190.4 million in 2024 (supporting 1,200 jobs). Named "Most Welcoming City in 2026" by Booking.com. Featured in Southern Living's 2026 South's Best Awards, and the 2026 Idea House will be located there. Spring is peak season: wildflowers + Wine Road 290 + Enchanted Rock. The new Albert Hotel (109 rooms) adds lodging capacity. Emerging concern worth watching: "overtourism" — Fredericksburg and Wimberley described as "gridlocked" during peaks.

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📖 FEATURED STORY

Easter Tables & Pit Fires: How We Gather in the Hill Country

You can smell it from the highway. That particular smoke — oak wood, brisket, the ghost of a hundred breakfasts cooked over open flames. It's April, it's early morning, and somewhere in the Hill Country, someone has fired up the pit.

This is the gathering season. The table is set. And to understand what it means to live here, you have to understand the ritual.

Easter in the Hill Country isn't one day. It's a week of preparation that starts in kitchens, spreads to church basements, spills out onto the courthouse lawn and into the state park picnic areas. It's a rhythm that runs through the soil here — German and Czech families bringing their Easter traditions, mixed with ranching culture, mixed with the particular generosity of people who live far from everything and have learned that you don't let anyone be alone.

The casserole dish is the artifact. Every Easter, in every church in Blanco County, Llano County, Gillespie County, you see them: the same Pyrex dishes, the same glass lids, generation after generation. Someone's grandmother brought that dish. Someone brought something in it. Now someone brings something in the same dish. The recipe changes. The dish remains. That's not sentimentality — that's infrastructure. In a rural community facing down population loss and economic pressure, the dish is the proof that we were here. That we fed each other. That we showed up.

But the gathering isn't really about the Easter eggs or the decorated ham or even the wildflower arrangements — though Lord knows we do those beautifully here. The gathering is about the work of it. The ritual of preparation. The knowledge that when you set a table here, you're participating in something much older than yourself.

Listen to what it sounds like: Thursday afternoon, a woman pulls folding chairs from the garage. The metal scrapes against concrete. Her neighbor hears it and comes over with her own chairs — she knows what's coming. They stack them in the truck bed. By Friday morning, three families are coordinating tables. Who has the tablecloths? Who's bringing the coffee urn? Someone's been making tamales since 4 a.m. Someone else checked the weather and decided breakfast will be on the covered porch instead of under the oaks. Someone else brought wildflowers because that's what you do — you bring beauty to whatever surface you're covering.

The pit fires aren't quaint. They're strategy. They're the only way to feed a hundred people for breakfast without a commercial kitchen and twenty thousand dollars in insurance. They're how Hill Country families have fed the neighbors, then the whole county, for 150 years. The fire is the technology. The timing is the skill. The intention is the point.

What happens when you cook over live fire?

You have to pay attention. You can't program it. You can't turn a dial. You have to watch the coals, move the grill, adjust the timing based on wind and temperature and the particular moisture in the oak that day. You have to know by looking if the brisket is ready. You have to trust your instinct, your hands, your experience. You have to be present.

That presence is what a family remembers. Not the taste (though the taste is good), but the fact that someone woke up at 4 a.m., managed fire, and thought of them. That's what gets passed down.

And it's not only Easter. The pit fires at ranch anniversaries. The long tables at church potlucks. The spread on the courthouse lawn for the Fourth of July. The impromptu picnics when someone brings brisket. The ritual is consistent: we gather. We feed each other. We do this together.

Here's what's true about small towns facing population loss: the tables get more important, not less. When there are fewer of us, gathering together isn't a nice option. It's how we stay. How we prove the community is still alive. How we keep the recipes, the skills, the knowledge of who we are.

The April Business Circle — the research Katie published yesterday — shows the real numbers. This region is declining. Businesses are closing. Young people are leaving. For a lot of people, that data feels like ending.

But stand in the Hill Country on Easter morning and watch the tables being set. Watch the smoke from the pit fires. Watch the neighbors arriving with dishes they've been cooking since dawn. Watch a child run through the yard with a basket of eggs someone hid for them.

That's not ending. That's insistence. That's stubborn, fierce, beautiful insistence that we are still here. Still feeding each other. Still setting tables. Still gathering.

The table is set. Pull up a chair.

🌱 Dear Hazel Mae & Fern

Easter is this Sunday and I just found out 12 extra people are coming. My house is small, my budget is smaller, and I'm already behind on everything. I'm in a panic. Help.

Hazel Mae says:

Sugar, twelve extra people is not a crisis. Twelve extra people is a party. And you're in the Hill Country, where we have been feeding crowds with small houses and modest budgets for 150+ years. You know how to do this. You just don't know you know it yet.

Here's what you're going to do, and I'm going to be bossy about it because you need that right now:

First: Get outside. Easter doesn't happen in your living room. It happens on the porch, in the yard, under the oaks if you've got them. Drag out every folding table you can borrow — the church has them, your neighbor has them, someone at work has them. Set them in the shade. Set them end to end. Paper tablecloths, wildflowers in mason jars, done. You're not hosting a magazine spread. You're hosting Easter.

Second: Cook what you know. Don't try anything new. Don't make the seven-layer thing from the fancy website. Make the casserole your mama made. Make biscuits. Make sweet tea. If you're cooking meat, do it the day before so you're not standing over the stove when people arrive. King Ranch Chicken, because it reheats beautiful and nobody ever said "I wish there had been less of that." Make two of it. Let people bring the rest.

Third: Borrow everything. Plates, silverware, glasses, serving spoons. Your neighbor has dishes. Your sister has napkins. The church has punch bowls. Use them. That's what neighbors are for. And when Thanksgiving comes and they need something, you'll loan them something back. That's how it works.

Fourth: Let go of perfect. Your house is small? Set up outside. People getting a little crowded? That's a good time. That's the memory. That's the sound of joy being louder than the room can hold. Did someone spill tea on the tablecloth? It's paper. Did the biscuits come out a little brown? They taste better that way. Did you run out of sweet tea by four o'clock? Make more. It's not a failure point, it's proof you did it right.

Fifth: Make a list. Act on it. Tonight.

• Call three people. Ask to borrow a folding table.

• Buy one casserole dish's worth of ingredients. Cook it tomorrow. Refrigerate.

• Make a list of eight things people can bring (green bean casserole, rolls, salad, dessert, tea, lemonade, fruit, rolls). Send it to four people right now.

• Find wildflowers. Even if it's just something from your yard in a jar.

• Paper plates? Not a moral failing. Paper plates are your friend.

Sixth: Remember this — and I want you to hear me.

Nobody ever drove home from Easter dinner talking about whether the tablecloth was linen or paper. Nobody ever said, "I wish she'd had more of a budget." Nobody ever forgot the Easter they got to sit outside with neighbors they loved and eat something someone made with their hands. That's what stays.

You've got this. Pull up your boots and set the table like you mean it.

—Hazel Mae

Fern says:

There's something about gathering that doesn't care about perfection.

I've been to the fancy meals — the ones with the right glasses and the right fork and the plating that looks like art. They're fine. They're forgettable.

The meals I remember are the ones on the porch where someone had to drag out another chair mid-meal because another friend showed up. The ones where the potato salad came in a plastic container and nobody cared. The ones where someone knocked over the sweet tea and everyone just laughed and kept going.

The most sacred meals I've ever been part of were the messy ones. The overflow-onto-the-steps ones. The ones where you could feel the love being bigger than the logistics.

Easter is the perfect time to remember this.

When you set a table with intention — even a small intention, even a scrambled intention — you're making an offering. You're saying: I made time for you. I thought of you. Come.

That's the whole thing. That's everything.

The twelve extra people aren't a problem. They're the answer. They're the ones who show up at the last minute because they heard there was something good happening, and they wanted to be part of it. They're the ones who love you enough to trust that your table, whatever it looks like, is a place they belong.

Set it messy. Set it with wildflowers and paper plates and hand-written place cards if you have time, or no place cards at all if you don't. Set it with what you have. That's the invitation that matters.

When the meal is over and the last person leaves, nobody will remember the table. They'll remember the feeling. The fact that you gathered them in. The knowledge that they were wanted.

That's the real thing. That's what gets passed down.

—Fern

Hazel Mae (one last word):

Here's your Saturday timeline. Stick to it:

1. 9 a.m. — Call three people. Borrow tables. Ask for specific dishes.

2. 10 a.m. — Shop for one casserole. Start it if you can.

3. 2 p.m. — Check weather. Decide if you're outside.

4. 4 p.m. — Set tables, arrange chairs, put out wildflowers in jars.

5. 6 p.m. — Prep what you can. Make tea. Rest.

Sunday morning, everything is ready. You're not scrambling. You're celebrating.

Nobody ever drove home from Easter dinner talking about the centerpiece. They drove home talking about the company.

You know what you're doing. Now do it.

—H.M.

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