The turkey...

At the moment, DH and I are in Alexandra Headlands for the rest of the week. Thursday and Friday, DH will play in the golf competition at Horton Park, but today and tomorrow 'we're just chillin' lol.

We caught up with friends today over lunch at the Buderim Tavern. What an amazing view from our table...

The dining area is quite large..

Then we went to Pat and Paul's place for coffee...

Lurking in the beautiful tropical garden were these 2 creatures!

Pat and I have been friends since I moved into the house next to her mother's in 1971. Pat's daughter Robyn set up the Buderim Youth Theatre of Excellence and DH and I often drive up to see productions of this company.
It's lovely being away for a a few days but in the back of my mind, I still have a 'turkey issue' back home. Yep! The bush turkeys are back! Well they haven't really ever gone away, but the destruction had eased for a while...till the last week.
Tommy, the faux turkey came to live here last week when DH's friend Tim, completed making it.

The faux turkey discourages the male, causing him/them to go elsewhere to build the mound. Well that seems to have happened...the male doesn't seem to be around...but Miss/Mrs/Ms Turkey has become a real pest.

Finally I managed to get a photo showing what the turkey is 'up to'...

The veggie bed that was dug over and left after I harvested the sweet potato crop...well I thought that I had dug up all the large ones, just leaving tiny ones to grow shoots and become next year's crop. But Miss Turkey has found some large sweet potatoes that I missed. And then she eats the middle out of them! As well, she is clever enough to dig up the 'shoots' of the next crop as she must have worked out that there is a tuber attached...

DH and I put down some mesh on the garden bed to discourage her but it looks like it could be a bit of a battle to grow sweet potatoes now. And did I mention what Miss Turkey has done to my ordinary potato crop ? Devastation is the only word for it. Thank goodness there are a number of fruit shops and supermarkets around here, otherwise we would be 'vegetableless'. I wonder whether she will get a taste for cherry tomatoes? They are about the only thing left growing in the vegetable patch.  lol

Pride and Prejudice...

I've written posts ( here, here and here ) before about the youth theatre company in Buderim, BYTES, run by Robyn, a former student of mine. Well, now there is Company BE which is described as, ' the sister company of BYTES. This adult company aims to produce quality plays with a particular focus on classic works and high calibre musical theatre productions.'

 And so it was that DH and I travelled up to Buderim last Sunday to see the company's inaugural production of 'Pride and Prejudice'. Robyn was directing the production and her daughter Katherine was playing Lydia Bennett, her sister was playing Mrs Bennett and Robyn's mother was playing Lady Catherine de Bourgh. What a treat! The company were presenting this play in honour of the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's famous novel of the same name.

About 20 minutes before the show was due to start...

 People who were seated early were treated to some wonderful old tunes played on the piano (see far right), such as Brahm's Lullaby...

As the time for the show drew near, the lovely pianist quickly climbed up the stage steps and disappeared behind the curtains...was she one of the actors we wondered???

Yes she was! The lovely Chelsea played Jane Bennett shown here with Robyn's sister who played Mrs Bennett. (photo from Company BE Facebook page) Peta played the role to perfection! Very OTT mother trying to get her daughters married off to prosperous men!

Mr Bennett (played by Ian Rix a Sunshine Coast music teacher) with his daughter Elizabeth Bennett
(photo from Company BE Facebook page) 

Another photo taken backstage and taken from the FB page but I just had to put in a photo of Mr Darcy. (with aunt Gardiner in this photo) 

Now anyone who is familiar with 'Pride and Prejudice' knows that the character Mr Darcy plays a pivotal role in the story. Many of us think that Colin Firth is the archetypical Mr Darcy...purr purr...lol
DH and I decided that this young actor did a pretty good job in the role.

Now my old friend Pat stole the show with her performance as Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Lady Catherine with Mr Collins

delightfully overbearing and rude Lady Catherine! lol I'm pretty sure Pat had lots of fun with the role!

And finally the entire cast on stage to take their bows...

Later in the year, BYTES will be staging 'Chicago' so that sounds like another trip to Buderim coming up!