Saturday night...

A drive from 'our' side of town to the south-eastern part of the city...

An early dinner...

Fish of the Day was Snapper. We asked if the fish could be grilled instead of being 'battered'...

No that wasn't possible but we could have the fish crumbed...so we did.

How appropriate that the view from a Fish Cafe should be this! Yep, Manly Boat Harbour. 

After dinner, a short drive...

And when that curtain came up, we saw the most wonderful show; without fail, the Savoyards Players always 'deliver' to their audience. The singing, the dancing, the acting, the costumes, the music/orchestra, all were superb. 

And the show? 

Lots of fun! 

Keeping busy...

You may have noticed that I haven't been very active in Blogland recently. A close relative has had ongoing  mental health issues for a number of years and every now and then this person has a 'meltdown'... many in the family look to me to 'sort things out' and sometimes it's this reaction which is more stressful than the 'meltdown'. Enough said...I know that I am a most fortunate person, and, after all, it's the 'hiccups in life' that make the good times seem extra special.
Last Monday, a friend who is my 'sounding board' rang me up about 9am and suggested meeting for coffee...I nearly said no (I had been busy wallowing in self pity :-/)  but quickly changed my mind. Just after I got off the phone, I received  a lovely encouraging text from DH just before he hit off on his golf game. Then a little while later DD2 sent me a lovely text unexpectedly. When I got to the shopping centre where I was to meet my friend, I decided to buy a takeaway coffee from a nice coffee shop instead of the usual not so nice coffee one can buy in the Foodcourt where I was to meet Dianne. The coffee was free because of my loyalty card...and those 3 little things just brightened up my day so much!!! And the blues have well and truly gone!
And as the title of this posts suggests, I  have been busy...

DH and I had a trip to Bunnings for gardening supplies, including some seedlings and 2 lots of seed potatoes...

I have been busy sewing up squares that have been donated to K4BN...mostly I join them up to make a single bed sized blanket...

Squares tacked in rows and then the rows tacked together ready for the final sewing up and neatening of ends...

Some squares I edge with a darker colour using Double Crochet (Aussie DC) These 2 bundles were made up into single blanket sized throws

 Here are the ones I've sewn up in the last 10 days or so...

Here's another one...these squares were knitted with 2 strands of 8ply acrylic and were found in an op shop in Tasmania...the donor very kindly sent them up to Brisbane...

Of course, I've had to continue to supervise Brad the Builder on the site next door!! lol

I've also been to some Knit and Natters... the red/black and yellow knitting on the right of the photo is my indigenous chevron throw...

I've finished some secret sewing for a Swap that I'm in...will be able to show the whole object soon :-)

And just for a bit of culture, DH and I went to the theatre :-)

Firstly we went to the Gardens' Point Theatre of QUT to see a play starring Henry Szeps. It was a very enjoyable night...

And we were able to see the newest building on the campus too...apparently according to the Links magazine from QUT, this building is 'state of the art' technology wise...

And of course, this campus has a very old building which was the original government house in the colony...

 And then last Friday night, DH and I went to see some one act plays at Act One Theatre at Strathpine...

The tiny theatre is situated in the old shire hall....

 We had a very special reason for going to these plays...'Housekeeper Wanted', the play on after intermission featured DD1! She played the applicant who had a drinking problem...there was lots of comedy in the role and DD1 also had to speak with an English accent which she successfully maintained throughout the performance. She got lots of laughs during the performance and after the show a number of people congratulated her on making them laugh... 

And DH and I gave her some flowers after the show... DD1 loves pink by the way!!

And this afternoon DH took a photo of me with the 'Art Show 2013 Throw'...not long to go now, probably another 30cm or so, and despite not liking grey, I love this throw; it is soft, light and oh, so warm!

So I'm well and truly back with you all in Blogland!

Sunday afternoon in Buderim...

It's interesting to watch the weather reports from around Australia at the moment. For the last few days Queensland has been sweltering (Brisbane was 38 degrees C yesterday) but meanwhile Tasmania has snow and Victoria has turned cold as well.

Yesterday DH headed off to golf, but Eduardo, the cat, and I took it easy. We lay under the fan, windows open for cross ventilation; he snoozed and I read most of a Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell) novel that my Melbourne SIL had given me. Such decadence...I still haven't got used to the fact that I can read during the day...and I've been officially retired for 18 months now! lol

Possibly because of the heat, the laptop is not working that well at the moment. Since the crash of the PC a few months ago followed by the system refusing to allow me to reinstall the 'finepix' photo uploader, I've used the laptop to upload photos to a USB. So this post will be one that can use photos already uploaded instead of a post about swaps and decorating for Christmas etc. So this post will be about what DH, DD1 and I did last Sunday.

 A former student of mine, Robyn, runs BYTE which stands for Buderim Youth Theatre of Excellence. Young people receive theatre training and each year there are a number of productions to showcase the students' work. Earlier this year, DH and I went to see their production of  'Titanic' which we thoroughly enjoyed. Robyn's sister also works for BYTE. Robyn's mum and I have been friends for many years as I used to live next door to her mother. We also worked together for a few years too. Robyn's mum, Pat, has retired to Buderim and also plays her part in supporting her daughters in their work with the theatre. 

The latest production is that wonderful old musical, 'Oklahoma'. And that is why we drove up to Buderim on Sunday. Robyn's daughter was in that performance and we particularly wanted to see her. I was so impressed with Katherine's performance in 'Titanic' and we not to be disappointed this time. She played the role of Laurie, a young woman who is being 'pursued' by Curly and the sullen, sometimes violent, Judd. The character of Laurie plays it cool but you can tell she really likes Curly! lol

The stage ready for the performance; with the little farm house where Laurie lived with her aunt

A musical needs an orchestra, and this one was great!

Katharine was wonderful; a great 'all rounder', with her glorious singing voice, great acting and her dancing too! Oklahoma is full of songs that are catchy and ones that are familiar to people in my age group. DH loved the songs so much, he sang along with the cast at various times :-/ lol

I've received permission to use some of the company's photos of the performance, as naturally, flash photography was not allowed during the performance....

Laurie singing early in the first act...

These 3 performers were really good!

Laurie and Curly finally admit their true feelings...

And they even get married!!

During interval, DH took some photos of Pat, moi, DD1 and Robyn's brother Stuart. Stuart is also a former student of mine and performed in a play I directed when he was in Year 7... he did a great job too!