Each year the NGV puts on a special Winter Masterpieces Exhibition. I went to The Picasso Century in 2022 and last year I went to Pharoah. Yesterday I took myself off the the city for this year’s exhibition—French Impressionism: From the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This was actually one that we had plans to go to in 2021 but Melbourne got locked down the day it opened and we didn’t open up until late Spring. They bought it back this year, so I was excited to go. I always go to these by myself and get the audio guide which are excellent. This year was no exception, although the exhibition was a lot smaller than the previous two I’d been to. The exhibition space is set up to evoke late 19th century Boston mansions. The audio guide goes into great detail on the influences and relationships between the painters and their development. The final room, filled with Monets, was circular—a reference to the L’Orangerie in Paris. I took my time and decided to pick a favourite painting. There were a number of contenders but I can never go past Monet’s haystack paintings.
I love completist (finish every X) type challenges as you can see by my dedicated blog page. I started reading through the Miles Franklin Award winners a few years ago. Ignore my small progress—these are long term goals. Anyway, I’ve decided to add a few more book lists to complete which are The Stella Prize winners (Australian women writers), Nebula Best Novel (Science fiction and fantasy), Booker Prize and the Read Around the World Challenge. I haven’t got the pages for each list set up yet, but it is on my list of things to do.
I shared about my green waste issues in this post and green waste is still on my mind and I decided not to just let it go. I saw on our council website that people on council waste can order an extra green waste bin and they listed the costs (once off and yearly). I would be happy to pay the cost for the green waste bin so I started a chat on the website and that seemed positive but she said I would need to ring the waste department. This I did, with no joy. The options they gave were to drive 11km to the waste center and back every time I have green waste or organise a pickup with a contractor they could give me the name of. Both not really viable and sustainable in the long term. I asked about just paying for the green waste bin but they said we would also have to have a general waste and recycling bin which we don’t need because we get those done through our body corporate. I also don’t want to be storing all those unnecessary bins in our courtyard garden—its just not that big. I still have no idea why we would have to have all three bins. I knew I was not going to get anywhere on a phone call so left it there.
Of course I did not leave it there, and have decided to make a nuisance of myself. I have emailed them to ask if there is any good reason why we can’t pay to have council green waste pickup. Watch this space. If I don’t have any joy, my next step will be to approach my council member and remind them of the council’s commitment to sustainability. Our council explicitly recognises the importance of private gardens for public amenity, cooling and biodiversity—they need to make it easier for residents to comply with their planting regulations, not harder.
I’m off dairy again. I’ve had a life long off and on again relationship with dairy, I really do love dairy products, especially cheese but I got severe eczema in my twenties and had to stay off for a few years to let my immune system build back up again. Once back on it I was OK until I had S and then spent another five years dairy free. Since then I’ve had periods where I eliminated dairy but I’ve been having dairy for the last 18 months. I’ve been getting a couple of hives a week on my face and there’s a good possibility dairy could be contributing to my brain fog and fatigue. I had been having granola with a serve of yoghurt and berries for my breakfast so I’ve switched to Dr. Stacy Sims High-Protein Overnight Oats Recipe. It has grated carrot in it which sounds weird but it works, and I love getting a few serves of veggies in for breakfast.
When was the last time you made a nuisance of yourself? Do you have a favourite book prize?
Comments
14 responses to “Friday Thoughts #21”
I’m cheering you on with my whole heart!
Environmental issues matter so much to me, and here in Switzerland (as in most of Europe) recycling and green waste are just part of daily life – glass, metal, paper, carton, batteries, plastics, garden waste, you name it.
That’s why reading about your experience makes me so annoyed. It must be incredibly frustrating when the system makes it harder, not easier, for people who actually want to do the right thing. Good on you for persevering and not letting it slide. Councils need residents like you to hold them accountable. Way to go, Melissa!
Until this apartment, we were always on council waste pickup, so had co-mingled recycling, FOGO (food and organics) and general waste. With the apartment it’s too hard to have all those council bins, so generally the body corporate organises a private contractor. We have general waste, co-mingled recycling and E-waste bins which most apartment blocks would have but most apartments don’t have a lot of green waste so I guess that’s why it has to be a special ask and the other residents don’t want the FOGO.
I made a nuisance of myself quite a lot last year with regard to a school situation for my daughter. Alas and alack, it didn’t really move the needle much, but it was the least I could do to advocate for her.
We also have green waste removal. Everything is collected once every two weeks. We have to separate garbage, compostable materials, plastics/glass, paper, and cardboard all separately!
Love the art!
I think it’s better to make a nuisance of yourself, then at least you can say you tried rather than just sitting back and letting it happen. Plus, you never know when it may make a difference.
One year I read all the contenders for the…Booker prize? Wait, is that right? I cannot remember but it was during the pandemic. Maybe it was the Governor General award.
I use a little bit of dairy these days – I find that certain things are okay, like goat cheese or feta, but for the longest time I didn’t have any dairy at all. Interestingly, I had dairy in Italy and I had no issues whatsoever!
I probably have a threshold for dairy since it seems like an intolerance, so I’m not really strict about avoiding every trace of dairy. For instance we will go away soon for a fancy dinner and I will eat whatever is served up for that.
Sheesh the Green Waste thing should not be so tough for those in commercial buildings. That is very frustrating! Some of our office buildings in downtown Minneapolis have compost bins so I am wishing they would have some in our building. For now I bring my compostable stuff down to the main level of the building adjacent to me to discard there. A lot of food take out places use compostable containers so I want to put them in a compost bin!
Book prizes are often a kiss of death for me it seems… so if something won the Pulitzer or Booker prize, there’s a good chance I won’t love the book. I will still read them if the book is recommended by another person whose tastes align with mine, though.
About 15 (or maybe 15) years ago, I joined a reading challenge for a few years, which involved reading a Pulitzer Prize Winner, a National Book Award Winner and one book that had one of both, and I generally found that I liked the Pulitzer Prize winners better.
We could get a green waste bin from the contractor that does our building waste, but the other owners don’t want it. Actually, there is one particular one who doesn’t want it, and she is young, and you would think would care more about environmental issues.
I cheer you on and it’s also a good reminder that I should use our bio trash (green waste) bin more and not be lazy and dump it all in the general trash.
I love that you have set up new reading challenges. You know I am doing the read around the world one. If you want you can join my challenge on storygraph (https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/92224d8a-caa0-4c5f-92a2-95f4ec72c3c4) then you don’t need to write it all down yourself. but I get it if you want to have it on the blog. I need to check out the Nebula Best Novel. It sounds like there are some gems in there for me.
Thanks, Tobia, I’ve joined your challenge.
I think I made a nuisance of myself when I emailed the principal of R’s school about his teacher showing an actual video footage of a plane going into one of the twin towers on 09/11.
I mean, we have to teach about this day, 100%, but actual footage of a plane going into one of the towers?? Those kids are five! Isn’t it a bit too early to expose them to terror??
Or, am I bubble wrapping my 5 year old?
Wow! Yeah, that is not OK. I hope R was not too upset, and your next plane ride goes OK.
Good for you for sticking with your goal of getting the green waste handled in your area. I am impressed with your persistence. I hope it pays off. It sounds so silly and frustrating, esp when you point out the committee’s commitment to sustainability.
I do not follow any book prizes. I read what my book club suggests and fill my other openings with recommendations that I’ve heard about.
Probably the last time I made a nuisance of myself was when I filed a lawsuit against our school on behalf of Reg. Don’t get me started. What that kid endured was so ridiculous and completely avoidable. He ended up with settlement money, since the board realized how wrong they were to let it get to that point – but it really cost him. His senior year of high school had very little joy. then he lost his verbal memory. Ugh.
[…] received a reply from the council regarding my inquiry about getting a council waste FOGO bin. Apparently the Waste Management Plan (WMP) submitted to […]