The pleasure of a warm body and toasty feet during the long winter nights….
Greetings Visitors,
There is a new love in my life: the pleasure of a warm body and toasty feet during the long winter nights puts lie to the Rolling Stones’ most famous track! My new love is Elec-Ric Blanket and satisfaction is replete! I will not abandon this find easily….which, in a very roundabout way, leads me to this week’s musings: environmental waste and our Planet.
Last week Sanya (la Stupenda Sanitiser) and Snez (Gallery friend and Super Snazzy Happy Snapper) held a fabric sale when they closed down their fashion house -3 cheers for their adventurous and brave foray into the fashion world and their forward thinking ethical business model for NoRuYeLo . They were pricing fabric at silly prices to let the fabrics go.
This fortnight I have been thinking about their sale in our throw-away world and about what we do with goods we no longer value or have need for. At the sale, in spectator mode, I stood watching as some buyers hovered to make sure they received every mm they had paid for with pennies while others adopted the near enough is good enough approach and don’t worry about the change thank you. Vampire shoppers virtually inhaled all the fabrics they could possibly carry away while others picked over the bones for what they wanted/needed. On occasion I was a weeny bit shocked a./ by what I saw b./ by my own nit-picking tendencies and c./ Sanya and Snez’ amazing generosity of spirit.
My capitalist heart is unused to the witness of such unabashed largesse!
In this vein, two other instances coalesced into thought processes: recently, I have noticed four local Op Shops have closed down at a time when I expected Op Shops would actually be over-run with goods donated by people doing thorough housecleans/de-stash during the COVID19 isolation period. My Meagre Brain sensed a puzzle: are people holding on to goods longer, getting more life out of them now they are in the home environment longer – ergo getting greener? Have people got fed-up with the prices some Op Shops charge for donated goods – the capitalist slant? Have the effects of unemployment/underemployment affected the community this quickly – economic models suggest it’s unlikely. What’s going on?
Then, I watched Fight for Planet A (Craig Reucassell, ABC) and vowed never to add plastic into my life again and worried about how much I use my car and sincerely regretted being unable to afford a Tesla. I hope everyone is fighting for Planet A and conserving/reusing and not simply throwing all those unwanted consumer goods, previously finding their way onto Op Shop shelves, into the bin and therefore onto land-fill. We should all follow the lead of Sanya and Snez: if you don’t need or want it: share it. There is usually someone who can use your unwanted goods in ways you will never think of.
On the grid, Planet saving at Gallery One is, I think, pretty OK. The goods created in every class are not really part of the throw-away society. (Teddies, especially, are forever!) Quilts, felting, lace, knitting, even paintings and drawings. These are things we hold on to, in some cases treasure, and in some instances in the making of these goods re-cycled products are part of the process. And, one conversation all artists have is how do you best retrieve surfaces once you have painted/drawn something you don’t want? (Polite speak for ‘stuffed it up’.) It’s no surprise to artists that other paintings can be found under the works of The Great Masters! Artists are kind to the world! Gallery One is being kind to the Planet. But,
HOW CAN WE DO BETTER?
I know you have been doubtful about Elec-Ric and of how mentioning my new companion connects to the environmental menage I have just presented but, it’s Craig Reucassell and the black balloons. Every time I turn Elec-Ric on I now imagine I see a large canopy of black balloons filled with CO2 hovering above my bed!
I am old. I am weak. I get really cold feet. How much do I need to sacrifice for the sake of the planet? Please, not Elec-Ric Blanket.
GALLERY BUSINESS:
The Committee met this week with not much to report ….not yet, we acknowledged Gavin, your Treasurer’s, 70th turn on the dancefloor. Gavin had requested a sushi birthday cake but in the end relented and we all sat in our separate cars and ate Portugese tarts within sight of each other instead and toasted his health. Otherwise our Gallery ship is steady as she goes.
The Book Worm
Chris Pavone’s - The Travelers
The pulse-racing international thriller of the year! How could I possibly resist such a blurb? Actually, Chris Pavone’s, The Travelers, is pretty good, fast-paced reading. It’s the story of how a likeable, vaguely ethical travel writer, one Will Rhodes, becomes a spy for the CIA and how he bumbles his way through denial and danger across continents. I haven’t quite finished yet but only multiple yawns and the re-reading of several paragraphs 3 times over made me turn off the lights last night. (Elec-Ric is very understanding!) Poor Will Rhodes and the problems he runs up against, not least of which is constantly lying to his wife Chloe – he really hates lying and his guilt quotient is high.
Even better for me the book was free as part of Mostly Books, Mitcham’s Rewards programme. Support local! Buy a book at Mostly Books in Mitcham Shopping Centre and sign up for benefits.
p.s should Gallery One consider approaching Mitcham Council for ‘green ideas’ for the Gallery to offset the miles we spend to-ing and fro-ing in our cars?
pps. I only write this blog to amuse Sanya and give David Milne, the Chair, something to worry about.
Video of the Week
Master Knitter and Crocheter and all sorts... Lianne Gould
Play the video or watch on YouTube
Photo Credits
https://www.pexels.com/@burst Pug in the blanket
Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels The climate is changing so should we
Photo by Ben Rosett on Unsplash Happily Ever After
Photo by Antoine GIRET on Unsplash Plastic pollution
Robert Zunic Sanya and Snez
Snezana Swarbrick Noruyelo Non Binary Eco Fashion (4 models)
Read the Disclaimer