Mozzeenet

It’s always worth the effort of taking some time out of the normal routine and stopping for a while, especially if that time is spent in natural surroundings.  On a whim, Andrew and I visited the Heide Museum of Modern Art yesterday afternoon nestled away in one of Melbourne’s NE suburbs amongst rambling parkland beside the Yarra.

In the morning we picked up semi-dried tomatos, marinated zucchini, ham and Meredith marinated goats cheese (divine) from Prahran market (oh so Melbourne) and made our way there.  We layed out our rug beside a large tree with a view of the greenery undulating down to the river, abstract sculptures dotted here and there and the “Kitchen Garden”, originally a working garden providing fruit and vegetables for the Heide founders. We relished our picnic lunch and I felt so relaxed and calm.  There’s nothing as grounding as a peaceful natural environment.

Afterwards we saw an exhibition of the work of Les Kossatz, interesting Melbourne artist with a focus on the desecration of nature by man, religion and a recurring sheep motif!  Baa!  There were also some works by Albert Tucker on display and other artists.

The Heide is hidden away in suburbia so you don’t get the same crowds as at the NGV or the Botanic Gardens.  I’ll certainly be visiting again when I want a change of pace and perspective.

Coming soon: Update on our marvellous Xmas jaunt seeing family and friends, all the way from Magical Maleny QLD to Newcastle, NSW.

I’ve been a member of the Melbourne Freecycle group for a year or two now - participants offer “stuff” for free that they don’t need anymore and can request items also. It’s amusing seeing what people offer up sometimes eg used Xmas cards, pet rats, the kitchen sink, movie tickets, garage doors…but it’s a fantastic contribution to reducing waste being sent to landfill and the serial consumption of new goods we are so conditioned for.

Recently, I have picked up boxes for moving as we have recently bought a unit - moving in February (very exciting).  I’ve also given away a portable wardrobe I hadn’t used in a few years that I didn’t want to take to the new place, to a delighted new owner.  Some items I’ve offered up have had no takers so I’ve had to offer them up a couple of times which can be a bit tiresome but oveall it’s a brilliant idea. Item ads are posted and received by email as part of a yahoo group - I get the digest which consolidates them so I don’t received 100s of emails a day.  There are groups around Australia.  See: Freecycle Melbourne and Australia.

Green lights lit up the town hall and the plane trees on Collins as we walked up from Flinders St towards the land of Oz.  It was a while ago that we saw Wicked the musical, the story of how the witches of Oz came into being before the time of Dorothy - that’s Glinda the white witch and the wicked witches of the East and West.

The Theatre Royale in Melbourne was magnificent and even though we were way back in the heavens, it didn’t subdue our enjoyment of the show.

Besides the great singing, colourful sets and interesting portrayal of the paradoxes within the concepts of good and evil i.e. that all is not black and white, highlights were realising Anthony Callea was a munchkin and sharing the audience with two drag queens (dressed as white and black witches of course). Read more »