Helen Mackay | artist and printmaker
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Little Penguins

26/9/2016

 
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I am down at Collins Flat Beach on Monday evenings as a Little Penguin volunteer. This is a beautiful little harbour beach, and I see the most amazing sunsets against the backdrop of Sydney Harbour, with the ferries going past. However what I mostly seem to do is pick up rubbish whilst I am there, and I collect plastic as that is what concerns me most. So I see what washes in. These are the things that I would ban if I could. Lollipop sticks, you know, the small white plastic ones, balloons with long ribbons on them that get caught around anything, seaweed, birds. Have you ever tried to break or snap one of these ribbons? It is so difficult and there are so many of them. I hate them with a passion. Where do people think they go as they sail off into the sky? We could have paper ribbons on them which would solve the problem. And plastic straws, so many plastic straws on the beach. Water bottle tops and their plastic rings, I find more and more of these. The other stuff is more random. 
Some people see us picking up rubbish and say that they do too, which is terrific. Some one asked me last night 'What can you do?' And I said that you could either pick it up, not drop it or both. 
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    I am Reading….

    Salonika Burning bi Gail Jones. 
    This is a wonderful book, She writes beautifully and her work reminds me of Shirley Hazzard. 

    Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart. 
    I so enjoyed this book, it was funny. And the characters so exposed. July 2022 

    Our Shadows by Gail Jones.
    This is such a good book. I had just read The Death of Noah Glass by her and both of these are so well written.
    June 22

    Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker
    I loved this book and it felt so modern even though it is 60 years old. Apart from the lack of technology in it, no mobiles, no emails and no computers. 
    March 22
    ​
    Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
    This has taken me some time and I have another 150 pages to go. It has been a challenging read and I find some of it extremely funny. I will let you know when I have finished it. Read more Austen and Mitford as light relief during this period. As well as other less memorable books.  21.02.21



    The Dutch House by Anne Patchett
    Such a wonderful book, I loved reading this, a perfect joy. 

    Olive again by Elizabeth Strout. 
    Just saying - a fabulous snall book. Olive is such a plausible, flawed character. 

    Milkman by Anna Burns
    I have so loved reading this book. You enter another world where the dial has been moved and you have to tune in and recalibrate to this fine tone. It is wonderful.

    The Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
    This book is brilliant. I had never heard of him, and thank you to Avalon Library for having him on the shelf. I started with The Spectator Bird, then Crossing to Safety  and now this book. I think I have read them in the right order for me. He is no slouch, having won lots of prizes including the Pulitzer. His writing is exquisite.

    Nutshell by  Ian McEwan
    This book is brilliant.

    The Fish Can Sing by Halldor Laxness
    I had never heard of Halldor Laxness before, but I loved this book, and found it extremely funny. And he did win the Nobel Prize for Literature, so obviously no slouch. 

    Rereading
    The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford - hilarious and some of it so clever and finely drawn.

    Persuasion by Jane Austen. Again
    ​
    The Transit of Venus. I reread this book almost every year.

    I am not reading
    My Brilliant Friend. Have I missed something here? 

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