This week’s small pleasures #161

It’s Monday, it’s time for this week’s small pleasures. It was a busy week, which saw me up in Hawke’s Bay for work and then catching up on things on my return. It rained nearly the whole time I was away: in fact I don’t think I have ever seen so much rain over such an extended period. Thursday, though, was lovely and sunny here in Wellington, with no coat needed for my lunch time walk – hoorah! Now that is a small pleasure in itself.

The weekend began for me with a late Friday afternoon appointment at the hairdresser. It was quite easy to switch off from the week before, sitting reading and looking out of the window (in case you wonder, waiting for the colour to do its magic). I took a photo through the window of the mural of Rita Angus, the New Zealand painter, on the wall opposite while waiting. Chance would have it, the next day I read that there is going to be an exhibition of her work at The Royal Academy in London (see here for the article), which will come here to Wellington in 2021. It should be really worth going to: a small pleasure for next year.

As you all know, I enjoy food – eating it, reading about it, listening to podcasts, watching cooking demos on YouTube. It is worth remembering that things don’t have to be complicated to be good. A risotto with saffron and prawns at our local Italian restaurant Cosa Nostra, my Saturday toast topped with smoked salmon and greens, a brioche pastry filled with cinnamon and iced with lemon bought from Squirrel and enjoyed as a Saturday afternoon treat, shared with Karl and a simple bowl of the first strawberries of the season are some of this week’s treats.

Sunday was one of those really relaxing days, with a lot of time spent on the sofa reading more of Samin Nosrat’s book Salt Fat Acid Heat, watching an ancient (and I mean ancient!) episode of Midsomer Murders, then baking a quiche for dinner. My body and brain needed a day like that! Today I was able to work at home on a report, and where I sit I can also stare directly out of the window for inspiration. I saw tuis enjoying the camellias, heard kaka calling raucously overhead and thought what a small pleasure it was just to sit there.

Finally….now, I wouldn’t say this was a small pleasure, but it did make us both laugh. When we came home from grocery shopping on Saturday, our Charlie as sitting at the top of the stairs, blocking Fat Cat from coming any further. There was a little posturing, a little noise, but they just sat there, for over an hour, secretly closing their eyes and basking in the sun. It was so funny to watch. Here are a couple of pictures taken during that time.

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What were your small pleasures this week?

Thanks to Mani over at A New Life Wandering for the original idea.

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