This week’s small pleasures #201

Here we are almost at the end of July already, and, bit by bit, the mornings are definitely getting brighter. We have had several days of bright, winter sun, and it looks like a few more days to come as well, which of course always lifts the spirits and gladdens the heart. So without further ado, here are some of this week’s small pleasures.

Bread

I think this week we’ll let the staff of life have its own section. On Wednesday I picked up a lovely ciabatta to have with lentil soup from Shelley Bay Bakery at the little Wednesday market outside the Pipitea Campus of Victoria University. On Saturday we had a delivery from Arobake, with some of the goodies destined for the freezer, and some for breakfast and weekday lunches.

More Eating…

There were scrambled eggs on toast for lunch when I was working at home, there was left over cake, there was pasta with spicy sausage and tomato…and there was smoked salmon toast at Squirrel, a delivery of chocolate from The Chocolate Bar and lunch on Sunday at the Marine Parade Eatery in Paraparaumu (a bagel with halloumi and mushrooms for me). Lots of small pleasures there!

The little things…

You may have seen in Saturday’s post that we are surrounded by some lovely winter flowers at the moment, which bring joy in so many ways. Still on flowers, this stunning purple anemone below was sitting on the table at Squirrel on Saturday. While were having breakfast on Sunday morning, we watched a kaka come and inspect several plants before flying off with one of the last flowers on the tecomanthe speciosa in its beak. What a small pleasure that was! And there was a surprise encounter of a different kind on Saturday while food shopping. I was trying to decide which cheese to buy with Karl standing to one side waiting for me to make up my mind. I realised I was blocking someone standing next to me so made my choice and let her in…and it was Jacinda Ardern, out shopping with husband and daughter! Karl said it was funny to watch as he could see her beside me while I was oblivious.

Sunday

On Sunday, we drove up the coast to Paraparaumu as it was such a gorgeous, sunny winter day – more of that trip on Wednesday. When we got back to Wellington, we decided to drive up to the wind turbine in Brooklyn to make the most of the view over the city on such a beautiful day. See the featured image and the pictures below. Side note: if you look at the picture of the wind turbine, you will see a fence. This is part of the fence that surrounds Zealandia eco-sanctuary to keep out unwanted predators.

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I had a bit of a cold last week, and spent a couple of days working at home with Charlie for company. Here he is checking up on the world outside.

Check out what is making Notes from the Hinterland happy too.

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

So that is it for this week. Wherever you are, take care and look out for those little things that bring you joy. What were your small pleasures of the week just past? 

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram@thistleandkiwis.  As for Twitter….am totally inactive these days.  If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com