This week’s small pleasures #203

It is Monday again and time to reflect on this week’s small pleasures. There were flowers, there was food, there were films, and there was sunshine and more signs of spring. So without further a do, here are some of this week’s highlights.

1 Ornamental cabbages

First up, I was absolutely delighted to see these ornamental cabbages in the Botanic Gardens as part of the display in their ‘experimental’ bed, where they try different things out to see how they work. Now I love ornamental cabbages, and these ones are particularly beautiful, with their soft pinks and green. There are many other lovely things to see in the gardens at the moment, no doubt to appear in future blog posts!

2 Baked goods

We had a delivery from Aro Bake on Saturday which included croissants for a Sunday breakfast treat and a walnut and honey stick, along with one of their Weggli toast loaves for this week’s breakfasts.

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3 Root vegetables and other good things

At Wednesday’s little market in town, I picked up some purple carrots, as well as the usual orange, green beans, blood oranges and fresh eggs. It is a great little market to pick up fruit, vegetables, honey and bread in the middle of the week. On Saturday, I could not resist more yams (oca), and also got some earth gems, which I have tried before. They have a sort of earthy taste, almost like beetroot, but not quite as I am not a fan of that vegetable. I also got to Commonsense Organics at last and picked up some sun-dried tomatoes, a vegetable pate that is nice on toast, and a jar of ajvar, that lovely dip/sauce made from red capsicum.

4 A new cushion

And so to this week’s indulgence…another cushion from that wonderful shop Small Acorns, in bright stripes to go with the floral one I already have. They are just so pretty to look at…and now I think the other side of the sofa looks dull….

5 More tulips…and films

As the film festival came to an end, we managed to pick up two more films, the Icelandic drama The County about a woman keeping her farm going after the death of her husband, and fighting the corruption of the local co-op, and The Prince’s Voyage, a truly wonderful animation about friendship and tolerance that I highly recommend even if animations are not your normal choice. It is a real little gem of a movie. I’m not sure if the ‘watch at home’ solution for the festival this year worked or not, but it certainly made it easier to pick up things at random without worrying about schedules.

And of course, these lovely pink and white tulips brightening up our lives at the moment. Small pleasures indeed.

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