This week’s small pleasures #219

Today is the last day of November, St Andrew’s Day (patron saint of several countries including Scotland) and also the Chatham Islands Anniversary. Yesterday was the first Sunday in Advent, so it really is beginning to feel like 2020 is drawing to a close and that Christmas is approaching fast. Last week was Thanksgiving in the US, not something I have ever celebrated of course, but I do have family and friends in various parts of that country, so hope those of you who live there, or come from there, enjoyed the day.

And so to this week’s small pleasures, starting with these beautiful roses, spotted at the back of a neighbour’s garden. They have clearly been left to grow wild, and look just so beautiful. Still on flowers, I picked some more peonies the other day, such lovely, blousy, overblown blooms (see the featured image at the top of the post).

No Small Pleasures post would be complete without food. Asparagus and fresh peas in their pods are still around, and there are plentiful aubergines (eggplants) and courgettes. There was smoked salmon and cream cheese for Friday’s breakfast in bed, scrambled eggs topped with lots of grated cheese for Saturday’s breakfast, a toastie (ie toasted sandwich) at Squirrel cafe for lunch on Friday, and a toasted cheese scone with some Earl Grey tree for a Saturday treat.

You may wonder how I managed breakfast in bed and lunch at one of my favourite cafes on Friday. Well, yes, I took a much needed day off work. It was a lovely day, so I walked to town, picked up a couple of things for Christmas, stopped off at new book shop Good Books on Jessie Street (see picture below) and bought a new table runner with a nice summery print with strawberries from Small Acorns which will be perfect for our Christmas table. There was also a new lipstick from Kosas because…well, no reason at all!

A real Small Pleasure this week was attending the classical students end of year performance at the New Zealand School of Dance. For me, there were a couple of flashback moments with two pieces by Peter Darrell, who was the artistic director of Scottish Ballet when I was a child. They also performed a beautiful pas de deux by Sir Kenneth MacMillan, a piece based on flamenco and the second act of La Sylphide. I loved the way that all the pieces were paired back, studio performances, which seemed to suit the times. A big congratulations to the staff and students for putting together a great show.

And finally…after the rain on Saturday night, this beautiful blue sky on Sunday. There was time to sit outside and read and enjoy the moment.

Anyway, that is my quick round up on some of this week’s small pleasures. Here are some of my fellow bloggers good things of the week:

• A happy place and a happy space at All Things Bright and Beautiful
• Some Friday Favourites from Laurie at Notes from the Hinterland
• Check out Trent’s Weekly Smiles as well as Piglet in Portugal smiling and celebrating rain
• Smile too with Natalie the Explorer in Toronto
• Little Pieces of Me gives thanks with Grateful Fridays
• And Our French Oasis post on Calming the Soul does just that

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