It is the end of July already, day 212 of the year, and a gloriously sunny day with bright blue skies.
Month: July 2021
Friday catch up: July’s reading
It is the end of the month, and time for a little round up of what I have been reading. As usual, it was quite a varied mix, with some things to recommend.
Baking in the afternoon: cheese scones
ree with Felicity Cloak in The Guardian – I love scones. I also happen to live in a cheese scone obsessed city (see this article from 2019 here). People at work discuss where they get their favourite cheese scone, and every year Pravda Café’s World Famous (in Wellington) Cheese Scone Class sells out on Wellington on a Plate (I was lucky to go in 2019). One of my favourite cafes, Floriditas, even has a recipe for their cheese and rocket scones on their website. The cheese scone is part of this city’s identity!
This week’s small pleasures #243
Here we are, Monday again and well into the second half of the year. You can feel the days gradually getting a little longer, and while we still need our sweaters and padded coats, there are days where our coats are open and scarves moved to our bags.
Six on Saturday 24.07.21
After last Saturday’s stormy and very wet weather, which had me at one point running out to move some pots that were flooded with water (and getting soaked in the process which took 5 minutes), the weather has calmed down again, and yesterday and today we have been treated to winter sun. Daytime temperatures hover around 14C, which for someone who grew up in Northern Europe is fine for winter (the locals shiver….).
If we were having coffee…or even a cup of tea…
If we were having coffee…or even a cup of tea…we would, of course, talk about the weather. About flooding in … More
This week’s small pleasures #242
ting here on Sunday afternoon, staring out at a damp (but not nearly as bad as yesterday) and grey world. The news is awful just now which ever way you turn, and conversation seems to only be about when we will get our vaccines and how we would love to travel to see loved ones. But then I stop and reconsider the world outside my window – everything is green, the bulbs are coming up, the clouds are clearing a bit (it did rain later), the kākā are calling raucously and there is a shepherd’s pie ready to go into the oven for dinner. Maybe things are not so bad after all.
Six on Saturday 17.07.21
“The shortest day has passed, and whatever nastiness of weather we may look forward to in January and February, at least we notice that the days are getting longer. Minute by minute they lengthen out. It takes some weeks before we become aware of the change. It is imperceptible even as the growth of a child, as you watch it day by day, until the moment comes when with a start of delighted surprise we realize that we can stay out of doors in a twilight lasting for another quarter of a precious hour.” Vita Sackville-West
A seat at the table: Asado at Nikau
Every now and again it is good to do something a little different. On Saturday, as the Matariki firework display was taking place at the waterfront here in Wellington, we went to Nikau Café’s asado night.
This week’s small pleasures #241
There are some weeks that are full of small pleasures, there are some where you have to look for them. … More
Thistles and Kiwis 