I wasn’t sure where to begin with this week’s small pleasures – sunny days? Or should I mention getting dates for both my Covid-19 vaccinations (I know!!)? There was an interesting chat at a jeweller about a repair to a ring (which may cost me a small fortune, but let’s see, he is getting me a quote) and a browse in a second hand bookshop. Even though I am not particularly interested in the Olympic Games, I couldn’t help but celebrate the gold medals for New Zealand athletes in rowing and the women’s rugby sevens. There was also a bronze for Dame Valerie Adams in the shot put, who is also the first Kiwi to win a medal at four consecutive Olympic Games.
On Friday, I took a walk down to the City Art Gallery at lunch time and caught the last day of Every Artist, an exhibition of “local, national, and international artists who rethink, remap, queer, and even gamify the history of art.” As you can imagine, it was a real mix of works with a few things to make you think. In any case, it was a lovely interlude in the working day. The featured image at the top of the post, the one above and the one below which is of the gallery, were all taken on Friday.
And so to food…a good sandwich brought from home one lunch time, a perfect avocado and a Saturday morning treat of scrambled eggs on toast, are a few things I enjoyed this week. There were shiitake mushrooms on toast with creamy garlic spinach for a quick Saturday meal before going out, a bowl of spaghetti carbonara at our local Italian, Cosa Nostra on Thursday, and a bento box with all sorts of lovely things for lunch at Tatsushi. In the shopping basket this week, there were oranges, silver beet, yams (oca), limes, fennel, celeriac and a piece of Over the Moon goat blue cheese. Finally, I seem to have a thing about making scones on Saturdays….this time I made Victoria scones, which you make in a round and cut into triangles. I had mine with apricot jam.
On Saturday, I went to the latest evening of dance from the Royal New Zealand Ballet. The first piece was Paquita, a 19th century classic that allows dancers to show off their virtuosity and technique. Laurynas Vėjalis was particularly outstanding as the main male dancer. The second piece was a new version of Firebird, with choreography by Choreographer in Residence, Loughlan Prior, and design by Tracy Grant Lord. The stage set was a dystopian world, where people have to scavenge and water is in short supply. In this version of the ballet, the firebird offers redemption and the possibility of a new start for mankind. It was good to see a new piece, especially made for the company, and great dancing from the principal dancers.
So, that is me for this week except to say that this Monday morning I opened Instagram stories and saw my great nephew take his first few steps, holding on to a walker. Now that brought a smile to my face to start the week! What were your small pleasures? Here are some other blog posts from fellow bloggers looking at the good things in life.
- Carol Ann of Fashioned for Joy shares her delights of the week – always some fun things.
- Laurie at Notes From The Hinterland shares her garden (and unfortunate pests).
- Ju Lyn at Touring my Backyard shares some lovely looking Korean food.
- Deb, shares some lovely pictures of trees.
- Natalie the Explorer shares a gorgeous picture of a red-tailed hawk and other great scenes of Toronto – and also hosts the #coffeeshare
- Anne at Something Over Tea also shares pictures of birds.
- Sanch Writes is in lockdown in Sydney but still finds her weekly gratitude – all the best Sanch!
- Jo at And Anyways catches up on the month – and makes ginger crunch.
- And over at Trent’s World, joins in the weekend coffee share
- The Nordic Dowager describes managed isolation here in New Zealand – compulsory for those coming into the country.
- Sammie at The Annoyed Thyroid does some baking.
You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis. As for Twitter….am totally inactive these days. If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com
Thistles and Kiwis 
Interesting art, sunny days, delicious food, dance, and baby first steps…They’re indeed lovely small pleasures. Thank you for the mention and for linking up with #weekendcoffeeshare.
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My small pleasures include seeing a brief video of two grand nephews living in England; having a long video chat with two granddaughters living in Norway; talking to my daughter in Cape Town; walking along the top of our local hill to see far-reaching views on both sides of it; and seeing such a variety of birds in my garden – with the common fiscal still coming to eat out of my hand now and then. Thank you for mentioning my delight in a little rain after so long.
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Oh that sounds like a lovely collection of small pleasures! What a great selection.
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So lovely to catch up with your week from across the ditch. We, here in Greater Sydney continue the lockdown …and we, the oldies aged over 70 are pleased to have had our full complement of Covid Vax. I am glad you got to go some places that are, for us, banned right now. I was lucky to see Hamilton in Sydney in May and sadly, the whole production is on hold…till no end date.
Denyse #weekendcoffeeshare
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Glad to hear you have had both your vaccinations. I hope your lockdown doesn’t go on too long, but things aren’t looking so good at the moment. Take care!
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Lovely to have the Royal New Zealand ballet…is there any restriction on the amount of people coming to each performance? Good news that you are getting the vaccine soon, our second one is coming up in two weeks time. This time next year let’s hope life is less complicated for us, we seem to be having more and more Lockdowns at the moment.
The bento box for lunch looks delicious by the way!
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No restrictions on numbers in the audience – at the moment! Yes let’s hope this time next year life will be a bit more ‘normal’. Sure I saiid that last year too! The bento box was really good.
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Yes, I’m hoping for normal next year too.
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That is some art exhibit. Wowsah! Also, can’t help but feel a little envious about how much freer life seems to be in New Zealand than it is in the U.S.
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We still have closed borders though….
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Smart. And with the way things are going, I expect they will be closed for sometime.
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Yes at least another year I think.
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At least.
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I love reading your Small Pleasures posts – they are filled with so much beauty and joy despite the world we find ourselves.
Hurray for your nephew’s First Steps – thank goodness for tech that enables us to keep in touch these days.
Congratulations on getting your appointments for the vaccination! I hear that these are hard to come by in NZ. Will you have to travel far to get them done?
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I’m going to a vaccination center walking distance from work, and not that far from home so that is good. And yes tech is great for allowing us to keep in touch with things like first steps!
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Do they give you a day off after your vaccination so you can rest up?
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No but I booked mine for a Tuesday afternoon as I don’t work on Wednesdays. You can always take sick leave if you feel poorly.
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Good to know. Wishing you a smooth vaccination!
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Aww thanks for the shout out! Everything looks delicious and the ballet sounds wonderful! We’re so locked down, trips to the theatre and meals out seem like a distant memory! Congrats on getting your needle dates – being fully vaxxed is such a great feeling 🙂
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Thanks for stopping by! Looking forward to getting my vaccine I must say.
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