This week’s small pleasures #274

You can really feel autumn is here with darker mornings and a slight chill in the air. We have still been blessed with some gorgeous, sunny weather though, which of course is wonderful. It was also the week that saw the second anniversary of the death of my brother Peter – this was what I wrote at the time in his memory.

But to the small pleasures of the week. Now, you might wonder why seeing a line of traffic cones and police tape would be a small pleasure, but these ones are at the bottom of steps up to the Parliament complex, and signify the big clean up that has gone on since the protestors were moved on. It was a good thing to see.

And so to food….on Friday we went for dinner with friends to Syrian pop-up restaurant Damascus. You can read about the place here. We went with friends, and ordered a meat platter and the vegetarian platter. The baba ganoush was gorgeous, as was the hummus – in fact all the food was good. I only ate from the vegetarian platter, but the meat got the thumbs up too.

We enjoyed our first hot cross bun on Saturday, with cups of Earl Grey tea. I am sure as a child, they were only available on Good Friday, but now they seem to be available all through Lent. Anyway, it was lovely! In the basket this week were plums, tomatoes, green beans, spinach, red onions, lemons and the first feijoas of the season.

We met my nephew, wife and my great-nephew for lunch on Sunday at Olive (where I enjoyed a lovely eggs Florentine) – always a great pleasure to see them.

Finally, I spotted this man with his dogs, all beautifully arranged as if for a picture, on Wednesday morning. I’m not sure what was going on, but we passers by stopped, smiled and took photos.

What were your small pleasures this week? Here are some other blog posts from a few fellow bloggers looking at the good things in life. 

• One of my favourite posts each week comes from Carol Ann of Fashioned for Joy enjoys being a substitute teacher, does some gardening and shares pictures of joyful daffodils.
• Ju Lyn at Touring my Backyard contemplates nature and shows us some red bananas, something I have never see before.
• Natalie the Explorer shares more wonderful art found on the streets of Toronto.
• Anne over at  Something Over Tea puts up with power cuts. The great thing about the blogging world is how we learn so much about daily life in other countries around the globe.
• Jo at And Anyways celebrates her birthday with a list of 55 things about her – greetings from the other side of the Tasman!
• Deb’s World’s reminds us to feel amazing, even though sometimes it can be hard.
• Laurie at Notes from the Hinterland shares her favourites of the week including the bird life in her garden.
• Enjoy coffee and music with Trent over at Trent’s World 
• Scribble and Scran cooks aubergine – a favourite of mine too – and also makes a trip to Glasgow.
• Popsicle Society motivates us with a quote from The Wizard of Oz.

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