This week’s small pleasures #307

The days are getting longer, the early mornings are filled with loud birdsong, and there was no coat or sweater necessary today at lunch time. All these are small pleasures, just simple things that make me smile inside. Enjoying a lazy Sunday, picking up a magazine or watching Anti-Chef cook his way through Julia Child’s recipes, was also much needed to recharge the batteries and switch off for a bit.

Anyway, first up, an update on Charlie. On Tuesday at our own vet, he had a pain-relief ‘bandage’ put on, an appetite stimulant, vitamins and cuddles. After a week at home, slowly building up his strength, he had the bandage removed on Saturday. His eye will take a couple of months to completely return to normal, but he is eating well and regaining his cheekiness each day. A big thank you to our wonderful vet for looking after him!

I think almost every Small Pleasures post has something I have enjoyed seeing in the Botanic Gardens on my walks to work or town. This week’s highlight are the bush lilies which can be spotted in various locations.

On Wednesday after my monthly ‘tune up’ at the chiropractor, I stopped off for a pot of tea and a panini at new cafe, Kākāriki. It has just opened, offering a mix of counter food and fresh dishes. I love the touch of a little biscuit that came at the side of the tea. I then walked along through Post Office Square, the history of which you can read here if you are interested. If you look carefully, you can see an old British bright red phone box. There is a France Télécom one there too. After Pilates (moved from Thursday), I picked up some groceries before coming home to enjoy the good weather and spend some time cooking.

So to some other good news this week. Regular readers may remember that back in August, following a lot of bad weather, we had a slip that blocked the pathway to the steps leading down from our house. At last, over 2 months later, the council came and cleared the path, so no need to walk on a plank or deal with lots of mud. If our neighbour had not cleared the pathway, to at least allow us to pass, we would have had no access to the main road below, the main bus route and car parking spot. Below you can see my husband looking very pleased at being able to walk along the path again as normal.

No small pleasures post would be complete without the mention of food. I picked up a bunch of baby carrots and one of radishes, which I used in a millet based grain salad which will do for work lunches at the start of next week (Monday’s will be topped with feta). In the basket on Saturday was another grapefruit, limes, lemons, spinach and some purple asparagus. I also picked up some smoked mussel pate from The Smokehouse, which is utterly delicious, and made a great appetizer on warm toast on Saturday evening, I made one of our favourites, Julia Turshen’s turkey meatballs during the week, which we hadn’t had for ages, but which we both really enjoy.

So, 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. 

• Carol Ann over at Fashioned for Joy quotes poetry, buys honey and celebrates her mother’s life. And shares more of Alma Thomas’ work.
• Ju Lyn at Touring my Backyard shares a spooky tea.
• Natalie the Explorer loves life in October and also hosts the weekend coffee share.
• Anne over at Something Over Tea celebrates spring on Sunday.
• Share a coffee over at Trent’s World and hear about his week.
• Popsicle Society motivates us for Monday.
• Green Dreams shares her carrot harvest…and a hot beverage.
• Check out Southern Patches  Friday Favourites.
• Retirement Reflections muses on peace and shares a favourite song.
• And Deb shares this month’s reflections on her word of the year.

Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden.

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