With a week that started with two more days off sick with this awful cold, it was surprisingly full of small pleasures. As I mentioned on Saturday, Friday was Matariki or the Māori New Year, a time for reflection and looking forward to the future. This is the second year of this day being a public holiday. You can read more about it here.
Cable Car lights
The tunnels of Wellington Cable Car have special lights at the moment to celebrate Matariki. I’m not sure if the photos really capture what it looks like, but believe me it is a great thing to see on a trip into town.
Walking around in the sunshine
Feeling slightly better, I enjoyed the sunshine on Wednesday. I stopped to have a look at the work being carried out on the Wellington Central Library building which was closed in 2019 due to the potential risk that its precast concrete floor panels might collapse during an earthquake. Work has started on restoring the building, and it was quite fascinating to have a glimpse of how things are progressing.
I also wandered through the Civic Square, where there were some school holiday activities going on. It was good to see the square buzzing with activity.
Edibles
After all the walking about, I treated myself to a piece of burnt Basque cheesecake at August Eatery. It was as light as a feather, and tasted so good, but gosh was it a large piece!
On Sunday we drove over to Eastbourne and had lunch at Tartines, both enjoying an excellent croque monsieur. I made sausages with puy lentils for dinner on Saturday and a Shepherd’s Pie (bottom left) topped with a potato and parsnip mash on Sunday with leftovers tonight. NB – for some reason things don’t brown in our oven.
In the shopping basket this week there were lots of seasonal items such as pumpkin, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, yams (oca), oranges and a bag of Jerusalem artichokes for Wednesday’s soup. I also needed onions and picked up some pears for weekday eating.
Eating out
We also managed to get out for dinner, to perennial favourite Field & Green. To start we shared the chicken liver pate with apple paste and brioche toast, which we both really enjoyed. I opted for the pan-fried snapper, lemon and caper butter with the creamiest mashed potato ever – just the sort of food I like. Karl had the stroganoff served with tarragon spätzle which was also excellent.
Simple things
- Enjoying a beautiful sunrise walking to work on Thursday (see below).
- Having a lot of time to read and listen to podcasts.
- Lighting candles, picking up a favourite blanket and keeping cosy.
- Meeting a friend for lunch today and catching up on news.
- Drinking some lovely red wine supplied by Noble Rot Wine Bar.
- Being grateful for the little things.
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. Also entered in the weekend coffee share hosted by Natalie.
- Jo over at And Anyways also features the cable car in Wellington and takes us on a tour of the city I call home.
- Natalie the Explorer sends us postcards from Philadelphia.
- Ju-Lyn spends 5 minutes with a rather spectacular sculpture over at Touring My Backyard
- Birds and flowers fill Tootlepedal’s Blog
- Laurie over at Notes From the Hinterland looks at birds, blooms and rain and reviews the latest Indiana Jones film.
- Nigella Eats Everything takes us on a guide of Lisbon.
- Trent shares a good coffee and is watched by his cat.
- Carol Ann of Fashioned for Joy teaches me a new word – fungoes – and also shares lots of delights of her week.
- …and all the other lovely bloggers out there. Sorry if I have missed anyone…..
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. If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com or lofgren@thistlesandkiwis.com
Thistles and Kiwis 
The Wellington Cable car looks amazing with all the different colours, it must have been terrific to sit in the Cable car and enjoy that! Your veggies always look lovely and fresh, do you get them at markets? (you’ve probably written about this)
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Yes it is great fun with the cable car – they pick up different themes – the Anzac one this year was stunning. There is a great Sunday vegetable market in the city but we don’t always make it. This week it was supermarket veggies.
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A wonderful post, I really enjoyed getting to know your part of the world…
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Thank you!
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Lots of small pleasures. But I was fascinated by the third picture, the one with the big silver ball that looks like it is floating. Thanks for the mention and glad you are feeling better.
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Ah yes – that silver ball does look as if it is just floating in the sky…I love it!
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Wellington looks like a fun place to live in and I always drool over your food! Sorry!
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Thanks!
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I am so sorry that your cold has dragged on for so long. I’m delighted to read that you are starting to feel better and getting back into your regular routine. As always, I love your focus on the simple things!
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It has been a really horrible cold but getting over it.
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Loving the lights! I hope you’re feeling better soon.
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Thanks – on the mend.
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It’s always interesting to play tourist in your own city, isn’t it? Your basket produce looks amazing for “winter,” and your meals all look scrumptious. I’m glad you are on the mend.
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Yes it is fun – sometimes you notice things that you don’t normally. I love roots and winter vegetables. And thanks – getting better day by day.
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Matariki appeared in our crossword last week. It was set by a New Zealander of course.
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What fun!
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A walk in the sunshine does do a sickly body some good. The tunnel lights look fascinating. All those fresh items look delicious, brussel sprouts. YUM!
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Sunshine always helps…
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I’m glad your cold has abated and that you found a surprising number of pleasures anyway. The cable car tunnel photos are spectacular; I can only imagine the effect — and healing power! — of being there. What a pleasant week (despite your terrible cold), both cozy and adventurous. And thank you, Barbara, for the mention!
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The cable car lights were fun – they are good at updating them according to events.
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The Wellington Cable car looks really cool. Like something you’d see in Las Vegas.
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THte tree in the first photo is cool. That cable car tunnel is cool too. Food looks amazing. Love your list of simple things> I need to list more of those simple things in my own life.
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Sometimes the simple things are the best.
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