The weekend brought us some sad family news. Karl’s aunt was taken to a hospice in Sweden, and my sister-in-law in Vancouver finally gave in to her battle with leukaemia and passed away peacefully. I am waiting to hear when I should go over, but in the meantime I know my brother is being well looked after by my nieces and nephews, and our thoughts and prayers are with my sister-in-law’s children and family at this time.
Before this news, the week had trundled along with lots of small pleasures to keep us going through the darkness of winter. Saturday morning was lovely and sunny to start at least, and I stopped to finally take a picture of the statue of John Plimmer with his dog Fritz, which stands at the bottom of Plimmer Steps (which also happens to be where my dentist is). You can read more about him and the statue here.
Those of you who live in, have lived in or have visited Glasgow will be familiar with the traffic cone that adorns the statue of the Duke of Wellington in the city centre – seems like someone is trying to copy the idea here…..By the way, you can see the only Starbucks in the city – I can’t imagine how it survives with so many much better coffee shops around town.
Eating
After all the fancy dining we have been enjoying the past couple of weeks, it was time to come back down to earth. Despite it being a bitterly cold night, we visited our local ‘Food Truck Friday’ this week and after grabbing 3 pierogi from the Little Polish Kiosk because who can resist pierogi, we picked up pizza to take home from Cosa Nostra. Very good pizza it was too, and made a lovely change and start to the weekend.
I had a gap between an early appointment with the dental hygienist and Pilates on Wednesday so grabbed a cheese scone at Pravda, who make some of the best in the city. I had lunch at Neo Cafe, enjoying their wonderful mushrooms on crumpets with rocket and chive crème fraiche.
In the basket, in the kitchen
The Wonky Box was certainly colourful with (another) spaghetti squash, a leek, avocados, yams (oca), parsnips, potatoes, mushrooms, a large head of broccoli and a curly lettuce. I added some greens (the cavolo nero served with the sausages, and lots of roasted root vegetables left over from last week) and rainbow chard (for Wednesday’s soup), two more of these excellent grapefruit, some feta and tamarillos. I made lamb and feta burgers during the week which we had with homemade kumara chips (or fries) and veggies which was an excellent meal, and I put together a lasagna which I heated up when we got home from the cinema with leftovers for today.
Out and about
On Sunday, we went to see the 50th Woody Allen film, Coup de Chance, at our favourite cinema, Lighthouse Cuba. We were pleased to see the return of two jaffas with our coffee (we only got one last week), and also enjoyed the film, which is unusually in French. On films, we watched Priscilla, the film about Priscilla Presley that came out last year. Well worth watching if you haven’t seen it.
Simple things
- Hanging out the washing on a sunny morning.
- Finishing one good book and starting another.
- Spending time in the kitchen, cooking.
- Getting home, putting on the heating and getting cosy.
- Listening to ducks as they fly overhead.
- Saying congratulations to the All Blacks for Saturday’s win and Spain for their 2:1 victory (references to rugby and football for those who don’t know what I am talking about – and no I didn’t watch either game).
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.
- Anne of Something Over Tea shares some great pictures of blue cranes.
- Green Dreams gathers in her harvest.
- Lisa of Southern Patches share a morning coffee.
- There are some reflections on the Portuguese Coastal Camino over at Retirement Reflections.
- Deb’s World takes us round some places with fun names in Norfolk Island.
- It was lovely to hear from Laurie over at Notes from the Hinterland.
- There is a lot of bird activity over at Tootlepedal’s Blog.
- Jude over at Cornwall in Colours shares a fabulous picture of St Michael’s Mount.
- Fred shares six things from his garden in France.
- Sue over at Women Living Well After 50 shares with us how she indeed lives well.
- Natalie goes on an outing to see goats.
- You can always be sure of a good coffee and conversation over at Trent’s World.
- .…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 lofgren@thistlesandkiwis.com
Thistles and Kiwis 
I’m so sorry about your sad news. As for the traffic cone – not a patch on the original!
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Thanks Anabel. I agree…not quite the same as the Duke’s cone!
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Of course I love pierogi.
I hope they make some good fillings.
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I had potato and cheese on Friday.
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A double whammy in sad news – I am thinking of you both. Despite this, you have a wonderful way of looking on the bright side of life, which is uplifting for the rest of us.
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Yes it was some start to the weekend, but we will get there.
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I’m so sorry for your losses! I know you will be looking for the gifts, they are always there.
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Thank you – we are blessed with a pretty good life just now.
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Condolences on your sad news.
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Thank you.
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I am so sorry for your loss. It is wonderful that you choose to see the light and good that you still had during the week. Your outings and food looks wonderful. My thoughts are with you.
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Thank you. Maria. It is sad even though both of these things were expected.
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I am so sorry to hear about your loss. You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.
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Thank you Joanne.
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Condolences…so sorry for your loss and for a family member in hospice. Praying for peace for your family.
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Thank you so much.
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Hugs…
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I add my condolences.
The existence of coffee chains is one of those mysteries. There must be a better coffee shop in almost every town.
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Thank you. I am surprised that Starbucks survives here – Wellingtonians are very fussy about their coffee.
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Hi, Barbara – I’m so sorry to hear about Karl’s aunt and your sister-in-law. Sending warm thoughts and prayers to you and your family.
xx Donna
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Thank you Donna.
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Sorry to read of your recent family loss, and best wishes for your brother and Karl’s aunt.
However, it was lovely to see you bravely facing a cold night for Pizza and pierogi at the Little Polish Kiosk…. I hope they do well.
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Thank you for your wishes. It was worth heading out on a cold night to the food trucks as the food was really good. Fingers crossed it lasts.
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I am also adding my condolences to your loss. It is difficult at this point to be so far from the family.
As to the pyroghies (Canadian spelling), did you eat them with pizza? I love them but don’t have them often.
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Thank you. We ate the pierogis while waiting for our pizza – just a couple between us.
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Here in Canada we’ve invented something called pyrogphy poutine. It’s crazy.
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Oh…..!!!!
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Hi Barbara, I’m so sorry to read of your two very sad losses. On another note -that Polish pizza sounds intriguing and I’m sure very tasty! Love your list of simple things and your lamb and feta burgers sound delicious! I’m making Parsnip Soup tonight and have some Sourdough bread to have with it. Nice cold & windy night here for soup! Thanks so much for linking up with #WWWhimsy – hope you’re keeping warm over there! xo
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Thanks Min. Oh it wasn’t a Polish pizza – two different food wagons! We’ve just had soup here too – lentil – just the thing for a winter day.
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Sorry to hear your sad news. My thoughts are with you.
The food trucks look interesting. Wellington seems to be a very foodie place. And yes, why would anyone frequent Starbucks when we know NZ makes the best flat white. Or is that Australia 🤔
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Thank you. Since we live in NZ I say we make the best flat whites 🙂
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😂
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A mixed bag of sharing here Barbara. I am so sorry about the family’s news of death and terminal illness. Distance is so felt when this kind of thing happens.
Loved the food pics and I could enjoy one of those cheese scones…with plenty of butter…to smooth its way in my mouth.
Denyse x
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Thanks Denyse.
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Hi Barbara, I’m sorry about your sad news and hope your travels go smoothly. another lovely foodie post with a wintery feel! Take care and thanks for the mention x
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Thank you! We’ve decided not to go to Vancouver at the moment as my brother is moving to Washington DC. We will go and see him there.
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Your life in New Zealand sounds lovely. It’s always devastating to receive sad family news though. Family is everything.
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Yes – two sad bits of news in one week.
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