This week’s small pleasures #419

Thistles and Kiwis

It is nearly Christmas, and we are all ready to get cooking tomorrow for our Christmas Eve feast. The meatball mixture is already made and the eggs boiled for non-traditional devilled eggs (after all it is summer here). It has been a funny week weather wise, with cold winds, sunshine, rain, sunshine in rotation. It has also been quite humid, or as we Wellingtonians like to say, ‘Auckland weather’. There was another earthquake on Tuesday, a 5.1 this time, epicentre near Seddon at the top of the South Island, just to add to everything. You could say there wasn’t a dull moment! Anyway, the pictures of sunshine below are from Wednesday.

In the basket

The Wonky Box this week delivered courgettes (or zucchini), carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, asparagus, sweet corn and…..avocados! There was also a lettuce which I will use on Christmas Eve. I picked up some blueberries which are really coming down in price and a small punnet of gooseberries on Friday, and from our local market on Saturday, an aubergine (eggplant), more corn, and a bag of peaches I roasted for dessert.

Out and about, eating and drinking

On Wednesday I met some colleagues for lunch before going to the hairdresser and sipping a mimosa while having the colour done. Thursday’s lunch was an egg mayo and pickle sandwich, and Friday’s a Reuben, both from Dough Bakery. Since it is holiday time, we had two afternoon treats at the weekend, with a chocolate chip cookie from Gamboni’s Deli on Saturday and a mincemeat pie on Sunday.

Putting up the Christmas tree

We put up the tree on Thursday evening, and regular long-term readers will recognise the little drummer boy who is now 54 years old. The maple leaf was a gift from one of my nieces, and the pohutukawa fairy now sits on top, bringing a bit of local colour to the tree. There is a kiwi on the tree too, along with an Australian parrot, koala bears, reindeer, angels and lots of little people.

The highlight though of the week was the author Laurence Fearnley, who wrote my favourite book of 2024, commenting on my recent what’s on your bookshelf post. I can’t tell you how it made me smile!

Simple things

  • Finishing work for the holidays – what a joy!
  • Seeing my nephew being greeted by his sons after landing in Tokyo, thanks to Instagram stories.
  • Enjoying summer fruits.
  • Watching Gremlins on Saturday evening – quite hilarious.
  • Hoping for sunshine over Christmas (not likely given the forecast).
  • Wishing all bloggers and their families a very merry Christmas!

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.

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.

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Published by Thistles and Kiwis

Loves summer, sunshine and cats. Beginner gardener, likes eating, cooking and reading about food

34 Comments

  7. Your Christmas decorations sound rather lovely. We don’t bother with a tree and I gave all my tree decorations to my daughter years ago including some from my childhood. Enjoy your Christmas Barbara and I wish you all the best for the new year.

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  13. Strange there was an earthquake in Seddon, I’m in Greymouth now and we didn’t feel anything. Hope you had a lovely xmas.

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  15. I love your Christmas tree and ornaments. The maple leaf is very Canadian 🙂 The food and wonky box all look so good. I hope you had a lovely Christmas. Thank you for the mention and your weekend coffee share. Enjoy the rest of your holidays and happy New Year!

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  17. That was a lovely post Barbara.

    Thanks for sharing.

    And wishing you and your husband all the best for 2025.

    Denyse

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