The past week seems to have flown by, and today it was back to work after 10 days away from my desk. I didn’t accomplish as much as I planned with my time off, but did read a lot, do some baking and cooking and of course both exercising and resting my foot. Anzac Day (the national day of rememberence in New Zealand and Australia) in on Friday turned out to be a lovely sunny day for those who attended the dawn services, and like many others, we watched the Pope’s funeral on Saturday (evening for us). So to this week’s small pleasures…
Lunches
On Tuesday, we drove round to Eastbourne and had lunch at Tartines café, where we both enjoyed a croque monsieur, with salad for me and chips for Karl. On Wednesday I enjoyed a tuna bagel, and on Thursday popped over to our local library café for one of their magnificent BLATs.


In the basket
The Wonky Box delivered up a few potatoes and tiny red kumara, mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, a leek (again), the seemingly standard one ear of sweetcorn, and, not pictured, a head of broccoli and a lettuce. I topped this up with a half celery, lemons, witloof or chicory, apples (one of which I cooked with Wednesday’s plums to make a compote for next week’s breakfast), a new jar of tahini, a tin of beans, ricotta, salmon, pork mince and turkey mince (for some reason there was no chicken mince).
Simple things
- Reading this interesting article.
- Listening to morepork or ruru when I get up early (listen here).
- Spending a fair bit of time reading.
- Finding my foot getting a little stronger each day – as long as I don’t overdo it!
- Clearing and tidying the wardrobe – now to get the bag to the charity or op shop.
- Getting the all clear from the eye doctor at my three month follow up appointment.
The picture below was taken last year in Martinborough.

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.
- Laurie of Notes from the Hinterland celebrates spring.
- Anne of Something Over Tea celebrates Earth Day.
- Deb of Deb’s World is getting ready to go on holiday.
- Trent shares some of his music – do listen.
- Meanwhile Sue has lots to celebrate in April.
- Mr Tootlepedal goes round the back.
- While Donna shares one beautiful thing each day – a lovely post.
- Travels Through My Lens goes on a lovely trail.
- And Fred shares six wonderful things from his garden.
- The Glasgow Gallivanter goes to Kirkharle.
- Meanwhile The Travelsketcher shares his week and finds some amazing looking tinned fish.
- Mr Platypus of Now I’m 64 shares a picture of a beautiful frog.
- Jude of Cornwall in Colours celebrates blue Monday.
- Natalie goes river cruising.
- Ju-Lyn visits a wet market.
- And…Jo shares more of her trip to the UK over at And Anyways…
- ..…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.


So cool— I love the idea of a library café!
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Yes it is so nice to have that sort of community hub.
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So glad your foot is getting stronger!
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Thank you!
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I’m so happy to hear your foot is getting stronger! One step at a time, you’ll be back to your old self soon 🙂 I love the first photo at the top!
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Thank you!
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It sounds like you had a lovely time away from work. I imagine it was difficult to return. Thanks again for shoutout!
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It was nice and yes very hard to get back into it….
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A recovering foot and the all-clear on the eyes- result!
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Yes! It has cheered me up.
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“Today Britain is a thriving multicultural nation, producing a range of quality exports whilst preserving its rich heritage and traditions.”
That would be nice if it was true. I enjoyed the article.
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Yes….an interesting read though!
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Hurray on the all clear from the eye doc. On on! with the foot rehab. Very good news on the health and wellness front!
Nice haul from Wonky and shopping. What are your plans for the chicory? I don’t use this veg much as they are very expensive here.
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Hopefully the second half of the year will be better, health and fitness wise.
In fact, I am roasting the chicory this evening (my salad plan didn’t happen as the weather called for more cosy things).
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That’s great news from your eye doctor and about your recovering foot. The sunflower in your header photo is beautiful. Thank you for the mention and for your weekend coffee share.
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Your wonky box looks great. As do your meals at the restaurants. YUM!!!
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