This week’s small pleasures #448

Thistles and Kiwis

We are already approaching the middle of July. The days are gradually getting longer, though with the weather it is hard to appreciate it. This week saw more flooding in the Nelson Tasman region (top of the South Island), causing devastation and destruction over much of the region. We escaped the worst of the weather here, but we also had a lot of rain. I am sure this must be one of the wettest winters on records. Anyway…onto the pleasures of the week…

A local walk

There was almost no rain on Sunday, so I took the opportunity after lunch to go for a walk around the neighbourhood with no stick and seeing how the foot got on. I spotted this stunning rhododendron and the very pretty camellias (also in the featured image at the top of the post).

I met some ducks and asked them how their day was going, spotted more daffodils, some berries, and this amazing looking twisted root. My foot was a little stiff, but it was nice just to get out even for just half an hour to see what is happening out there.

This week’s sandwiches

It has been ages since I had a sandwich from Dough Bakery, and the egg salad did not disappoint for my Tuesday lunch al desko. On Wednesday, I popped into Bond Street Deli again for one of their magnificent tuna bagels, a simple treat and small pleasure. I could not resist buying some black pudding from our local butcher on Friday, and had a classic soft, white roll with some for Sunday breakfast. Perfection!

In the basket

The Wonky Box delivered yet another butternut squash, a leek, broccoli, onions, a wee lettuce (not pictured), kumara, mushrooms, a bunch of baby carrots and…..avocados! I still have four left from last week, none of them ripe yet. Eugh. Anyway, I topped this up with some wonderful rhubarb, apples, pears and a bunch of cavolo nero. I also treated myself to tomatoes – so out of season, but I have such a craving for a fresh one – must be all these northern hemisphere summer pictures and posts! There was a bag of coffee beans, some classic and mint feta, some ‘roasted seed toppers’ to add to work day lunch boxes (bit pricey, but thought I would give them a try), and this gin chocolate from Wellington Chocolate Factory. We tried some after dinner on Saturday, and it has a great flavour, think the botanicals that go into a good gin rather than something alcoholic. And….we got a delivery from Safka, which included the best crisps ever – dill flavour, Kex chocolate and a few other things.

Staying in

There was no exciting outings this week, but there was a chance to lie on the sofa and read, time to cook (a lamb curry on Sunday) and generally potter around. We are now onto series four of Borgen, and I watched the latest from introvert and dog (the salmon soup looks so good!).

Simple things

  • Watching a small child – not yet 4 years old I guessed – checking books out of the library, swiping her card and passing the books over the check out machine – with a little help from her parents, but she knew exactly what to do.
  • Finding two skirts in a sale that were the right length (ie not to the ankle, not mid calf and not mid thigh). A miracle!
  • Enjoying being cosy inside when it is raining outside.
  • Seeing that the All Blacks beat France in Wellington 43-17 and celebrating the first Polish tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles final.
  • Counting the days until our short trip to Sydney next month.
  • Finding these yellow tulips to brighten up our lives.

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.

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Published by Thistles and Kiwis

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

46 Comments

  2. What a lovely walk around your neighbourhood, Barbara and good to see your foot is improving. Sorry to hear of the flooding, we had that earlier in the year in North Queensland and Northern NSW and it was devastating. Life has been a little difficult for me lately, however I did spend the day in the kitchen on Saturday. I made a delicious slow cooked beef ragout, chocolate chip biscuits, chocolate muffins and a meusli slice. Have a good week. Sue L x

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  19. It’s very nice to hear of little ones using the library, I raised my children the same way and their reading ages were 2 above what they really were.

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  22. The flowers you shared are all beautiful signs of spring. I hope your foot continues to do well. My simple pleasure this past week was seeing a grey heron in a local park. Thank you for the mention and for your weekend coffee share.

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