This week’s small pleasures #449

Thistles and Kiwis

You can really feel that the days are getting longer, just those slightly lighter mornings on the way to work signalling the move towards spring. Actually, unlike northern Europe where I grew up and lived most of my life, there isn’t such a demarcation of the seasons – in my opinion at least. It is green all year round and the first spring flowers always appear in what is technically still winter.

Anyway, we have had a few nice days recently, with a chance for some lunch time walks. Below is a Clark Straddle Carrier for moving containers which was used around the Thorndon Container Terminal. I love the bright yellow against the blue and the rust red.

This week’s sandwiches

I forgot my lunch box on Tuesday and had no leftovers on Friday, so I popped into Dough Bakery on the way to the office and on Tuesday picked up one of their pastrami sandwiches and Friday, the egg one. Both come with a good amount of greens – and of course, pickles (they are the bakery side of Pickle & Pie that regular readers will know is a favourite place of mine). And of course there was the deconstructed bagel on Wednesday.

In the basket

The Wonky Box delivered a head of broccoli, carrots, kumara, a couple of parsnips, a small fennel bulb and couple of red capsicums. There was also a bag of purple Brussels sprouts, a bag of limes I had added on and…more avocados. I still haven’t eaten last weeks, so might take these to work. I added some potatoes, more lovely rhubarb, rainbow chard, apples, tamarillos, pasta, salmon, lamb mince and a swede/turnip/neep because I do enjoy them and it is fun to serve a swede to a Swede 🙂

Going out, staying in

We went to our local pub for fish and chips on Wednesday, and on Sunday drove around to Eastbourne and had lunch at Tartines, enjoying their take on croque monsieur. It was a beautiful sunny day as you can see (the area is covered and heated), and with the French flags, we could almost pretend to be on holiday.

On Saturday evening we sat and watched the Norwegian film The Worst Person in the World, which we had seen in the cinema when it came out but enjoyed a rewatching on the small screen. Of course we watched more Masterchef Australia, another episode of The Marlow Murder Club and I caught up on the latest video from introvert and dog.

Simple things

  • Going to book club at Marsden Books on Thursday for a good discussion about The Names by Florence Knapp.
  • Increasing my steps each day bit by bit.
  • Catching up with a friend for lunch.
  • Seeing spring flowers popping up all over.
  • Enjoying cafe life
  • Going for a good walk at lunch time on Friday.

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 added to 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

36 Comments

  3. I can really feel the days getting shorter, unfortunately! To me that’s definitely a turnip. I’m not sure where the divide is but growing up in NE England and living now in Scotland it has always been so. I was astonished the first time I heard someone call it a swede!

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  5. It sounds like a great week. I love your small pleasures and really need to incorporate that into my posts. It’s wonderful to help remind us of all the things going on in our daily lives. Thank you for sharing my post. Have a great week.

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  10. Those sandwiches looks so delicious!! I want one now! I wish I could give you some rhubarb from my. garden, I have more than I can use, and have already shared with all my local friends…I wish you a wonderful rest of your week!

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  16. Thank you so much for the kind mention! 🌿 It’s wonderful to be included among such lovely bloggers and small pleasures. I absolutely agree—sometimes it’s the little things, like fresh dill or a sunny lunch break, that brighten our days. Wishing you all many more joyful moments and tasty treats ahead!

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  18. We have noticed our days getting shorter here and it is always a bit bittersweet.

    Your days look wonderful and those sandwiches have me now craving a loaded one! I may have to go on a hunt for some solid gluten free bread to support what I’m now daydreaming about 😉

    Hope you’re enjoying a beautiful weekend!

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  19. It is interesting how we start to notice the days and day light, even this early on.

    That shop does do very good sandwiches. I hope you find your bread and fillings to make you own 🙂

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