It has been a quiet week, but the biggest small pleasure (if one can say that) was having Karl home from his trip to Glasgow on Wednesday. Otherwise, it was a pretty normal week, though work is a little stressful and busy just now.
I got my first book from Bookety Book Books subscription service in the post (Buckeye by Patrick Ryan now in my growing TBR pile). I’ve taken out a three month subscription, so will see how it goes. I also picked up some nice new, bright candles from Small Acorns.
This week’s sandwiches
On Wednesday, I had lunch at Squirrel again, with a repeat of their excellent chicken sandwich. I popped over to the café at the library in town on Friday and had the salami, cheese and salad sandwich (it is a normal size!) and took a welcome break from my desk.
In the basket
I cancelled the Wonky Box this week, as I really need to use up all the left over produce from the past two weeks (roasted butternut squash, yams (oca), fennel and Brussels sprouts for lunch today and Tuesday for example, with butter beans for protein and seeds for crunch). We picked up half a cabbage, which looks so beautiful, carrots, a bunch of still slightly expensive early asparagus, mandarins, passion fruit and these beautiful pink mushrooms. There was also a bag of rocket, lamb mince, potatoes and some bread for Sunday breakfast.
Safka, our now only supplier of Scandinavian food, was having a sale so I ordered up some dill crisps, lumpfish roe, mustard herrings, a tube of kaviar (not pictured) and some German rosehip jam and a bag of spätzle.
Going out, staying in
There was no going out this week, just cosy evenings at home. We watched and really enjoyed the 2018 Australian/US drama Pine Gap, a political thriller which is set around the Australian and United States joint defence intelligence facility at Pine Gap, near Alice Springs, and Börje, a drama about Swedish ice hockey player, Börje Salming (who naturally I had never heard of…..).
Simple things
- Seeing spring sunshine for a few days at least!
- Finishing a very good book that will be on my top reads of the year (more on that later this month).
- Hearing news from friends and family in Europe.
- Getting photos of my brother and nephew in Washington DC.
- Being grateful for so many things.
- Enjoying a walk along the waterfront at lunch time today.
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.
- Anne of Something Over Tea gives us the lowdown on the cape flightless dungbeetle.
- Natalie goes to Mimico Waterfront Park.
- Travels Through My Lens writes about something we have all done – typos – and autocorrecting.
- And The Eternal Traveller goes to a very remote post office.
- Enjoy a coffee over at Trent’s.
- Lovely to see Sanch back in the blogosphere!
- Autumn approaches in the northen hemisphere as Laurie reminds us over at Notes from the Hinterland.
- Min of Write of the Middle finishes a photo a day challenge.
- Mr Tootlepedal has a day not to remember.
- The Travel Sketcher has been to Colorado
- And the Glasgow Gallivanter takes us…gallivanting in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee.
- And Ilze in Latvia harvests lots of beans.
- Jude shares a wordless Wednesday.
- Finally Fred shares six things from his garden.
- ..…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.
Thistles and Kiwis 
It is good to have some quiet, cosy weeks – and how wonderful to have Karl back!
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Having Karl back was the best of all!
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Your library has a cafe?
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Yes – both the one in town and our local one. Great places to sit, read and have a coffee.
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This is an idea I shall have to share with the friends of our library.
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Thanks for the mention! Glad to read that things have settled down at work.
Such a lovely list of simple pleasures. Spring is always a cheering time of year. Funny to think of how your husband was briefly in fall.
Looking forward to reading about the book that so captivated you.
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Yes spring is a cheerful time of the year – though not the best weather here.
The book was by an Australian writer, Michelle de Kretser.
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Have great week ahead.
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Thank you!
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I hope your brother and nephew are safe in DC; it’s not the best place to be at the moment. Are they visiting or do they live there? The cabbage is indeed beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing the link to my blog!
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My brother is in an assisted living place, and this nephew was visiting from Seattle. I have a niece and extended family in DC as well as my brother. Can’t say I want to visit just now… I think vegetables can be so beautiful!
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Seattle would be a great place for your brother; my home town; but also very progressive. I wish them all the best during this time. Good call in not visiting the US right now, while things are so volatile.
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It is a bit of a story as to why my brother is in DC, but he did live there for many years before he retired to Vancouver.
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Vancouver would be so much better; either Vancouver WA or Canada.
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Sounds like a lovely peaceful week. I don’t envy Karl that flight home though. I have just received my spring bulb order. Can’t wait to see what appears in 6 months time! Okay, I have yet to plant them, but I am not thinking about that just yet.
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We live very far away from almost everything down here! Look forward to seeing your bulbs pop up!
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Fancy Karl being in Glasgow! I hope the city was good to him.
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It was! He was able to catch up with friends, do some networking at the conference and say hello to Ashton Lane. We actually met in Glasgow!
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I didn’t know that!
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Yes – a bit of a convoluted story involving a conference and a mutual friend, but yes, technically at Glasgow Airport on 6 September 1998 🙂
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The cabbage looks like a work of art!
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It does, doesn’t it?
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Your waterfront walk looks very inviting.
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It is a lovely place for a walk.
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Börje Salming – a name I instantly recognized from his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs. I must look to see if I can find that show.
Good to have Karl home and to spend time together.
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Oh good! Thought someone might have heard of him out there! We watched it on Kanopy, a streaming service through our libraries.
Yes nice to have Karl home!
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I listened to Buckeye reviewed by our national broadcaster to very good reviews. Interested to hear what you think when you get around to it. 😊
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Oh interesting! I will report back when I read it.
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I appreciate how you are gathering moments and finding happiness in doing so!
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Thank you!
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I miss read and was thinking Pine Gap wasn’t in 2018! Ha! (It’s always interesting what my brain does between the first and second coffee!)
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#WeekendCoffeeShare
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Welcome home, Karl!
I haven’t gotten Bundles from my Rescue Grocer in a while because I was getting too bogged down in produce as well. Now that I am mostly cleared out, I think I may go back to him again.
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It is lovely to have him home! I got a lot of repeats in the box this week…and it is now avocado season and a bunch was in the box…repeat of last year’s avocado overload?
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A book service? I am curious to see what you have to say about it in three months. Happy Saturday.
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I agree – will see what books they send. Could be a way to try things I might not pick up normally? Let’s see!
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Nice flower
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I’m happy to hear you had your Karl back. 🙂 You foodie pics are amazing as always! Ah, a place to sit and read with a coffee.. I need to find local shops and do that more often.
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Yes it is nice to have Karl back again! Finding nice cafes is a must.
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I couldn’t resist googling Bookety Book Books. It’s a great name and looks interesting. Sounds like you’ve had a quiet week, but for me that’s a good thing. Lovely for you to have your boy home.
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It will be interesting to see what they send. Yes a quiet but nice week with Karl home.
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I like that you mentioned cozy evenings at home, I think those are widely underrated! I hope it is a good busy at work. Enjoy the rest of your weekend 🙂
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Thanks Maria!
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How wonderful to have Karl back. Living in Toronto, I’ve heard of Börje Salming who spent 16 seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team. Thank you for the mention and for your weekend coffee share.
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Yes great to have Karl home! Not being an ice-hockey fan Börje Salming was new to me, but of course with you in Toronto I should have thought you might have heard of him.
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You’ve reminded me to check for asparagus this week. I do love it with a nice soft boiled egg for lunch. Our small pleasure was spending a couple of hours with our two gorgeous grandsons yesterday. They live in Brisbane and we’re 90 minutes away so we don’t see them all the time. But the best thing is we’ll be back there next weekend again for our son in law’s 40th birthday and we’re baby sitting all day on Sunday. What a treat that will be. 🙂
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Oh yes asparagus and a boiled egg! How wonderful to spend some time with your grandsons – and to know when you are seeing them again!
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I did a book subscription box several years ago that was really fun, but they had to stop it because one of the gals was dealing with some health issues. Your sandwiches look really good.
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