This week’s small pleasures #478

Thistles and Kiwis

It seems summer has returned. The shorts and dresses have come back out, hats found and sunglasses dusted. Meanwhile, it is only 3 weeks until we go to Hamburg where I believe it is 0C at the moment and more snow expected. No comment necessary!

Anyway, here we are at a new week with a couple of things already in the diary. We’ve started watching a German spy drama and of course we also watched the second heat of Melodifestivalen. The winner could well end up as the winner over all I feel….let’s see! And today I came home to see this yellow dahlia being visited by a bee, a small pleasure indeed.

Time for lunch

I met a friend for lunch at August Eatery on Wednesday, a place I have featured on more than one occasion on the blog. I had the same as last time – a wonderful fresh salad of pearl couscous, chicken, lots of fresh herbs and radiccio. I also had a peppermint tea – no tea bag here, but a huge bunch of mint leaves. After our walk on Friday, we called into our local library cafe for their excellent toasted sandwiches (ham, cheese and tomato in this case) and a bowl of chips (what I call chips – not crisps) to share.

In the basket

I didn’t get a Wonky Box delivery this week, and picked up some sweetcorn, green beans, yellow and pale green courgettes (zucchini), limes, blueberries and raspberries, a cucumber, salmon, beef mince to make a chilli, and some cream cheese for breakfasts. Of course, there were things forgotten, so a bright red and yellow capsicum, onions and garlic were added on Sunday.

Out and about

On Sunday afternoon, a friend and I went to see Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie at Circa Theatre. It wasn’t a play I knew to be honest, so it was good to read about it and see it. I thoroughly enjoyed the production with its minimalist set and simple presentation.

Simple things

  • Listening to this wonderful version of Te Iwi E – quite lovely.
  • Enjoying summer while watching the snow in Copenhagen…and Hamburg….and Stockholm…..
  • Reading about this surfing dog who you can also see here in action.
  • Hearing about friends’ children about to start university – gosh I can still remember that thrill!
  • Counting my blessings.
  • Watching all the bees enjoying the oregano and marjoram flowers.

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. 

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

21 Comments

  1. I absolutely loved the singing from the grammar school choir, Barbara. What a joyful sound! I love the way you artfully display your veg, and that’s the first time I’ve seen yellow zucchini. I presume the taste is the same? Many thanks for the link xx

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    1. Weren’t they good? The soloist in particular. Yes the yellow zucchini taste the same, but I am making a pasta dish with them and green ones tonight so it will look pretty.

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  2. I’m excited to see Hamburg with you. My parents went several years ago and really enjoyed the city. We went to see a fabulous production of The Great Gatsby by the Queensland Theatre Company last Thursday. It was amazing and made us think we need to see more productions at the gorgeous art deco theatre we have here. And three weeks to go – that won’t take long to come around. Have a lovely week.

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    1. I am both excited and a little nervous about the trip as you can imagine. Keep saying ‘three months of travel’ not ‘what about my plants?’ 🙂

      I know what you mean about going to the theatre. I’ve been a few times recently and need to keep this up when we get back.

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  4. looks like you have had a lovely week. May the rest of February be just as kind to you.
    cheers

    sherry (sherry’s pickings)

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  6. I saw The Glass Menagerie many years ago but can’t remember much about it. We have tickets for Waiting for Godot soon. Saw that years ago too – and only went because John Alderton was in it. I expected to be bored but wasn’t at all so I’m looking forward to it this time. Thanks, as always, for sharing my post.

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