This week’s small pleasures 502

Thistles and Kiwis

This week was definitely one that improved as it went along, from feeling pretty grotty at the start, to making a recovery, meeting friends, and enjoying the wonderful new comedy Ann Droid and the rather different crime drama, Bookish. The Commonwealth Games started in Glasgow, with the king and queen arriving in the Tardis and a spectacular Tunnock’s tea cake at the end of the opening ceremony.

Meanwhile, the weather is often a topic on this blog, and on Saturday morning we had a quite spectacular ‘weather event’ with 40mm of rain falling in 30 minutes, which caused a mini river to form and gush down Tinakori Road. I was on the bus when this happened, and I could not believe my eyes when I looked out of the window. It just came down so suddenly, and then stopped. You can see here what is was like. Not exactly a small pleasure but interesting to see none the less. There is never a dull moment in Aotearoa thanks to Mother Nature – there was a 5.9 earthquake near Taumarunui in the early hours of Saturday morning too.

Anyway, this was Monday lunch time in Wellington. A cold day, starting with a twinkling frosty morning, the sun nevertheless made an appearance for a while.

Sandwich time

To celebrate getting my appetite at least partly back on Wednesday, I went for lunch to Pickle & Pie, a long time favourite place of mine. I opted for the hot honey chicken schnitzel, with pickles on the side of course. Absolutely delicious.

On Sunday, we headed to our local café at the library again for their excellent toasties. So simple and so well done, it is a great wee place to have so close to home.

In the basket

The Wonky Box delivered up this week two potatoes, one kumara, 2 parsnips, yams (oca), broccoli (again), pak choy, a bag of Brussels sprouts and a lettuce. I topped it up with half a small cabbage because it looked so beautiful, a grapefruit and some mandarins. We bought sausages from our local butcher, and I made a classic puy lentil/sausage dish for Saturday dinner along with kumara and the Brussels sprouts on the side for a suitably winter dish that suited the dreich weather perfectly. Side note: dreich – one of those good Scottish words that so perfectly describes grey, wet, miserable weather. I also bought some tulips as can be seen in the featured image.

Simple things

  • Laughing at our online work book club. Our next topic? Pick a book whose cover you like. Should be interesting.
  • Seeing moments of sunshine on Sunday afternoon.
  • Going to our local pub with friends and enjoying laughter, wine and fish and chips.
  • Hearing Karl cheer when he announced his lottery win – not enough for a round the world trip, but enough for, as a friend said, a nice dinner with good wine.
  • Staying warm and dry.
  • Spending a wet Saturday afternoon with a book, tea, a couple of biscuits and the sofa.

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 and good food. Thistles and Kiwis can be found on Facebook and Instagram @thistlesandkiwis

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Published by Thistles and Kiwis

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

47 Comments

  1. Good to hear you’re well-recovered again, Barbara. It’s always strange to hear about cold, shivery weather when you’re bathed in sunshine (even a little too much, at times!) Life does seem to be all extremes lately, doesn’t it, but you do have a lovely social life. The sausage and lentil dish sounds good. Many thanks for linking xx

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  3. I am happy to know that you are feeling better. The last of my Norwegian family leave tomorrow, so I should get back into blogging more regularly. Their visit has been the highlight of my year so far! I always enjoy reading these posts of yours 🙂

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  4. Am truly glad you are back to enjoying life . . . and some very nice comestibles indeed! And this is another Moomin mug to make me envious . . . would love sipping my coffee with such warm sentiments in my hand . . .

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    1. Thank you! I admit to only having seen the Tardis bit but quite a lot was shown on our evening news too.

      BTW – I saw someone on Instagram deep frying a Tunnock’s tea cake….

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  9. Darn! I missed small pleasures!
    Incase there is room for one more, my small pkeasure is finding my favourite bamboo socks at the back of the sock draw! They are so comfortable, and lovely to work in.
    Thanks
    Fleur 🌹 🌻 🙂

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  11. Thank you so much for including my zucchini post in your lovely collection of small pleasures! 😊 I always enjoy reading these weekly reminders to notice the little joys in life. Your week sounds like a perfect mix of recovery, good food, friends, books, and unexpected weather adventures. That sudden rainstorm must have been quite a sight! We had one – loved it!

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  17. what an interesting week you’ve had. We are used to that kind of rain, I love that you have a great cafe in your local library, being a librarian;) been taking it quietly due to a sore leg, but I cooked a delicious meal during the week, garlic chicken with a leek potato bake and the weather has been beautiful.

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  18. Not sure if you received my last comment, thought I should sign off properly. I love to have a good book on hand during a wet afternoon as well . Love the mug too. We are thrilled with how our vegetable garden and the strawberries are growing, that is a real pleasure.
    cheers, Pauline (Happy Retirees Kitchen)

    https://happyretireeskitchen.blogspot.com

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  19. The tulip photo is splendid, even breathtaking. Thank you for giving us its fully beauty. I am also tantalized by the hot honey chicken schnitzel — yes, please! — and the yummy toasties. (I love that label; so much truer to the experience than mere “grilled cheese”!) Finally, congrats to Karl for winning ANYTHING in a lottery. Such fun. And thank you, as always, for your very kind mention AND for giving us another sweet Moomin mug.

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  20. I like the idea of picking a book by its cover! That sounds like fun. I also love your tulips. They’re my favorite flower!!

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  21. I would like to use the word dreich. It does sound a good word to use! Now I need to google how to say it properly.

    Also, that book club sounds like a good one! I like the idea of choosing based on the cover.

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  23. Your description of the sudden downpour on Tinakori Road really resonated with me — Wellington weather can be so dramatic. I’ve been experimenting with AI tools to capture those kinds of atmospheric moments in audio, and Seed Audio’s ambient sound generation actually helped me recreate a similar rainstorm for a creative project. It’s a handy way to bring a bit of that ‘dreich’ feeling to life without waiting for the next weather event. Thanks for sharing your small pleasures — they’re a lovely reminder to notice the simple things. seed-audio1.com

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