Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.
The above quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby seems fitting as we drift into autumn days. Gatsby is 100 years old this year – hard to imagine somehow. It has been many years since I last read it, so maybe it is time again, but we did at least watch the 1974 film version with Robert Redford as Gatsby on Saturday evening.
While we have been blessed with good weather this week, there is a definite chill and crispness to the early mornings and evenings. Below is the autumn sky at 6:20pm on Sunday.
In the basket
On Wednesday I picked up a bag of feijoas and a bag of pears from our local greengrocer, as well as blueberries. I’m planning on a cake with some of the pears and have been enjoying feijoas at breakfast and lunch. The Wonky Box this week delivered potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, more courgettes, a single ear of sweetcorn, a lettuce and pak choy (not pictured) and some sort of squash – the beige thing in the middle. I guess I will just roast it? I topped this up with the first of the season’s persimmons, tomatoes, more blueberries, some sunflower sprouts, parmesan and rigatoni.
Eating
After last weekend’s feasting, there has been a more homely set of dishes this week. There was fish and chips at the pub on Thursday, chicken served with a bulgur wheat salad and roasted courgettes and tomatoes on Wednesday, and we enjoyed sausages from our local butcher with potato salad on Saturday. On Sunday I made this lamb ragu from Sip and Feast which we had over rigatoni and enjoyed the leftovers for dinner tonight (and yes the rosemary is from the garden).
Watching, reading and listening
This week we caught the first episode of the new season of Black Mirror (so good…); a tense and excellent French mystery (Black Box from 2021); the New Zealand comedy drama Happiness, and a not very good remake of the classic British crime drama, Bergerac (far too serious).
I started the new book club book (very good so far), spent a lot of time with my nose in cook books and listened to quite a bit of old British comedy on BBC Sounds, which it looks like we will loose access to soon. I’ll need to get a VPN set up on my iPad.
Simple things
- Enjoying a soft, white roll filled with creamy scrambled egg and a perfect cup of tea – Saturday breakfast.
- Appreciating sunshine and yet more sunshine.
- Feeling strong at Pilates – despite the foot – it is what I can do not what I can’t.
- Getting the garden tidied up (see Saturday’s post).
- Going to the hairdresser and trying out a shorter haircut.
- Sitting out in the garden, late Sunday afternoon, as the evening approached, listening to the tuī, kākā and occasional duck, and spotting a pīwakawaka or fantail ducking and diving.
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.
- Laurie of Notes from the Hinterland says goodbye to snow.
- Anne of Something Over Tea shows us the painted reed frog.
- Deb of Deb’s World explores the colour purple.
- Enjoy coffee with Trent who has been playing a lot of music this week.
- Mr Tootlepedal as ever shares so many lovely pictures of his world.
- Check out the BKD Bookclub at Brookford Kitchen Diaries.
- Sue reminds us to create space for ourselves.
- Travels Through My Lens shares some final thoughts on the cruise they were recently on.
- And Fred shares 6 things from his trip to the south of France.
- Meanwhile The Travelsketcher shares his week in The Pearl with some lovely sketches.
- Mr Platypus of Now I’m 64 shares a wordless Wednesday.
- Jude of Cornwall in Colours visits another Cornish garden.
- Natalie goes on 5 amazing walks in Italy.
- And…Jo shares some of her trip to the UK over at And Anyways…
- ..…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.
You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis.