I missed last month’s Good Things because I was traveling, so some of these will be from April.
- Eating mandarins off our tree. The first were fully ripe at the start of April so we started eating then. We had so many we ended up giving a heap to the girls, K and our vicar. We were able to leave some on the tree so I now have two in my fruit bowl, and seven left on the tree. So yummy!
- Church on Good Friday followed up later in the day with a prayer session with my friend. We just managed to squeeze this in before we left on Easter Saturday.
- The girls being able to take Riley to their place while we travel.
- Having Riley home this week. We had a few days at home without him because we had almost back to back trips, plus the girls took him a few days before we left for the UK. It’s weird being home without him there.
- Pottering around London and Oxford by myself. I love just having to please myself when I’m planning what to do each day.
- G is now a London Marathon Finisher which makes 3 out of 6 major Abbots Marathons.
- The weather while we were away. It rained one day when I was in London, and then for the rest of the trip we only had two light showers.
- So much good food. The Soho Twilight food tour now sits in second place behind our tour in Nice which was absolutely epic. The food was a bit fancier than a standard daytime food tour and we had cocktails at the four sit down spots. We had some really good food through Wales too.
- Oxford. I loved the scale of the town, so easy to walk around and the history. Being able to run from the centre of Oxford out into rural areas easily was fun too.
- Book shops. I went to some amazing bookshops in Oxford and Hay-on-Wye (the book town) and also had a tour of the Bodleian Library.
- Seeing some of the settings in Oxford where they filmed the Harry Potter movies.
- Wales was amazing. So much variety in things to do and the scenery is so beautiful. We had some wonderful hikes in the mountains and on the coast. The historical sites ranged from prehistoric to 18th-19th century industrial sites.
- The castles. So many castles.
- PUFFINS! When I realised it was puffin season I just knew I had to fit a trip to see them in our itinerary.
- The Cadw Explorer Pass. Gave us entry into Cadw sites on seven days over a two week period for £58.30. Such great value! We visited 9 sites over our trip.
- Sitting on the top of Pen-y-Fan staring out to the horizon. The view went so far it felt like a meditation.
- Walking among the stones at Stonehenge at sunrise.
- Amazing weather for our weekend in Noosa. Apart from the run we also did two hikes in the National Park and I had a swim.
- Getting back to our 4:1 training at the gym. Hard but I know it’s worth it when I feel the strength I’ve lost over six weeks.
- I completed running all the streets of Gardenvale and Elwood yesterday.
- Catching up with friends at the pub. Telling them all about our travels, learning all their news.
- Marinated goat’s cheese. All you need to do is mix a couple of cubes through a salad, or like I did today couscous, sauteed silverbeet, lemon and chilli flakes, for tasty, creamy goodness.
Comments
16 responses to “List #24: Good Things Friday May 2025”
A sunrise at Stonehenge??? Wow. That looks truly incredible.
And what a wonderful trip you both had; so many interesting things seen and many, many delicious things eaten 😉
Lol, Melissa, I missed the part where you said “some of these will be from April” and when you said Good Friday, I was so confused. Wait…was that in May? READ THE WHOLE THING, NICOLE.
You have mandarins! That is incredible to me!
Mandarins seem to grow pretty well here, we had similar good harvests off a small tree at our previous house.
I love the puffin shot! We have read about puffins in many board books but haven’t seen them in the wild! And I also love solo travel and only having to please myself!
Puffins spend most of their life at sea, and only nest on islands with no predators so it really is right place, right time to see them, but if you’re there yopu’re pretty much guaranteed to see them.
I love the variety here- mandarins, puffins, Stonehenge, books… so many things! I also LOVE solo puttering around new cities. It’s so fun to do exactly what you want and not have to compromise or negotiate with anyone.
Your photos are beautiful!!!
Thanks Jenny, I think also being the planner adds a bit of stress when there are other people to consider. I like both travelling with G but also having some time to do my own thing.
Wow, what a great list. Traveling with very little rain and enjoying great food -def things to appreciate. I am also team puffins- love that you got to see those.
My good thing of recent, if I bothered to post it with that title, would be daycare done for the summer!
The puffins were so cute. Enjoy your summer!
I secretly dream of traveling solo. Or maybe like you, where sometimes you do things together and sometimes separate. That sounds kind of ideal to me but I’ve never done it, it’s always 24/7 togetherness when I go on vacation. I’m going to think about this a bit, it seems like it might be a really good idea.
I’m going on a 10 day trip next week, and am going to work to incorporate strength training in there, I don’t want to lose the strength I’ve built over the last few months. It feels very hard won.
Your pictures are so beautiful, I love them all. We have a little clementine tree that we received as a gift in January, and it flowered, so I’m thinking maybe we’ll get some fruit this coming winter!
When we were in Wales, we were together 24/7 apart from when we ran because I was doing more running then. I think if we do city stays though it might be nice to have some half-days where we do our own thing.
This is such a happy post. So many great things. Definitely things to be happy about.
Stonehenge at sunrise… a dream of mine. I should move that up my list. Its not that far… Also Oxford seems lovely. Never been there either.
And mandarins in your yard. I’d love that.
Yes, Stonehenge is just a hop across for you.
Oh, I absolutely love Oxford as a city you can easily walk around and could happily live there all year round for just the book scene alone never mind the history. And you made it to Stonehenge too? Wow, and at sunrise too? Lucky you. I went with friends and, well, the place was swarming with tourists.
The explorer pass sounds like the perfect way to travel and visit Wales too. Must remember that the next time we visit the UK.
And I so wish I lived somewhere were mandarins grew in my garden.
I can imagine Stonehenge gets very busy, but luckily our tour wasn’t even full, I guess the early start put people off.
We went in August so yeah, it wasn’t the best timing.