Author’s Note: I stopped blogging regularly in 2020, but now in 2023, I am using Google Photos and Google Maps timeline to recreate a post about what we were up to each month!
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It's January 2021, and a new year has begun!
I like to make an elaborate breakfast on New Year’s Day, to get the new year started off right. This year I again tried my hand at a Full English breakfast. I would have rather gone to a pub for one, but we were in lockdown again! (still?! Who knows at this point!) This time I got the hasbrowns right and I even attempted to make the toast into “fry bread” (you fry it in the bacon grease!) It was delicious but for all that work, I still prefer the pub version.
We then decided to go for a walk and get some fresh air. We hiked up the hill near our house and across the road for some beautiful views. I think this was actually taken behind our nearest pub, The Royal Oak (which was closed at the time.)
On the Sunday before Epiphany I introduced my congregation to the tradition of “chalking the door” for the new year. This tradition is strong in Europe and is starting to make the rounds in the US. (Author’s Note: I saw some of these when we went to Amsterdam in April 2023!) The numbers mark the year, the letters stand for the traditional names of the Wise Men, and you place it above your door as a blessing on your house for the year. Theoretically, you do it with actual chalk, but I’ve always just written it out and then taped it up.
We were still in a walking phase, and apparently, I was in a selfie phase, as we have one for most days of January. I think I was attempting to take one a day for the whole year but that definitely fell off about halfway through the month. I do have this random photo of a book I was reading. It is rare that I buy books, but I have loved the author Allie Brosh since back in her blogging days. When I heard she had a new book out I couldn’t wait to get it! I remember having trouble reading it, though, because I was so used to reading on my kindle that I found a real book really heavy!
I took down our Advent window display with the nativity, but I decided to leave the paper crane strings up for a while. They cast some gorgeous shadows on the blind when the sun came in just the right way.
It was around this time that we started the saga of getting our UK driving licenses. You can drive on a US license for 12 months and after that you must have a UK license. The process to get one is lengthy - you have to apply for a provisional license, take a theory (written) exam, and then take a practical exam (which is about 40 minutes of driving with an examiner.) Due to Covid, all of those processes were backed up even more than usual, but we decided to go ahead and apply for our provisional licenses. That led to some fun photo-taking sessions in the living room as we tried to get the appropriate straight-faced photo! (I am not good at keeping a straight face, as you can see by this outtake.)
On one of our walks, I captured this gorgeous photo! That is with no editing or filter! It is so beautiful here.
Back in our October Monthly Review I talked about our visit to St. Peter’s church down by the river, that had just recovered from some flooding earlier in the year. Unfortunately went we back towards the end of January, we discovered that it had flooded again. This view is looking down the lane towards the church, you can just start to see it in the background. I hate to think of the damage that was done yet again.
On the 24th we got some snow at our house! Previously we had to drive up a big hill to see it, but this time it made to us. It was a Sunday morning and I had just enough time before Zoom worship to run outside and play a bit. Joel made a snow angel…
We built a snowman together…
And our back garden looked gorgeous.
I’m glad I got out there before worship, because by the time I was done around noon, it was all gone again!
As the cinemas remained closed and we got itchy to watch movies in style, we decided to take one of our spare bedrooms and turn it into a movie room! We had enough blank space on the wall to buy a projector and use that instead of a TV. We started by testing it out with one of my favorite shows.
And then we decided to go all in and paint a white square on the wall to be the “screen.” This was much more cost-efficient than trying to purchase and install an actual screen! You can spy our game table is in this room, too, so it was really a movie room/games room. It wasn’t as good as going to the theaters, but in the midst of lockdowns, it really hit the spot! (Little did we know at the time that it would be another 4+ months before we could go back to a real theater.)
And that, apparently, is it! January is usually a pretty chill month (pun intended!) so between that and lockdown, I’m not surprised we didn’t get up to much. I think it will be a while before these monthly reviews get a bit more exciting!
XOXO, Bethany