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!
The first of March is St. David’s day, and since St. David is the patron saint of Wales, it gets celebrated here! This year we watched the St. David’s Day celebration on the BBC, which mostly consisted of amazing Welsh music. One of my church members was even in the choir!
We also ate the yummy treats some church members brought us, and I attempted to make a potato leek soup. I say attempted because while it looks pretty good, the taste was only okay. I’ve tried several times since and I just can’t get it to taste as good as I’ve had at some restaurants! I wonder what the secret ingredient is…
On the 2nd I received in the mail a reminder from the NHS to make an appointment for cervical screening. I still can’t get over how wonderful it is to have the NHS - it is not perfect (and definitely needs more funding!) but it is still an incredible resource. I spend a lot of conversations with British people reminding them not to take it for granted!
One thing that drives me a bit crazy here is that no one puts return addresses on mail. I always liked that because I could see who something was from before I opened it, but here it is always a mystery! One day I received a mysterious package with no note that contained random art supplies and a few other things. It turned out to be supplies for an online retreat for later this month, but I sure was confused at first.
In the UK, Mother’s Day always falls on the 4th Sunday in Lent (whereas the US celebration is always the second Sunday in May.) This dates back to an old tradition in which the fourth Sunday in Lent is when people who had moved away for work would go back home to visit their “mother church” and their own mothers. It is also sometimes called “Mothering Sunday.” My church in Monmouth has a tradition of giving women flowers on Mother’s Day, but this year we were not meeting in person yet for worship. So we bought flowers for every woman in church and made doorstep deliveries on the Saturday before.
When we remember (which doesn’t happen every year) we like to celebrate Pie Day on March 14th. (Get it? 3/14…3.14…Pi…) This year it looks like I bought some savory pie and what is technically an apple cake but looks kinda like pie to celebrate.
On the 19th we were going a little stir-crazy with cabin fever and restrictions had let up just enough for us to sneak in a quick visit with Steve. We decided to meet somewhere about halfway and keep our visit to the outdoors. So even though it was a bit chilly, we found some castle ruins to explore…
Climbed some sand dunes…
Made it all the way to the beach…
And I pretended to be a giant who could pick Joel up between my fingers.
On the 22nd I made homemade hot fudge for the very first time…this is a dangerous power to have! If you want to make your own, I highly recommend this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. It is super easy and uses ingredients I almost always have on hand already.
Some more walks around Monmouth helped us to see that spring was definitely on its way…
And we found this little fairy door that Joel wouldn’t let me open.
On the 25th I went into town and was delighted to see these planter boxes had sprung up everywhere with newly planted flower trees.
On the 29th I went in to church to record some music to use in our online Easter service. Someone had put out these crosses for Holy Week. They will be decorated come Easter Sunday.
I love it when the flowering trees start blooming, and try to get a good picture every year! I especially love it against a blue sky.
I’ll end this month by sharing this excellent piece of decor one of our neigbours put out - a man made out of flower pots, wearing a mask! So appropriate for the times.
And that is all for March 2021!
XOXO, Bethany