Author’s Note: I stopped blogging regularly in 2020, but now in 2024, 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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This is going to be a hard one to write as I took hardly any pictures this month! It is currently January 19, 2024 as I try to piece together what we did in June 2021...so this might be one of my shortest monthly reviews.
It looks like the month started off with some evening bicycle rides. It is pretty hilly around our manse in Monmouth but there was one direction we could go for a while without getting stymied by a hill. The sunny summer evenings are perfect for it!
On the first weekend in June, I attended the Iowa Annual Conference! Thankfully I didn’t have to book an expensive flight back to the US to do so, as ever since the pandemic they have been offering conference attendance online. It was from 3pm-11pm UK time so I took advantage of the nice weather and sat with my laptop outside by the fire!
I looked back in my planner from this time period since I didn’t have very many pictures, and I was reminded that it was around this time that I took my first UK driving lesson! It turned out to also be my only one as the instructor was not very helpful. She clearly didn’t know how to teach someone who already knew the basics of driving and just needed to learn some of the UK-specific things. However, taking a lesson was useful because it showed us we did have some learning to do…and then we turned to YouTube videos to do the rest!
During this time we were waiting for our UK driving test and our US licenses weren’t valid anymore (only good for 12 months upon entering on a visa) so we weren’t driving much at all. I had a rota of church members willing to ride with me when I had to go somewhere for work (mostly worship on Sundays) as with a provisional UK license I could drive with a licensed UK driver in the car - it felt like being 14 again!
So there was a lot of bike riding…a lot. I rode my bike to the church and meetings around Monmouth, to the grocery store, and for fun! In a way it was kind of nice to be forced to get some exercise, and since it doesn’t get as hot here in the summer as it does in Iowa, it was generally lovely to be outside.
I have a lovely photo of some gorgeous blooms in the chapel at Trellech.
I spent several days experimenting with homemade Pad Thai recipes and finally found one I love! (It’s this one from Iowa Girl Eats!)
According to my calendar, Vince and Joan came to visit for a few days at the end of the month. But I have no photos from that at all! I was being a very bad blogger - bad Past Bethany!
On the last Sunday of the month, we had a baptism at Monmouth which was very exciting! Although we had to be careful to limit attendance as we were still social distancing. I have a very cute picture of me and the baby but I shouldn’t share that online without permission, so you’ll have to settle for this photo of the cupcakes they served after the service.
And somehow, that’s all I’ve got for June of 2021! Apparently, we didn’t get up to much…or if we did, I wasn’t documenting it! I am trying to be much better about that now, not even just on the blog but noting in my calendar some of the things we do each day (besides just work stuff.) I have a terrible memory so I like having a record of my life!
XOXO, Bethany