Author’s Note: I stopped blogging regularly in 2020, but now in 2024, I am using Google Photos, Google Maps timeline, and my old planners to recreate a post about what we were up to each month!
-----
Welcome to another month where I hardly took any pictures! I also didn’t write much in my planner. August is really a low month in the UK - almost everyone goes on holiday so there are no meetings for work and everything is pretty chill for a couple of weeks. Which I was grateful for after a busy summer so far!
I believe it was around this time that I suggested to Joel we start walking up the giant hill by our house at least once a day in an effort to get in shape. I think that lasted about a week, but one night I did get this gorgeous photo from the top of the hill!
All of the photos I have from this month are fairly random, so enjoy this one of the white roses that bloom outside my study window!
On Tuesday the 9th I went to Keeper’s Pond (have you sensed a theme for the summer?) and the most magical thing happened - the wild horses were in the parking lot! There are horses that just hang out up around the pond...
And this day they were crowding around my car! It was so cool even if they did delay me from leaving when I planned to, lol.
This one really got up in my face to say hello! I did not mind at all and enjoyed giving it some pets.
About midway through the month we got suckered into a YouTube ad and decided to try one of those meal delivery services - the kind where they send you the ingredients and then you do the cooking. We were going to try a bunch of different brands as I thought it would give me the joy of cooking without the stress of grocery shopping. Turns out, instead it added the stress of too much rubbish! I hated having tons of boxes and ice packs to get rid of so we were one and done with this box.
I was enjoying going to Caldicot every Tuesday - spending the morning at their coffee morning and then scheduling visits and other meetings in the afternoons. That also meant I was trying different local places for lunch. I really enjoyed this healthy breakfast from the Full Board cafe.
On the 24th we took Steve out for his birthday (which is on the 21st) so we went to Viva Brazil (of course!) and then went to the local Geek Retreat to play some games. I was tickled by this one called the Bucket of Doom! (It wasn’t actually very fun though.)
The next day we tested out the range of our new car with a road trip to Vince and Joan’s! We were delighted that we could get all the way there (200+ miles) without having to charge. Whilst there we went for a walk along the canals…
And they introduced us to their favourite (and now our favourite!) breakfast placed called Winnegbagel! I love a punny name and the food is excellent. [Author’s Note: Randomly, as I write this I am in Leeds for Methodist Conference 2024 and just had breakfast at Winnebagel with Vince and Joan this morning!]
We also enjoyed this gorgeous strawberry cake on their patio one evening.
Oh, and Joan taught Joel how to make iced tea! So once we got home we bought a pitcher and 480 bags of Yorkshire tea so Joel could make some for himself. [Author’s Note: It is now 2024 and we still have this bag of tea, hahaha.]
The last thing I have a picture of this month is this fabulous Welsh dragon, which leads me to assume that we purchased it sometime around now. I know we bought it at the market in Monmouth. We love that it is a similar style to all of our Gavyn Sky art (resin based) but oh so very Welsh!
We also went to quite a few movies this month (no photos) and I always spend August trying to prepare well for the coming Methodist Year - as September tends to hit like a freight train! Stay tuned for that!
XOXO, Bethany