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!
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On the 2nd of February, Joel and I had tickets to the ballet! We were excited to see a show in the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff for the first time. The ballet was “Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty: A Gothic Romance” and was meant to be a twist on the classic fairytale that now included vampires! I was so excited for this because I love the ballet and all things Halloween, but I have to admit I was a bit disappointed as it didn’t go as far as I would have liked in really revamping the story. (Ha, see what I did there!) Nevertheless, the dancing was beautiful.
On Friday the 3rd we had a game night with Amy & Ben and I took this cute photo of their adorable dog, Merlin.
On Saturday we took a wander through town and there were some market stalls out. I don’t really need more mugs but I couldn’t resist this beautiful one, especially in the month of February. We are really loving that in Caldicot we can walk to all of the stores and shops that we need!
On the 12th we hosted Steve and Rachel for the Superbowl! Rachel made this epic dessert - it is the classic American “dirt” dessert and she went all out decorating it for the football game.
I randomly had Sunday the 19th off, so Steve came over for the day. I was craving visiting a beach so we did a quick Google and decided to go to Portishead. We had a lovely wander along the beach, though we stayed on the boardwalk because the “beach” itself was muddy.
There was a cool sculp[ture in town that I took several pictures of.
That evening we held a screening in our cinema room, showing Steve the film “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once” for the first time. So, of course, we had to have bagels. (Excuse the quality of this photo, I stole it from Steve on Facebook!)
The next day Steve and I went to explore Chepstow and had fun playing with the dress up items in the kid’s section of the museum. We both decided we really want hats like this! [Author’s Note: I think Steve now has one. I still don’t.]
Wednesday the 22nd was Ash Wednesday, and as has become my tradition I attended a service at the Church in Wales. (The Methodist don’t really do Ash Wednesday here, and I do miss leading this service.)
On Thursday I couldn’t help but giggle at this slogan on a truck that was parked near the castle.
On Saturday the 25th we decided to have another random adventure day with Steve. Joel read an article about the best fish and chip shops in Wales so we decided to go check out the top of the list, located in Maesycwmmer (don’t ask me how to pronounce that!) The place is called Fish Kitchen 1854. (I will admit I'm a little disappointed it's not a punny name.)
Their reputation is well-deserved, the food was absolutely delicious! The boys said the fish was great, the battered sausage I had was excellent, and the gravy is the best I have had in the UK. We also explored the surrounding area including the nearby Parc Penallta which had this cool sculpture and amazing views.
We also found a random museum where, of course, Steve and I could once again not resist dressing up!
Sunday the 26th marked the first Sunday in Lent this year, and Caldicot continued their tradition of Lenten candles. They are sort of like Advent candles except instead of lighting one each week, you extinguish one at the start of the service each week. I really like this tradition!
So there we have it, a short post for a short month!
XOXO, Bethany