criplomats

The lovely French ambassador, his wife, and an old friend of theirs came for a coffee roasting demo and breakfast yesterday morning. We had a good time visiting with them, and folks always seem to enjoy watching a roasting session and then drinking really good coffee!

This week was pretty low key. I watched some of the Olympics, mostly ice skating and some hockey (who knew I liked hockey?). I took time out from sports to watch the House DHS Oversight Committee hearing on Tuesday, and to make a couple of runs to the grocery store. There’s only one kind of fresh pasteurized milk here, and it’s a mystery to me (and the grocery store, apparently) when it gets restocked. I don’t mind using “shelf milk” (UHT milk) for daily coffee and yogurt-making, but you really need fresh milk to make a good latte for the weekend. The fresh milk comes in glass, recyclable bottles, which is nice. It’s super-expensive (like most things here), but worth it.

John and I finished Ken Burns’ “The American Revolution” (we won!) and really enjoyed it — and we learned so much that we never learned in school (or learned and forgot?). We also have kept up with episodes of “Shrinking” and “Hijacked,” and we watched the original Kurt Russell version of “Miracle,” about the 1980s US men’s hockey Olympic team. We have started a sort of hokey but sweet police show set in Ireland called “Hope Street.” (If anyone has TV recommendations, please let us know!)

Mom would have been 101 this past Friday. I can’t believe she’s been gone 11 years.

Now that the Australian Open tennis is over, I’ve moved on to the Olympics via the Westminster Dog Show. I miss the days when the games were televised on regular TV but I’m cobbling together watching the portions I like (ice skating, skiing, luge, bobsled, etc). In the Olympic spirit, John and I watched a new documentary about the 1980s USA men’s hockey team that beat the unbeatable Soviets in Lake Placid – it was a great movie! Miracle: The Boys of ‘80.

John is still the chargé d’affaires – he wears it well!

My week wasn’t nearly as exciting as John’s. Aside from a couple of errands, I stayed in this week and we didn’t have any social engagements – my kind of week!

We are continuing watching the American Revolution documentary, “Hijacked,” and “Tehran” and I continue to plod through a finance book about finances in retirement.

My friend Mellisa and I went to the national park to walk this morning, and were happy to feed the manatees! At one point we had about six of them waiting for grass. I’ve heard that they are rescued and were put there to rehabilitate, but I haven’t researched the full story.

Last night we went to a fun, well-attended BBQ at a co-worker’s house. I had some wonderful smoked ribs and delicious potato salad (it was really good!), and got to visit with a lot of folks.

I spent a lot of time watching Australian Open tennis, fast-forwarding through the recording and selectively watching the games I was most interested in. I was sorry to see the Americans get knocked out of the finals, but the tennis throughout the tournament was a blast to watch. It finished up this weekend, so I’ll have to bide my time until the Olympics start!

John is the Chargé while the ambassador is out of the country, so he’s been out and about a lot (which he enjoys). Here’s a great photo of him walking into a meeting:

John and I continued watching the Ken Burns documentary on the American Revolution, plus “The Night Manager,” “Hijacked,” and “Tehran.” We also started the new season of “Shrinking,” which still made us laugh like crazy. We also watched “Secret Mall Apartment” about a group of artists who had, well, a secret apartment in their local mall.

I’ve been watching a lot of the Australian Open opening matches and having a blast! Lots of fun matches.

Thursday night we went to the ribbon-cutting for the Texas de Brazil steakhouse, then Friday night we attended the farewell party for Jane Miller, the outgoing British ambassador, and her husband Rob. Saturday we met some embassy folks for lunch at the Oasis Cafe. This afternoon I had a good catch-up chat with my friend in the consular section when she came over to enjoy the pool. Speaking of the pool, a striated heron stopped by to say hi this week — and we have at least one baby thrush in the nest in the pool cabana!

Otherwise the week was pretty routine. We’re watching “The Night Manager,” “The American Revolution,” and “Hijacked.” Last night we watched a feel-good, older movie with Helen Mirren called “The 100-Foot Journey.”

I snapped the photo above as we were driving around town yesterday – it’s a typical example of the architecture in Georgetown and I think it’s beautiful. John and I found a new dry cleaners to try – the last one pressed out the crease in his dress pants. Afterward we went to the butcher shop. You have to get there pretty early because things get “finished” quickly — but not too early because not everything is out yet. The boneless chicken breasts disappeared before our eyes, but we snagged a fresh-from-the-fire rotisserie chicken as a treat.

When we lived in DC, I was a regional consular officer and covered 13 posts, including Guyana. This week, the guy who has that job now was in town (Matt), along with his boss from Frankfurt (Pauline), so we had them over for dinner on Wednesday. I loved getting to talk shop with fellow consular officers! We enjoyed getting to know them.

Thursday morning, I went with Natalie and her nanny (and baby) to the Bourda fruit and vegetable market. I was impressed overall. I had gone to another local market shortly after arriving here, but there was too much meat hanging in the open air stalls, so I’ve been avoiding going back. I was happy to just see fruits and vegetables at Bourda, at least in the section where we were. It was a cool morning, so it was pleasant to walk through the stalls and it didn’t feel claustrophobic. Parking is very difficult but I might attempt it on my own sometime. It’s a bit cheaper than the supermarket, but much fresher.

John and I have been enjoying “The Night Manager” and we also picked up a new season of “Tehran.” We also started a new Star Trek series with Holly Hunter, I think called “Star Fleet Academy.” I finished reading two books: “The Art of Spending Money,” by Morgan Housel and “Awake” by Jen Hatmaker.