With Jim and Joan in Bandera
John and I spent a great weekend in San Antonio and got to see some of our favorite people! We arrived mid-day on Saturday, and spent the afternoon and evening with my cousin James, his wife MaryBeth and her cousin Lauri – and, of course, Maverick the Golden Retriever. We had a lazy afternoon visiting, followed by an excellent dinner at La Fogata.
Sunday we played with Mike and Wayne all day. A special treat was finding out that our A-100 friend Jimmi was just up the road in New Braunfels, so we all piled in the car and visited with her for a while. We sat on the back deck of her hotel, watching the Guadalupe River roll by – very pleasant. We topped off the night with an excellent meal at Piati’s.
Monday we headed out to Bandera to see Jim and Joan at their new house, and spent some time tromping around their beautiful piece of land in hill country. The house is great and almost ready to be inhabited.
The best thing about seeing old friends is picking up right where you left off, as though two years or more hadn’t gone by.
We got back to Juarez on Tuesday and were happy to see Flavia again.
For part of last week, I was on my own since John had gone to Las Vegas. I spent last Sunday afternoon at a co-worker’s house for a goodbye BBQ for Whitney and his family.
Tuesday I was in charge of a lunch for a visiting staff delegation from Washington. Wednesday we were off work for Veteran’s Day, but I worked the whole day, just trying to get caught up. It felt great to get some things cleared off my desk. John got in that night from Vegas and so we grilled some steaks.
Thursday after work, I had dinner at Barriga’s with my good friend Pam – always fun to visit with her.
For the last several months, I’ve been mentoring a group of local staff in a Foreign Service distance learning class – they all took their final exam on Friday, and I was thrilled that they all passed – whew!
Click to see more photos from our trip to San Antonio.
Wayne and Mike with Mookie