{"id":6442,"date":"2021-09-19T12:37:36","date_gmt":"2021-09-19T16:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/?p=6442"},"modified":"2021-09-19T12:39:01","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T16:39:01","slug":"cats-in-stores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/?p=6442","title":{"rendered":"Cats in stores"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"240\" height=\"320\" src=\"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/A2482DB6-E439-44C4-AA88-D6C41B9A04F3.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6443\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/A2482DB6-E439-44C4-AA88-D6C41B9A04F3.jpeg 240w, http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/A2482DB6-E439-44C4-AA88-D6C41B9A04F3-225x300.jpeg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><figcaption>Saksouk <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I was pleasantly surprised today to see three cats in a local grocery store &#8211; it\u2019s one I had never been to before. Our neighbor told me they have a good Lebanese bakery there, so I took advantage of available street parking today to pop inside to check it out. It\u2019s not a big store but has the basics &#8211; and cats! I saw three wandering around. They were quite content to let customers scratch their heads. While we see street dogs, we don\u2019t see a lot of cats here (although we spy kittens on occasion on the Embassy compound). I came home with some groceries and a box of Lebanese cookies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had nice chats with two girlfriends this week: Pam in DC and Tammy in Florida. It\u2019s always fun to catch up. I had dinner with a colleague from one of the Ministries on Wednesday which was nice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A relatively new colleague and self-proclaimed Anglophile had us and another person to his house yesterday afternoon for high tea. Sadly I didn\u2019t have a fascinator to wear, but we enjoyed some champagne (The Widow, our favorite), then tea, scones, cucumber sandwiches, etc. It was quite fancy and fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Afterward, I went to the Old Embassy Compound to join a walking tour of the grounds with our outgoing Facilities\u2019 manager. He\u2019s a huge history buff and knows so much about the history of the U.S. mission here &#8211; it was fun to hear some stories and hear the history of the compound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"240\" height=\"320\" src=\"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/33DCF1AA-546F-48EF-BDA0-7FA6AC01C52B.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6444\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/33DCF1AA-546F-48EF-BDA0-7FA6AC01C52B.jpeg 240w, http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/33DCF1AA-546F-48EF-BDA0-7FA6AC01C52B-225x300.jpeg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was pleasantly surprised today to see three cats in a local grocery store &#8211; it\u2019s one I had never been to before. Our neighbor told me they have a good Lebanese bakery there, so I took advantage of available street parking today to pop inside to check it out. It\u2019s not a big store [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6442"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6442"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6446,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6442\/revisions\/6446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}