{"id":7357,"date":"2024-03-24T08:35:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-24T12:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/?p=7357"},"modified":"2024-03-24T08:35:03","modified_gmt":"2024-03-24T12:35:03","slug":"lots-of-visitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/?p=7357","title":{"rendered":"Lots of visitors!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This week was chalk-full of visitors! John noticed on Facebook that an old friend of his from Little Rock was in town with his husband (Don and Bo) and invited them over Wednesday evening. We had a lot of fun visiting, and Marina joined in when she returned from Mendoza. The next night, a co-worker from Monrovia came for the evening (Russell P.) and we had a blast catching up with him and the folks we knew in Liberia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" src=\"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3287.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7359\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3287.jpeg 320w, http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3287-300x225.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><figcaption>With Russell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Marina headed home on Thursday, but before she left, we took a tour of the Ambassador\u2019s residence with the staff historian. Although I have been in the building a lot, I never had taken the time to really look at the details or learn the history, so I thoroughly enjoyed it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"228\" height=\"320\" src=\"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3281.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7358\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3281.jpeg 228w, http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_3281-214x300.jpeg 214w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 228px) 100vw, 228px\" \/><figcaption>At Bosch Palace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Last Sunday Lea and I met at La Rambla in Recoleta for a pleasant lunch, and yesterday we headed to Obrador for an early happy hour. I\u2019m not sure we solved all of the world\u2019s problems, but we gave it a try! Lea also went with John and me to the Irish National Day celebration after work &#8211; we had a good time, saw a few folks we know, and listened to a good fiddler playing Irish tunes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>John and I ended a stressful work week by going to Carneros for a nice dinner on Friday. Yesterday we went to the egg hunt at the Ambassador\u2019s residence and John made balloon animals for the kids &#8211; big hit again this year! It\u2019s fun to see the kids running around, especially the little girls in their Sunday dresses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Pamela\u2019s suggestion, we are watching \u201cFargo\u201d (I think it\u2019s season five) and like its quirkiness and actors. We\u2019re also still watching \u201cFeud: Truman Capote and the Swans\u201d and, of course, \u201cCurb Your Enthusiasm.\u201d I read Britney Spears\u2019 book, \u201cThe Woman in Me\u201d this week and enjoyed it a lot more than I anticipated. I\u2019m not sure she had an editor, so it really just read like she was sitting in front of you talking. I know nothing about her other than the headlines of her conservatorship; I know a lot more now but still wouldn\u2019t recognize her music.  I also finished \u201cAbsolution,\u201d by Alice McDermott and liked it a lot. And my good friend Joan will be happy to know I am finally reading (and very much enjoying) \u201cThe Salt Path\u201d by Raynor Winn.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" src=\"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PHOTO-2024-03-24-08-55-24.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7360\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PHOTO-2024-03-24-08-55-24.jpeg 320w, http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PHOTO-2024-03-24-08-55-24-300x225.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><figcaption>View of a bakery from the car<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" src=\"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PHOTO-2024-03-24-08-55-24-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7361\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PHOTO-2024-03-24-08-55-24-1.jpeg 320w, http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PHOTO-2024-03-24-08-55-24-1-300x225.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><figcaption>I love the green neon of this dry cleaners (view from the car)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week was chalk-full of visitors! John noticed on Facebook that an old friend of his from Little Rock was in town with his husband (Don and Bo) and invited them over Wednesday evening. We had a lot of fun visiting, and Marina joined in when she returned from Mendoza. The next night, a co-worker [&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\/7357"}],"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=7357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7362,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7357\/revisions\/7362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.criplomats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}