criplomats

I worked on a lot of “administrivia” this week: reviewing our tax return, getting absentee ballots ready to mail, looking at Medicare billing, picking an air purifier to ship, etc. – plus a run to the grocery store and the butcher. I also enjoyed watching more Olympics, primarily ice skating. And today we cheered on the U.S. men’s hockey team, despite not knowing any of the rules! (The women’s team won gold, too!)

John had an interesting outing this week to one of the ports to watch a grain ship from America unload I-don’t-know-how-many tons of wheat, then he toured the plant where they make it into flour. Turns out, all the bread here is made from American wheat – who knew?

Sunday evening we hosted a reception for staffers from the Hill and members of the UN Foundation who were here to see some of the UN projects on the ground. The guests were all impressive – young, smart, polite and it was really a pleasure to meet them. (The funniest thing was that a herd of cows decided to come into the neighborhood to graze right before they arrived!) Monday was a U.S. holiday, so Mellisa and I walked in the national park (and fed the manatees, of course!) then we had lunch at Oasis Cafe. I had a fun chat with my old boss Pete M. on Wednesday!

I’m reading “The Life and Death of August Sweeney” and still plugging away on the financial planning book (I had to take a break from it!). We continue with our crime dramas, and added a very old show on BritBox called “Spooks” (aka MI-5).

Earlier in the week we had donkeys in the neighborhood!

We thought about John’s dad Pete on Monday on his birthday. We miss him.

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.