Our yard is really starting to bloom and bud! The pansies have been out for a while – now the petunias are starting to bloom, and the fig tree and rose bushes are budding. Things are turning green and pretty. The weather is also spring-like – except when it’s hailing! We had a big storm with rain and hail on Wednesday, then the next day was just as pretty as you please.<\/p>\n
Last Sunday we enjoyed a really nice brunch with Marcus and Simone, followed by an excellent game of “Settlers of Catan.” Marcus and Simone are really good cooks, and you sure don’t walk away hungry from their table. Later in the day, we had Thai massages – ahhh.<\/p>\n
Scott came back mid-week from his trip to Vienna – I’m glad he’s back in the office. It’s very lonely when he and Michael are both gone!<\/p>\n
Friday was Consular Leadership Day. I went to the office early to print some visas for weekend travelers, then went to Reb’s house for the festivities. CLD is a day where we re-charge as a section, mostly doing team-building activities and having some fun.<\/p>\n
Afterward, Scott, Brett R. and Brett T. came over and we sat on the deck and enjoyed the late afternoon. John and Laura eventually joined us, then we ordered out for pizza. I headed to bed as they were starting a game of “Settlers.”<\/p>\n
Saturday I went to work to eek out a few more visas, then met up with Kellee, Carla and Brit for shopping. Kellee drove us way out of town to a furniture shop – mostly the guy reclaims carved wood from old houses and restores it or finds other uses for it. It was neat to see what he had. Afterward we went by a jewelry store and a new grocery store, then I took some cat photos in to have enlarged – I’ll pick them up later this week. I want to have some photos to hang in my office, and found several photos of cats from Israel that I think will make a nice grouping.<\/p>\n
Saturday evening, we met Scott and Laura for dinner at Wild Rice and had a nice time.<\/p>\n
I had a nice long chat with Cousin Dail last Sunday night – he sounded strong. He’s fighting with leukemia and he’s winning – he and Nancy sure have been in in our thoughts the last few months. And, my friend Tom had a successful liver transplant recently! He’s back home in Little Rock and sounds like he’s doing great. What a trooper he’s been throughout his journey.<\/p>\n
On a lighter note, John has gotten me hooked an an FX TV series called “The Americans” – it takes place in the 80s and is about Russian spies who are in deep cover in the United States – it’s a lot of fun!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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