criplomats

With Ann and Pam at Madeleine Albright’s event

Here we are, back in DC! We arrived yesterday, after leaving Hot Springs early Friday morning. We had great sunny weather and Flavia did fine on the ride. I saw a lot of deer, 40+ hawks and a pileated woodpecker on the way.

We had a great time during our last week of home leave. Last Sunday, we went to Little Rock to visit with John’s former co-worker Leland and his family. He grilled us some yummy venison while we yakked. Great to see him, Cathy and the kids, and nice to meet Cathy’s parents, too.

Afterward, we went to see “David and the Divas.” David is John’s former director of the River City Men’s Chorus. He played piano for three lovely divas, one of whom is Alison’s good friend Diane. We really enjoyed the concert, and also loved seeing many familiar faces from the chorus.

Tuesday, John and I met Pam and Ann at the Clinton Presidential Library to hear former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and to see her collection of pins. She is a wonderful speaker and we were happy to get to see her.

After the talk, we went to a local bar to hear John’s good friend Hooper and his band – they’re very good and fun to listen to. We also got to see his wife Ruth, and old friends Claire and Dave. What a fun evening!

Otherwise during the week, I picked up my new glasses, finally tracked down a bird bath for Mom (hard to find in the winter) and did a lot of last-minute stuff we’d been putting off. And, of course, we watched a lot of Olympic coverage. Mom took us back to KJ’s Grill for an early anniversary dinner (14 years coming up!).

Then we hit the road early Friday morning! Home leave was really fun and restful – which I needed before tackling Hebrew on Monday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bald eagles on the way to Mountain Home

Unfortunately, we are coming to the end of home leave…by this time next week, I’ll be writing from DC. We sure have had fun!

The first part of the week was relatively quiet – we had a surprise snow on Monday, so John and I settled in with another British mini-series all day, and I took care of Aunt Bonnie’s leg so Ann and Sue didn’t have to get out in the snow.

John spent time with some of his friends on Tuesday and Wednesday while I held down the fort in Hot Springs. I went to one of Mom’s doctor’s appointments with her, cooked for her and Aunt Bonnie and ran errands.

On Thursday, John and I drove up to Mountain Home where we saw the bald eagles – they were just gorgeous! We had a good visit with Pete and Ginger (Pete is recovering nicely from his knee surgery).

We left the next morning and met Pam at the new Hendrix cafeteria for lunch – they have a beautiful new facility. Nothing like it was when I was in school there! She took us on a tour of the other new buildings on campus. We saw a couple of familiar faces, including Dr. Guthrie and Pete the security guard (yes, he is still working!). Click to see photos of the campus.

After our Hendrix tour, we had a meeting in downtown Little Rock, then met Dail and Nancy for dinner. It’s been so nice to get to spend time with them!

Yesterday, Mom turned 85 – hard to believe. We took her to dinner at KJ’s Grill for a delicious steak, then settled in to watch some of the Olympics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pamela and John in the new Hendrix cafeteria

 

 

 

 

 

 

On campus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the golf girls

This was a fun-filled week – I got to see a lot of friends. Last Sunday night, I met my good friend Holly in Benton – we talked non-stop for a couple of hours, getting caught up on all of our old Dillard’s friends.

On Thursday, John and I toured the Arkansas Passport Center here in Hot Springs, where they print about 90% of all of the U.S. passport books. We gave presentations to both shifts of employees (about 200) about the Foreign Service. We had so much fun! The staff was incredibly welcoming and really gave us the VIP treatment.

Friday night we met my golf girlfriends at a restaurant in Maumelle, then went to Camille’s house afterwards to continue the party. It was so wonderful to see everyone!!!

It was back to Little Rock on Saturday. We visited with our wonderful friends Julia and Marilyn, and met the newest member of the family, their baby, Lucy Jane. She is just beautiful!

Afterward, we headed to Mary’s house for dinner with her, Deb and Doug. While Doug and John solved the world’s intellectual problems, we girls hung out in the kitchen and yakked for hours – lots of fun!

We spent the night with Mary Saturday night, so we could leave from there to go to Fayetteville. We met Phillip and the twins for lunch (yummy omelettes), then went to see his electric car – he’s in the process of converting a car to all-electric. From there, we went for a tour of their new house – lots of acreage and (!) alpacas next door! Andrew and Alise are very enjoyable and getting all grown up at age 10 and 1/2.

We planned to drive on over to Mountain Home, but a winter storm warning turned us back down south to Hot Springs instead. We’ll have to reschedule and hope for better weather!

Click to see more home leave photos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John, Phillip, Alise and Andrew

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proud moms, Julia and Marilyn wth Lucy Jane

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Doug, Deb and Mary

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Arkansas Passport Center