criplomats

I took a quick trip up to Arkansas this week. I arrived on Wednesday and went to Hot Springs to stay with David and Alison for two nights at their wonderful lake house. Thursday morning, David and I drove up to Caldwell Cemetery to lay flowers on Mom’s grave. It was a year to the day from the day she died, and I wanted to honor her and see her tombstone. It’s just so beautiful and peaceful up there, and I’m so happy that she is there. It’s still so strange that she is gone.

After I dropped David back at the house, I stopped in Mom’s old neighborhood to check on the house(it’s still on the market), and said hello to Mom’s housekeeper Sandy. And I can’t be that close to Smokin’ in Style without stopping, so I had some pulled pork and baked potato salad! Yum!

Next I dropped off some clothes at the Humane Society’s resale shop, then went to Belk to do some power shopping to refill my suitcase. I also took a little bit of time to go look at a couple of lake condos with realtor Andy – while it’s a long shot that John and I will buy one, you never know! We finished the day with excellent steaks that David grilled, and watched the lights flicker on the lake until it was time to go to bed.

The next morning was a special treat – our dear friend Cathy from the Foreign Service happened to be in Hot Springs (her sister lives in North Little Rock), so we met for breakfast at the Pancake House. It was so great to see her before she heads off to Kabul in a few weeks for her next tour. I also ran into two high school friends there, too, which was fun!

After that, I drove to Little Rock and got a good Ouidad haircut and highlights at Rumors salon, then I was off to meet Mary at her house for a visit. We ended up at a favorite Mexican restaurant (hey, you can’t get Tex-Mex in Guadalajara!)

Friday and Saturday I stayed with Pamela. We ran errands on Saturday, then met Jackie, Ike, Ann and Jim at Star of India. (Even though it’s probably been two years since I’ve been there, when I walked in, Sami the owner looked at me and said, “Where’s John?”!)

Then Pam and I headed to a fantastic concert – Steve Winwood followed by Steely Dan! It was just wonderful! I’d seen Steve Winwood before, but not Steely Dan – wow! Excellent music all the way around!

This morning I went to Ike’s apartment and picked out a few pieces of his art to buy – I love his stuff. So whimsical and interesting – and it was neat to sit there with him and talk about the pieces and some of the background of them. I got so engrossed in the art that I had to hurry to get around and get to the airport on time for my flight home!

Last Sunday we hosted a nice brunch for Drew and his family, and had several of the consular managers over – nice!

We had a special guest in our office this week – Pistol! We’re helping him find a new home because some of our clients who had him can’t keep him. What a cutie!

John and Pistol

Rocio and Pistol

John and I are social sponsors for a new family who arrived yesterday, so we were busy this week getting ready for them. We had met Drew last year when he came on a TDY and we met the rest of the family when we went to the airport to get them yesterday. He and his wife have three adorable kids, so we filled our two SUVs with them and luggage and caravanned to their new (lovely) house. It was fun to see the girls (aged five and 11) run all over the house finding their rooms. We’re hosting a brunch for them this morning, so our kitchen is abuzz with activity getting ready for the consular managers to come over. I made a batch of cheesy grits in the slow cooker that I think are going to be delicious!

Friday night we went to a going-away party for one of our consular managers. It was a beautiful night and we sat outside and ate American-style BBQ – a treat!

The rest of the week was just busy as usual. I went to lunch one day with a young officer to offer bidding advice. I did manage to get myself back to the gym every morning, so that was a win!

Happy 55th wedding anniversary to Pete and Ginger! We sent a gift certificate to a steak house, accompanied by the photo below. Bon appetit!

Bon appetit!

Last weekend with David and Susie

The rains have started rather tentatively here and we’re all so glad! The days have been getting up into the mid-to-low 90s, which for Tapatios is unbearably hot. We’ve had some showers overnight the last day or so, which makes for lovely cool mornings, so hopefully the rains will pick up even more and cool things down.

The week was pretty normal – work is incredibly busy as people start their summer travel. Our demand for passport services is out-stripping our ability to keep up, which makes for stressful days for our staff and me. In addition, we have one vacancy and will have three more in a few weeks! So we’re muddling along the best we can.

We went to two birthday gatherings yesterday. First we went to celebrate Tom’s birthday and enjoyed Max’s wonderful cooking – he made a lemon tart that was out of this world. Then we went to David’s later in the day for gaming and to celebrate his birthday. I played a few games but spent the majority of the evening playing with his adorable cats.

Happy Pride to my gay friends! I’m horrified by the news this morning of a mass shooting in a Florida gay nightclub.

We had this little guest at our hummingbird feeder this morning – what a treat! I didn’t take this photo, but found this on the internet:

Anna’s Hummingbird

With my co-workers in front of the basillica.

This was a busy week! The highlight was an outreach trip to the beautiful little town of Talpa de Allende, about three to four hours outside of Guadalajara. It’s famous in these parts because it’s the end point of a big pilgrimage that happens in the spring, so the economy of the town basically revolves around selling religious articles and services for the pilgrims who come. Due to its prominence, it also gets religious visitors year-round.

The trip there and back was gorgeous, even though we’re in dry season; I’d love to go back when it’s all green. You cross the Sierra Madre mountain range to get there, so there are plenty of lovely views along the way. The downside of the trip was that we were in a van that bounced us around so much that my Fitbit logged 20,000 steps just because my arm was bouncing up and down! And the mountain roads are very steep and curvy, so we were very glad to finally get there!

I went with two women in the office, one from our fraud unit and the other from our Social Security office (lots of folks get their SSA benefits in Mexico). We met my staff member Ale there – she went up the night before with her husband and baby to spend the night with her parents. They invited us for a lovely breakfast. We sat down to a delicious fruit plate, yogurt, sweet rolls, granola, and fresh orange juice. Turns out, that was just a starter. Every time I took a bite, a new platter arrived: potatoes, refried beans, carne con chile, chilequiles, scrambled eggs with ham, fresh cheese – and when I thought there was no more room on the table, the tamales de elote (corn) arrived with fresh sour cream to go on top!

Their house was gorgeous – it’s a huge rambling hacienda style that’s right on the main street, but when you step inside, it’s an oasis of cool tile, with rooms off the corridor and a lovely patio and garden in the middle. During the pilgrimage, they rent out rooms and set up cooking stations outside. The story of the house was fascinating – Ale’s father’s grandparents owned it for many years, and he used to go there to play as a child. Somewhere along the way, they sold the house to Ale’s mother’s parents and she grew up in the house – and then she married Ale’s father! So it’s come full circle. Ale’s parents were just incredible hosts and their hospitality was the highlight of the trip!

Ale’s home

The purpose of the trip was to meet the locals and answer questions, since many of them aren’t computer savvy – we had a pretty good turnout. We set up tables and Ale and I met with people who wanted to know about passports and visas (many of them have kids born in the U.S. who don’t have U.S. passports yet). One of my co-workers had a table to talk about how to avoid being exploited as an agricultural worker, and the other co-worker fielded Social Security questions.

On our way out of town, we made a quick stop at the town square to see the basillica and buy rolls of the famous Talpa guayabo fruit stuffed with dulce leche (like a sweetened condensed milk that is carmelized). About halfway home, we stopped to grab a sandwich – delicious ham with fresh cheese on a small baguette – yummy!

Last Sunday, we attended the first communion of my boss’s little girl – she was so cute and the ceremony was lovely. Afterwards we went to a local country club for lunch – we sat with a couple who are living in GDL due to the husband’s work with the Hershey company.

Thursday night was book club at our house. We had a good turnout and interesting discussion of “In the Garden of the Beasts,” about the U.S. Ambassador to Germany in the 1930s.

Here are some more photos from Talpa.

Church square

Buying candy (with our driver)

My co-worker Ale (right) with her mom and her baby

Religious procession down main street

Windshield view

Church square

Talpa de Allende basillica

Inside the church