Paddy and Rebekah come home

I slept in today because I didn't feel so hot this morning when I initially woke up, the effect of inhaling lots of smoke in the bar last night–and no I didn't have a hangover, especially not from two beers. I was basically congested and phlegmy, but I felt better by eleven or so. Got up, had some coffee and a chunk of bread. Sebastien had left for Sahagun just after 10, going into town to call his daughter.

I took Una out for a walk, suspecting that after that huge bowl of spicy pasta sauce last night she was probably going to have crazy indigestion. She seemed alright though. I guess living on the streets of Pittsburgh and eating all those mice really toughen a stomach up!

We came home and I took a shower and shaved, then proceeded to give the dog a good scrubbing so she'd be clean when her people returned later. I read some more Henry Miller, and listened to Cell for a bit. In the yard there were some large pieces of asbestos that had been on the roof before the builders fixed the walls. Being that they didn't clean up anything once they were through, I went out and dragged them all into the garage in back for the gypsy to come and confiscate. Bad stuff to keep around anyhow!

Went around the house sweeping here and there, cleaning up bits of dirt and dust that had settled on the ground since yesterday. Then I had a small lunch of cheese and some anchovies on bread, then curled up for a nap. I slept for about an hour, and after I got back up finished listening to Cell. The ending was alright.

Paddy and Rebekah got home from the train station just before 7:00pm, and we caught up for a half hour or so, then walked around the house and over to The Alamo so Rebekah could see the progress that's been made. Once back we had a simple supper of bread and a pulse that Rebekah made with some veggies and peas soup base. It was very good. By time we were all ready to call it a night, Sebastien had still not returned from earlier. Not sure where he could be, but if I had to guess I'd say he's probably at a bar somewhere.

Before coming in for bed, Rebekah read an excerpt from the journal she and Paddy share to me. This was in reference to the night Paddy, Sebastien, James and I were at The Alamo, and they had cooked the meat on the chicken wire–the Earth seasoned steaks:

“The sight of the four of us around the fire seated on upturned buckets and bricks was redolent of a gang of homeless alcoholic derelicts on an East End bomb sight ... Rock bottom in a way, but not seriously.”

Anyhow, I'm going to bed. I'm going to start listening to The Vampire Lestat tonight. A book I've read before, but still a very good story, and the audio version is read by one of my favorite readers, Frank Muller.

Good night!

The Great Day of Cleaning

So as I suspected, today was deemed the Great Day of Cleaning. I spent most of my day around the house sweeping, mopping, wiping, and arranging things so that everything was clean and in order for Paddy and Rebekah's return. I got up at around 9:30, had some coffee and then took the dog out for a short walk.

Coming home I started in the kitchen and the bathroom, and by lunch time had finished the latter though arranging the shelves, and cleaning under things took longer in the kitchen. Sebastien came over from working at The Alamo and we had some fish, peas, and microwaved potatoes for lunch. After eating we watched the other movie that James brought over for us to borrow – Three Kings. Also, another movie that was better than I expected it to be.

After Sebastien left again I resumed cleaning the kitchen, finished, and then hung some laundry and started working on sweeping the courtyard and cleaning up the entry way. The wind was gusting down into the courtyard so it took a while to get all the dirt which kept blowing away as soon as I'd swept it into piles. I ended up just wetting most of it down and sweeping it over to the drain though, so that worked. Then, of all things, it rained. I was a little peeved.

I took Una out for another walk, for her sake and my own, and the people that own sheep down the street have finally let them out. She was very excited to come across a great group of animals that she could easily startle. We went toward San Nicolas, and she ran a muck in the hare field.

After coming home I swept and mopped the inside hall and stairs, then tidied up the disaster of a workshop at the back of the house. I've listened to a great deal of Cell while working today, and I have to say in light of Stephen King's more recent crap work, this story is fairly okay. It's kind of reminiscent of The Tommyknockers, though that really scared me. This story is just more so amusing.

After dinner of a decent–and rather spicy–putanesca, Sebastien and I rode the bikes to San Nicolas to have a drink at Barrunta. We had a good night, and made it home safe, getting a ride from Raoul the bartender at Barrunta. We played a skewed game of Quarters with a Euro, and though our money may be worth less I can attest that it certainly bounces much better!

Before coming home I remembered that we'd left the leftover spaghetti and sauce on the counter in dishes, and worried that Una would have gotten at them and broken them. She's really mischievous when it comes to food being left out. We came home to find the spaghetti untouched, but the bowl of sauce significantly decreased, the green olives in it completely cleaned off. I guess Una doesn't like olives. Thankfully she hadn't broken anything, though I'm guessing that I made it increasingly easy for her, having moved one of the chairs in front of the counter so we could watch the movie earlier. Sneaky dog.

Now I'm ready to crawl into bed and sleep for a while.

If I ask for a half kilo of ground beef, that's exactly what I want

So today I made the decision that when I enter a Spanish-speaking situation I'm going to provide scripts to those I'm interacting with so that they know what to say. Back to that when I get there.

Got up this morning just after 9 and took Una our for a walk after stopping by The Alamo to see how things are going. James had spray painted “If you can build we need your help.” in English and a Spanish translation across the arch mold. When the dog and I came back the mayor had showed up and there was a reporter there from one of the local papers as well, gathering information for a story on Moratinos.

I headed back home with the dog and took a shower then read Miller for a bit. Hannah sent me a text message saying that a trip to Europe for her may be more of a possibility than she'd anticipated, having come into some unexpected funds. It'll be nice to see her, and I think she'll really like Europe, regardless of where we end up.

Sebastien came home at around two and we ate a frozen pizza that we had for lunch. After eating we set up my laptop and watched The Italian Job, which was a much better movie than I'd though it might be originally. Not as good as Ocean's 11, but the same premise. He headed back to work after the movie was over, and I went over to The Alamo as well to see if Marianne could take me into Sahagun to pick up some groceries.

She was more than willing, so we took their car and the children into town. First we stopped and Marianne bought an orchid from a local plant shop to give to Julia as a gift for being such a help. I went to Dia, which reminded me a lot of Aldis in the States, and got most of what we needed, but wasn't bale to get any ground meat. So we drove over to Lupa and luckily their counter was still open. I'd planned what I needed to ask for when I got to the counter, but the lady helping me asked me something I didn't understand instead of just giving me what I wanted. It turns out she was inquiring as to whether I wanted patties or just the beef. I had said clearly ground meat, and pointed at it, but instead she has to go and complicate things. Hm. So that's why I'm going to start handing out scripts, ha ha.

We headed back to Moratinos, I put away the groceries, and then went back to The Alamo to help Marianne walk around the property and measure all the walls so that they could take the measurements to an architect. It seems while they were on their siesta, James and Marianne ran into the man from San Nicolas who owns an albergue there, and he more or less told them that he was going to do everything in his power to keep them from opening. So not a huge deal, but just earlier the mayor had mentioned that his term is nearly over, and the same man from San Nicolas is running for the position unopposed. So that could pose a problem for James and Marianne.

James gave me a copy of Google SketchUp, which is a neat drawing program that lets you create 3-d models from 2-d shapes. Very nifty and I played around with it for a bit after coming home before making dinner. We had impromptu tacos with the meat I'd purchased at Lupa. Sebastien restrained himself at first, but then after two tacos slathered the rest of his with mayonnaise. Ick. After dinner we set up the laptop again and watched Gods and Monsters.

Now it's time to get to sleep – I'm finished with The Silence of the Lambs and starting Stephen King's Cell tonight. Tomorrow I need to clean around the house before Rebekah and Paddy come home.

“A decent, well-educated cow came by here today.

Paddy left for Madrid this morning. He's meeting Reb tomorrow sometime and then they're coming back to Moratinos on Saturday. I got up today at about 9:30 and was alone in the house with Una. I had some coffee, got dressed, pulled the sheets of my bed, and put them in the hamper. Planning to was all the linens later.

Una and I went over to The Alamo, er Alambra, to find Sebastien and James and Crew. They were puttering around and Sebastien was mixing cement to start one of the inside walls that needs to be built. It seems the workers have decided to blow James' wall and arch off for another long-term project. After some taking with them and Julia though they're going to come Saturday to construct the arch, but then James is going to finish the wall. As of right now it's huge.

I took Una out toward Terradillos and we cut across some farmland along a small road. I got my shoes caked in mud which I'll have to wash off later. It was a nice walk though. Even despite my being able to hear the mouse Una caught squealing just before she killed it. You'd think she was a dog or something!

We came back home, cleaned up from this morning, then started making lunch. Just an anchovy sandwich and some cheese. Sebastien came back shortly and had a bit to eat, I did the sodoku puzzles from the last few days, read a bit, planned my Camino, then he went back to finish his wall. I started dinner which was the rice/chicken/chorizo thing Paddy made yesterday turned into a soup. I wasn't really impressed with my efforts, but it's food.

It started raining and I had to pull down the laundry that was on the line. Also now unless it gets nicer tomorrow I'll have to dry the linens over at The Alamo. I put on the resident poncho and went over to see if Sebastien needed one. James and Marianne came back and she and I did some impromptu planning with spray paint and pencil for the yard and landscaping. James all but kissed the ground I walk on when I explained some basics of geometry to him for measuring angles. I can't imagine if he met some of my Case Western kids. He might not know how to handle that.

Sebastien and I came back when they left with the kids. We ate dinner just after 8 then he went to Barrunta to have a drink. It stays light here now until about 9ish. It's pleasant, but odd at the same time. We need to pick up some items in town tomorrow so I'm going to ask Marianne to drive me into Sahagun. Sebastien is supposed to be back around 10, and then he said he wanted to watch Gods and Monsters. Then bed for me – I'm just about done with The Silence of the Lambs.

Oh, I put a new side box up for anyone interested in looking at my tentative and wholly-amendable Camino itinerary.

Free to run

After my fun evening last night I ended up sleeping in until about 10 this morning. I got up and had my usual coffee and bread, then headed into Sahagun with Paddy. We bought his train ticket so he could go and meet Rebekah on Thursday and then bring her back on Saturday. I found out later that he bought a ticket for tomorrow as opposed to Thursday. I'm sure an extra day to get situated in the city and have me and Sebastien out of his hair will do him some good. I'm sort of glad that I'm not going to be here the entire time I'm in Europe. I really love it here, but I feel bad kind of throwing a kink into Paddy and Reb's lives for the time they've let me stay. I appreciate it nonetheless and will have to find a really great way to pay them back. Anyhow, we checked out email at Zentral, I updated my blog, and then we picked up some bread and a newspaper. German was supposed to be back from Peru today but his shop is still dark and the sign saying he'll be gone till the 27^th was still up. I hope he comes back sometime soon as I'd like to take my laptop in and get on his wireless network. I want to upload pictures and get some detailed info about these trails in France.

We came back to Moratinos and moved the yurt parts into the storage room from where they had been left outside. Then I read some more of that amazing henry Miller book. God damn. Go out and buy Big Sur everyone. The package that my grandfather sent me arrived today. For some reason the post man had taken it to one of the neighbors. I'm not really sure why because it was clearly addressed, but I appreciated him bringing it over. I only hope the card my mother sent me comes to the right place. That could be a problem. Anyhow, he sent along a writing pad for me to write my letters on as well as two pictures he'd printed out from our little trip to Bilbao. One of Rebekah and Libby which is really nice, and another of Libby and me in front of the Guggenheim Museum which Reb took. I put them both up on the fridge.

Paddy made a rice dish out of the leftover chicken and some chorizo. He didn't much care for it but I thought it was alright. It just needed some salt and pepper. Eh, it's food, right? After eating I took Una out for a nice stroll while listening to some Gomez. While walking I was inspired to put together a play list of songs especially for listening to while walking the Camino. Some of them are about walking or traveling, others seemed appropriate to me for other reasons. I'll list them at the end of this entry.

Paddy took a nap and I read for a bit longer then listened to some more of The Silence of the Lambs. At around eight or so I found a recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara in Delia Smith's cookbook and we had that for dinner. The sauce for the dish is actually made by coating the hot pasta in raw scrambled eggs then topping it with cooked bacon. We didn't have bacon so I used some chorizo instead. It turned out rather well and everyone enjoyed it. I'm kind of tired today, so I'm going to bed earlier than usual. I suppose I should get all the sleep I can before I start walking. I've got some long (but surely adventurous and amazing) days ahead of me. Cheers!

(I'll tack my play list into a side box on my blog here.)

“Paradisiacal” is my favorite word today

Woke up today and Paddy and Una were just returning from their walk. He told me I needed to go see James at The Alamo for “crappy presents.” Having some coffee and putting on my clothes and shoes I went over and James gave me a big hug, a DVD (Gods and Monsters, very good) and a CD-ROM of e-books, which he guaranteed probably wouldn't work on my laptop. He was right, ha ha.

After coming back home Paddy and I headed into Sahagun to exchange two butane tanks (wow they are heavy when they're full), pick up the usual newspaper and bread, grabbed some sandwich makings for lunch, and I bought some tobacco for Sebastien which he asked me to get for him. We went over to Zentral to check email but their metal gate was down and they were closed. So we had a coffee in another nearby bar and then went home.

We had some lunch, and after I finished the chicken soup that I was making for dinner. Added some vegetables to it that we had leftover in the fridge, spiced it up, etc., and it turned out quite well. I even was able to boil the carcass bits again after removing them from the soup and produce another liter of good chicken stock which I poured into a recycled plastic bottle and froze. After I finished I read most of the new issue of The New Yorker that came in the mail not too long ago, then decided to go take a rest and watch the movie James gave me. I really miss watching movies! It was nice to curl up in bed and hide for a bit. Gods and Monsters is a film based on a period of James Whale's life, the director of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. (Sir) Ian McKlellan is in it, and it's very good.

After I was done I got up and went back into the kitchen to find Paddy who gave me a book by Henry Miller called Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch. He said I should start reading it as he thought I'd enjoy it and additionally see a bit of what they themselves, being Paddy and Reb, are experiencing here in Moratinos. All I can say is, “Wow!” I've not even gotten half way through the book and I'm really amazed at how well I like it. Miller speaks in the first person, recounting a period of his life spent in Big Sur, California. He has a lot of viewpoints that I whole heartedly agree with, and there are plenty of excellent quotables in the text. Here's one I like in particular and so wrote down: “Certainly paradise, whatever, whenever it be, contains flaws. (Paradisiacal flaws, if you like.) If it did not, it would be incapable of drawing the hearts of men or angels.”

Sebastien came back from working, then James and Marianne showed up with a couple bottles of good tinto (which is how Spaniards refer to red wine). I slipped and said “The Alamo” in front of James, and he told me I wasn't allowed to call it that anymore, since now they've cleaned up the yard, he feels it should be called “The Alumbra” or something like that after some palace in India. I laughed, and lying just a little bit, agreed to not call their place The Alamo anymore. We had a drink, and they (excluding Paddy who had opportunely gone to the bathroom) sang for me. It was very sweet, but then James and Marianne had to take off as the kids were grumpy and waiting in the car.

After they'd gone we all sat down and had my chicken soup for dinner with some bread and the rest of the wine. The second bottle was extremely good. I think I saved it, though I'll have to write down what kind it is and where it's from before the bottle is taken to the glass deposit. It had a neat little stamp of a map of Spain on the top of the foil, with the area the wine was produced indicated.

After dinner Paddy, Sebastien, and I sat around the table drinking wine, eating bread and pate, and have a really wonderful conversation that spanned a slew of topics. Here's a brief synopsis:

• Movies – Casa Blanca, Citizen Kane, The Shining, The Innocents, Kubrick, Stephen King, westerns; Paddy is amazed and “envious” that I'd never seen Casa Blanca. He says I have a real treat in store for me.

• Books – War and Peace, Salinger, Hemingway and what he did for literature, how people talk, Miller. Paddy says War and Peace is worth reading, so I may have to give it another chance.

• Writing – Maya Angelou and The Blade–I guess Paddy wrote a scathing piece on a local appearance and the mayor was upset; How EdOp pieces are sometimes meant to rile people up and that's really the fun of writing them.

• Religion – Varied opinions, but none of us would probably hear the end of it from a die hard believer of any faith in particular. How is it conversations always steer to politics and religion?!

After this, Paddy went to bed and Sebastien and I sat around listening to David Bowie and Pink Floyd. Then we both decided we were a bit hungry so I attempted to make drunken French toast. I think that would me a really good name for a band, and the attempt proved successful even though they don't really seem to have maple syrup here. I cleaned up all the dishes because I knew Paddy would not be pleased waking up to a messy kitchen in the morning. Apparently Sebastien has never watched The Wizard of Oz while listening to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon dubbed over the sound. I thought this was a pretty common spectacle to be amazed by, so now we need to find a copy of the movie on DVD.

I sent some text messages back and forth with my mom and a couple friends sending well wishes, then my pal Draque from Case Western called me via Skype and we talked for about 15 minutes. My mom's going to be mad because I wasn't thinking that I shouldn't be using the phone (even after she'd just mentioned it to me!). Since I've taken the card out so I can't actually make calls, but it still works as an alarm clock. I accidentally woke Paddy up because I was talking outside, a little louder than I realized I guess, and he said it was something like 3am. (Edit: Yea, so this would indicate that I didn't write this entry at 10pm, but that's just what I put into Blogger when I end up writing an entry the next day. That way the dates are still accurate to the occurrences.) I hung up, apologized, and then headed to bed myself. I really hope I didn't irritate him too much. He's a good man and has been incredibly patient and generous with me.

For some reason it always rains on my birthday.

No weddings and a funeral

So when I got up this morning the spare bed was still made, and I because I woke up a few times in the night and no one was in it I don't think Michael ever went to sleep. At least not in the house. When I got out of bed and wandered into the kitchen Paddy was out for a walk with Una, Sebastien was up, and Michael was gone. Coffee. Bread. The usual.

Paddy got home and said that he hadn't seen Michael this morning either. He forgot to take my contact info that I wrote down for him, so I'm going to have to email him. Hopefully we can stay in touch as he was a pretty groovy guy and it's always good to have more contacts in California!

Daylight savings time seems to have reached Europe finally, as Paddy pointed out. My phone and computer auto-set themselves it seems, so now we're six hours ahead of the States again. Mass had also been delayed until 4:30 this afternoon in light of Secandino's mother passing away yesterday. We figured it would be a special mass dedicated to her memory.

I got dressed and went outside to help Sebastien clear the globs of dried cement that the oafs had left after finishing their work on the house. They were fairly easy to move not being stuck to the earth or anything, and most we were just able to pick up in one piece. By time we finished it was time for lunch, so I reheated the leftover pasta from last night and then using some green pepper, onion, garlic, and a carton of tomato sauce I made a new sauce for it. It was quite good, especially with the green pepper. After we ate I cleaned up, Paddy went to take a nap, and Sebastien started working on a couple walking sticks he's making. I read for a bit and then decided to take a shower.

Cleaned up and smelling good I put on my “fancy” clothes to go to mass. Khakis and a button down. Basically what I wear all the time when I'm at home, but here it's certainly dressing up. I figured since it was going to be a special mass I'd pull out the brown corduroy blazer just to look a little spiffier.

Paddy got up not long after and took Una out for another walk, and while waiting to leave I practiced my Spanish some using the Rosetta Stone program Danielle gave me a copy of. It's kind of boring, though really thorough, and a good way to learn. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. They've also been ringing the church bells today in that weird way like yesterday.

We all left for the mass at about 4:25 or so, and when we rounded the small corner from the house noticed all kinds of people gathered around the church. Mind you there are only twenty people in Moratinos. So as we got closer we saw a hearse, and flowers, and sure enough there was a full blown funeral. We weren't really sure if that was going to be the case or not, but it was certainly an experience to witness a funeral here. They're one of those important cultural things we do as humans. It was very nice. I caught myself wondering as they carried the small casket into the church how much it weighed, and then thinking to myself how horrible it must be to carry your mother (or like relative) in a wooden box.

We stayed through the service, but didn't follow the procession out to the cemetery as we thought that might be a little inappropriate not being relatives or close friends. We headed home and I got the chicken ready for our dinner. This one was a bit bigger than the one we had last Sunday. I oiled it up and seasoned it, then stuffed it with apples, onions, and a huge bunch of rosemary. Tied it up and tossed it in the oven. I tinkered with the time and temperatures just because last week the bird could have cooked for about 10 minutes more, plus this one was bigger. It turned out perfectly, just pink at the bone, and very juicy. It smelled really good too. I imagine most anything roasted with that much rosemary crammed inside of it would, ha ha.

I nuked a few potatoes, defrosted some peas, and Sebastien made some homemade apple sauce. It was quite a nice meal and the onions, apples, and peas all complimented each other very well. After we were through I carved the remaining meat off the chicken, broke down the carcass, and tossed the remains into a pot of water to boil for soup. We'll get three meals out of this chicken. Dinner tonight, leftover meat tomorrow, and then soup whenever after that. Gotta love a 3-meal bird that only weighs 6lbs.

After we cleared the table I sat in the salon for a while practicing some more with the Rosetta Stone. For fun I did a few typing exercises at a high level in the French course. It was having me type things like, “Il ne fait pas froid. Les arbres sont en fleur.” (“It isn't cold. The trees are blooming.”) Really strange things, but it was fun. Except for the program adapting my US keyboard into a French one without much notice to me. So every time I went to type an “a” I ended up with a “q.” Grumble cakes.

It's bed time now though. I'm still listening to The Silence of the Lambs. Bonne nuit!

“I ate his liver with some fava beans,” and a big merlot?!

So I finished listening to The Stranger last night, and today began The Silence of the Lambs. Such a good book. Truly a classic thriller of modern literature I think. It's excellent no matter how many times I read it. There was one thing that threw me though when the scene where Clarice and Dr. Lecter are first speaking to each other. As most of you might know from the film she's trying to get him to complete a survey for the FBI, and he says to her, “A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti,” and then Anthony Hopkins makes this dreadful slippery sucking noise. Great line. In the book though Lecter quotes having the liver and fava beans with some other wine. I think it's interesting how they'd changed that one line in the film, really just because I think it sounded better being said out loud.

Anyhow, back form my tangent. Got up this morning and Paddy went into Sahagun while I took Una out for her morning walk. We headed to Terradillos and back. He came back from town shortly after we returned, and Sebastien still hadn't gotten out of bed. Paddy and I were sitting in the courtyard and he says to me, “I'm going to give Sebastien the boot today, so when, if, he wakes up you should go out with the dog again.” I'm thinking he'd just gotten fed up with Sebastien's somewhat cavalier attitude about things. I mean, he sleeps and eats here, and does just about whatever he cares to do, and then works all day over at The Alamo. Paddy had a point stating that he's not running a hotel. So at about a quarter after eleven Sebastien got up, and Paddy made me leave. Una was like, “Rock on! Two walks before it's even noon!”, though I'm not really sure if she can tell time like that.

So I got back after a bit, and Sebastien seemed moody and was putting all his stuff out by the door. Then sometime after that he was doing some work outside, and Paddy mentioned to me that he wasn't leaving after all. I guess they talked and Paddy made it clear that if he were to stay things were going to be different. So yea. Not sure when or how this all went down, but things seem okay now.

We didn't do anything special for lunch, and I just had an anchovy and cheese sandwich with some of the good bread Paddy got in town, and an apple. You wouldn't think that would be as good as it is, really.

It turned out to be a really nice day, so we put in some wash and hung it out on the line to dry. Sitting out in the sun in the courtyard I wrote a letter to my grandparents, and then after I came back from dropping it in the mail Sebastien and I went over to the neighbor's house to borrow his tiller to see if we could make the plot of land behind the house any better for planting. James showed up just as we were starting it up. We watched Sebastien maneuver it around for a bit, it pulling him more so than he was controlling it, but the owner stood by and watched. So, not feeling that it needed three of us to watch and one to till, James and I went in and chatted with Paddy a bit over a glass of wine. I guess James was a little miffed at Sebastien the other day too, and gave him what's for. It seems he was also supposed to be over at The Alamo at nine this morning working. We'll see. James told Paddy he'd expected him to boot him out at some point, and said that in the next week or so they'd have the yurt all suitable for Sebastien to stay in.

Sebastien finished tilling, and it didn't really make a huge difference, so I'm going to have to email my grandpa and see what he recommends doing for prepping that area for planting. The neighbor, more serious than joking I think, said that the ground was good for making adobe, and that we could always plant grass there. Oy!

Around 5pm my time I borrowed Paddy's phone again and called Hannah because we didn't get to talk last night before we had to eat. She was getting ready for work, but we chatted for about an hour and caught up on things. I miss her a bunch, and it was nice to hear her laugh. She really wants to come visit sometime while I'm here, so she's going to check into getting her passport and seeing how cheap a flight she can find this summer. Some time in the future I'd like to take another big trip like this and have her walk the Camino with me. I think she'd love it here.

After she had to take off, I called Lindsay and Danielle, and though I “kind of” woke them up, I finally got a hold of them. Talked with each of them for 20-30 minutes, and it was good to hear that things are going well with them too. They're finishing up a recent move this week, so I can't wait to see their new place when I get home. Hopefully there'll be a “Ryan's Room.” They spoil me too much, ha ha. Some of the best friends I have though. On that matter, I'm really happy to say that I can count the friends that I'm really close to on two hands. I don't think I'd like having more friends than I do, and I really prefer having the few close ones as is.

So it was getting cold out and I came back in the house, an shortly thereafter James showed up with a pilgrim he'd met. Another American, from Idaho, named Michael. He's a carpenter, so James was all over him asking questions and what not about how to build his house. The guy was really awesome, and very friendly. He's in his early 60s, driving along the Camino (he walked it the summer before last) searching for this woman he met from Burgos his first time here. Kind of romantic. He's works mostly in L.A., but spends his winters in Idaho, and is originally from Vermont. He says his only family is his daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons, and that they're moving to Spain (Santander) in the next year, so he's also seeking a place somewhere nearby that he can buy for himself. When he was younger he was a boat builder and then in the 70s he published a best seller–a coloring book of all things, of those circular designs that were really popular when we (being my peers and I) were in elementary school. I'll have to Google them to get the actual term, and to see if his coloring book is still in stock somewhere. How cool.

Paddy had been cooking another Bolognese all day, but we didn't have dinner until after nine. I boiled some pasta and we all ate well, and then decided to take a ride over to San Nicolas to watch the futbol match: Spain-Denmark. Spain won 2-1, and while it wasn't a very spectacular game it was good that they won. I guess Denmark really isn't that great of a team. We actually spent most of the game talking. Paddy and Michael got on kind of interestingly. They're about the same age, and have some very similar likes and dislikes, as well as some very different viewpoints. It was funny to see them discussing certain things like literature and architecture/art restoration. They were more entertaining than the futbol match at times.

So we came back to the house, I showed Michael the spare bed in my room, and then decided to call it a night. I'm going to slip into my sleeping bag and cuddle up with my iPod now. Buenas noches.

A long and tiring day

Today was an incredibly exhausting day, but rocked nonetheless for the most part. I got up just after 8 and hopped in the shower, dressed, then had coffee and some breakfast. Paddy and I left to walk into Sahagun just after 8:45 or so and arrived just shy of an hour and forty-five minutes later. Once in town we stopped at the pharmacy, got the day's newspaper, and went to Lupa to get some groceries. We went over to the Cafe Zentral and Paddy decided he was going to head back. I wanted to update my blog and check my email, so I told him to go ahead and that I'd catch up later.

No word yet from Jeremy, which is starting to irritate me. If he's on vacation or something he could at least put up an out of office reply on his email. I don't know, perhaps I'm being silly and the corporate world made me inpatient concerning matters like this. I called him earlier tonight, and again, no answer. We shall see I suppose. Otherwise, it's too expensive to use my Cingular phone for calls, so I'll just have to continue borrowing either Patrick or Reb's phone to put my SIM card in until I hear from him. I just hope it's before I leave.

Also my mom emailed me and told me she wasn't going to be able to make it out to walk the last leg of the Camino with me because of work, so that was disappointing. (Edit: I talked to her on the phone too and she said someone from one of her offices asked for the link to this blog, so hi to any of mom's employees who happened to start following my trip. Thanks for reading.) On the up side though now I don't need to worry about being Some Place at Some Time to make sure we're able to meet up. It's not big deal, and hopefully she'll get to come out on vacation before I come home. I'd still really love the chance to show her around Paris and other parts of France. I'm seriously considering spending most of my trip there too. Now that she's not coming I don't need to fly to Rome after the Camino, so I think I'm going to walk up into France and just spend as much time there as I like, and if I get to Italy I do, if not, oh well–it'll be there next time! I miss France so much, and now that I know my French is still up to par (after meeting some other Francophones in the area) I'd be lying if I said I wasn't anxious to get back.

I stayed there for about half an hour, then left to head back to Moratinos. It was a little chilly this morning, but by time I'd left to return it was really a beautiful day. The clouds and hills were so bright and clear, and the mountains, fresh with snow, were incredibly bright. It was really a picturesque sight, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera.

Paddy had stopped off at Casa Barrunta to get a drink, and I ended up catching up to him about half way between San Nicolas and Moratinos. Una was mighty pleased to finally've been let off the leash and was busy hunting little critters like she does.

A pilg that I'd seen twice on the way back was in Moratinos when we got back, and after we'd been home for a few minutes he found his way to the house. Somehow these people are sent to Moratinos to help James work on his house, and being he's not here all the time they always manage to find their way here. I'll have to edit his name in later–it was something like Roovis–and he was from Estonia, walking back from Santiago. He was nice but not very talkative, though his English seemed to be good enough. After lunch (leftover, reanimated, reincarnated–whatever you'd like to call it–soup) I crawled back into my sleeping bag to enjoy a siesta. I dozed off listening to The Stranger, which being a rather short book, I'm almost finished with. Paddy says that The Plague is an excellent story as well, though I think I'm going to take a break from the existentialism and listen to the copy of Silence of the Lambs that I have. I thought about it earlier walking past the barn down the street and hearing the sheep causing a ruckus in there. When Libby and I arrived we had gone in and looked at all the sheep and the new lambs. They've sent the majority of the lambs off to be slaughtered, or so it seems as the population has been significantly depleted since. Nonetheless, it's been a while since I've enjoyed the company of Dr. Lecter, so that'll be next on my list. I may add a little side box on this blog and start listing the books I'm reading/listening to.

So after my siesta I put my shoes back on and went over to The Alamo to finish the adobe (read “mud”) plastering I was doing upstairs. The Great Wall is really looking quite impressive, and is nearly finished. I'm anxious to see how James goes about building his arch though. In theory it shouldn't be hard. I mean people have been building arches out of stone for centuries upon centuries with little to no problem, and really the arch is a simple yet important architectural feature. Nonetheless, I don't really know if I would know how to go about building one myself. My mud wall completed, Paddy happened by at the same time taking Una for another walk, so I headed off with him. Walked for about an hour and then came back home and made some phone calls before dinner.

Paddy bought some more chiperones (I don't think I'm spelling that correctly, but their the squids we had the other night) and cooked them into a nice spicy pasta sauce. It was really good. I did the washing up, and decided I'd come in here and tap away for a bit and then call it a night. All the walking in addition to the upper body strength required to mud plaster half a wall is going to allow a very good sleep tonight I think. I feel great otherwise. I just hope the weather continues to get warmer tomorrow.

Electrocution makes the top of my “Things that happened today” list

I woke up this morning and decided that it was way too early to leave the warmth of my sleeping bag for the cold air outside. So I hit the snooze button on my phone several times and stayed in bed until about 9:30. Una woke me up, barking inside the house because she was locked in, at about 8:30. I called her in and she hopped up into bed with me and snuggled for a bit. Not a problem as long as she's not covered in dirt. She wasn't so I assumed Paddy had not taken her on her morning walk yet, also because he hadn't come in to wake me at eight I assumed we weren't walking to Sahagun today either. Correct on both counts. When I finally rolled out of bed and pulled my jeans on no one was around.

I used the bathroom and weighed myself: 130kg even... that's 286lbs, down from 309ish before I left. Looking at myself in the mirror is like looking at this person I've not seen in a while. The me that I remember from high school almost. I can't imagine where I'll be weight-wise by time I leave for the States in August.

Checked the coffee pot, and while there was plenty left it was cold, so I dumped it out and boiled some water to make a nice strong pot of herba matte tea, the kind they drink in Argentina. Very good stuff, and plenty of caffeine. Yum. No one else here but Rebekah cares for it. Had some bread with a little peanut butter (good old Jif that Reb's mom sent from the States) and then I was ready to start my day.

The cabbage I cooked last night supplied a nice stock which I decided to make soup out of for today. Paddy had stashed it in the Dispenser last night before going to bed. Sebastien woke up and came downstairs and Paddy came home within a relatively close time frame. We sat around and chatted for a bit before Sebastien headed over to The Alamo to work for the day. A new issue of The New Yorker arrived today so paddy decided to sit outside in the sun and start reading that. I put some eggs on to boil for lunch and then went in to the salon to finish arranging things. I swept all around the room and into the hall, then put down the area rug that had been shipped from the US. It looks quite nice in there, and the couch is much lighter than I had anticipated it being. So now aside from some miscellany they salon is all done. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Beforehand I wired up the Bose stereo that came over. The only plug in the room is dangling from the wall mount, so I was careful not to fiddle with it too much. At some point or another though I grabbed it the wrong way and gave myself quite a jolt. Initially it was scary, but I pulled away very quickly, and it was only the briefest current, though the largest I can ever recall being shocked by. I'm not dead, so good news there, and a little electricity (240V here in Europa) can't hurt now and then, can it?

After I finished in there I moved on to the kitchen and started lunch. Decided to take another stab at making Ensaladilla Rusa with some ingredients we had laying around. A can of tuna, a can of peas, some raw carrot chopped up, the eggs I'd cooked and sliced (with the handy egg slicer I found yesterday... also found the garlic press, Hallelujah!), a little Gouda cheese, and chopped and boiled potatoes, mixed with some seasoning, mayonnaise, and mustard seed. It turned out quite well. In addition to that I heated up the cabbage base soup that I'd concocted last night. It was a very nice lunch.

After lunch I grabbed The New Yorker and scanned the stories, then did the sodoku (Edit: amusing comment. The word “sodoku” is being highlighted as being spelled incorrectly. The closest suggestion? “sodomy...” Great. I should probably add that to the dictionary.) puzzles from the papers that were laying on the floor in the kitchen. I think I'm going to sit down with some older issues and start reading them, translating as needed, to practice my Spanish. I suppose I should start concentrating on my Italian now though since I'll be leaving to start my Camino in two or three weeks, and after that will be in Rome.

I finished The Return of the King last night. I can't say I was overly pleased with the ending, but it was an ending nonetheless, and not the worst I've ever read. Decided to take a siesta after lunch so I started listening to Albert Camus' The Stranger. I'm not really sure how I stumbled across this book and another famous one he wrote called The Plague, but I believe it was due to one or the other being the basis for some movie I saw and seemed to enjoy enough to research it. Who knows. If anyone knows what I'm talking about let me know! Regardless, I'll indulge in a little existentialism over the next few days. Like electricity–it never really hurt anyone... right?

My siesta lasted quite a while and I got up just after six. Paddy and Sebastien were both in the kitchen reading. I made some more tea, and then came into the salon to chill in my newly completed atmosphere. Then, I think I did the most boring thing I've ever done in my life (probably not true, but this was up there.). I've had Beethoven's 9th Symphony stuck in my head for most of the day (an abridged version of it is part of the soundtrack to Orange Mechanique [in English A Clockwork Orange... I bought the CD in Paris]). So I grabbed a CD from the kitchen, threw it in the Bose, and then pulled the 1200 some-odd page Classics of Philosophy book of the shelf and sat down for some “light” reading. Yea. God forbid anyone under the age of fifty or so would have come in and seen that. How would I ever keep up any appearances of being a care-free youth?

After a chapter on the Pre-Socratic underpinnings of philosophy, I went into the kitchen and Paddy was “becoming peckish,” so I started to fix dinner. Hm, from the sounds of it my domestication seems to expand day after day, huh? No problem though, I enjoy cooking, especially because if I were to simply serve sauteed onions and garlic Paddy would still say, “Oh, it smells lovely!” I'm not sure if that's because he's not picky, or because he's British... or both.

Really though, dinner was easy and quite hardy. We finished off the cabbage rolls from last night, I cooked some green beans, and also fried some diced potatoes with the few sausages that were left from yesterday. The two (potatoes and sausages) mixed together were quite nice. After dinner I did the washing up and then Paddy, Sebastien and I lounged in the kitchen, finishing the wine we'd opened and having quite the oddball conversation covering topics from terrorism to philosophy (is that the same thing? Ha ha) from art to how to avoid hangovers. I really enjoy talking with Paddy as he's lived such a seemingly full and interesting life and has lots of stories to weave into any conversation. He also reminds me of spending time with my grandparents (they're about the same age). They always used to tell me, “Oh when you get older you won't want to spend time with us and will have better things to do.” It made me feel really bad growing up because I never knew more or less how to tell them they were wrong. Granted, yes, I grew older and became busier with things–life tends to do that–and after moving to Cleveland we didn't see each other every weekend like I did in high school, I still immensely enjoy being with them. They are two of the best people I know.

So no I'm just listening to the soundtrack from Amelie (excellent music and an even better French film if you've not seen it) and wondering how I've possibly managed to type 40 pages of text in just the short time I've been here. I think it seems like much longer than it has been. One month exactly as of yesterday. Oh! Just as an aside, I discovered this amazing system of trails in France called the Grande Randonee, which are maintained by a special government office, specifically meant as trails spread throughout the country for hikers. The system has over 100,000 miles of paths, so I need to get more information on the ones that follow the route I'd like to take while there. Even more support for me walking most places I travel here. Brilliant. Okay, I think it's time to climb into bed.

Bonne nuit.

Another blistery cold day in Moratinos

It seems I keep going to bed earlier and earlier this last week or so, but I suppose it's all for the best. Once I've started the Camino I'll be tired enough to go to sleep probably early than this, not to mention most alburgue kick you out before 8:00am.

Woke up today with Una barking outside my door. I called her in and she came and cuddled in the bed with me for a bit. She gets upset when she gets locked inside the house–we're still training her to open doors on her own. I let my alarm clock's snooze go off for about 20 minutes or so, got up, pulled on some warm socks, and went to find coffee in the kitchen. Paddy and Sebastien were already up, the former of which isn't unusual, but Sebastien's been sleeping in lately, so I was surprised to see him awake.

Coffee and some bread, then I put on some pants and my boots and went with Paddy for Una's morning walk. We stopped over at The Alamo where the workers have erected a considerable portion of the Great Wall. The framework for the arch has been moved into place, and it's starting to take shape. I'm surprised at the speed they're working, and the wall itself looks rather good.

We headed toward San Nicolas, and the wind coming out of the East was extremely cold, and much worse by time we reached the high point along the trail. We didn't hang around long, though Una thought nothing of the weather as she dashed across the scraggy hillsides in pursuit of whatever it is she's after every day.

Heading back to the house Paddy and I had some tea and then read for a little bit. Then I decided to finish arranging things in the kitchen/salon, moved some books to the salon and brought some of the now unpacked CDs up to the kitchen. I cleaned up the bookcase and it looks much better now. I also finished arranging things on the “hutch” in the salon. It looks rather nice, and the room is starting to take on the feel that someone actually lives here! I talked to Paddy about the sofa and the dining set conundrum, and just opted to leave it the way it is. No problem as the chairs are placed around the room to make a nice seating arrangement.

Paddy made some lunch of potatoes, sausages, and peas, and Sebastien came back from working just after we had begun to eat. After I did the washing up and Sebastien mentioned he had some cabbage and ground meat he wanted to use for dinner so I volunteered to make an ad lib version of the cabbage rolls I'm accustomed to at home. After I finished the dishes I moved a dresser from the salon up to the top of the stairs, replacing the chairs that Paddy's trunk was straddling. We're going to have to rig the lid though so that it only will open so far, otherwise it might snap off at some point and kill some unsuspecting onlooker at the bottom of the stairs. Other than that concern, it fits quite nicely, and now Paddy will have extra space to store his clothes.

I went with Sebastien back over to The Alamo around four o'clock where the men were back from their lunch break and working on the wall again. Picked up the miscellaneous food stores that Sebastien had on hand and came back to the house to start prepping things for dinner. The cabbage rolls themselves were a success, and turned out much better than I'd anticipated. I made a spinach salad with some shredded carrot and diced apple in balsamic vinegar to go along with it. While everything was cooking I listened to more of my book. The ending is starting to look rather anticlimactic, but I'm still thoroughly enjoying the story. Sebastien came back and borrowed the bike to ride into town and pick up some pictures he'd dropped off on Saturday along with some bread and other things. Paddy and I decided that if the weather tomorrow is nicer we'll take a walk into Sahagun.

So it's freezing again tonight and I'm debating turning on the heater before I climb into bed. I know though I really shouldn't need it, so I probably won't though. Something exciting I discovered last night after I'd gone to bed: my sleeping bag and/or one of the blankets on my bed produces tiny sparks of light caused by static electricity, so while I'm shifting around to get comfortable I get to see this little light show of sorts. It's really quite cool. That's all for today then, good night.

The Great Wall begins its ascent

Woke up this morning and headed straight for the coffee. This is becoming rather habitual I think, but it's a nice start to the day at the very least. Cup in hand I walked over to The Alamo in my pajamas to see what was going on. The workers started building the wall today, so I wanted to see if they actually came in spite of the cold weather – they did! I was shocked.

Had some more coffee that Marianne made, then kind of puttered around looking lost, and generally getting in the way for ten minutes or so before heading back home to get dressed. Paddy came back from his walk with Una and we decided to drive into Sahagun to pick up some things, check email, and see if Paddy's green ink pad had arrived. I went to the Cafe Zentral while Paddy did the shopping. Still no word from Jeremy about that phone I have here. I really hope I can use it, but if I don't hear from him in a day or so I'm going to have to track him down on his cell. Concerning things more entertaining, Rebekah joined a popular online social group, which I'm sure all you college-goers know what I'm talking about. I'm glad she's finding things to do Stateside. (Can't wait to get you back in Spain though Reb! I know Paddy misses you a bunch too.)

After Internet-ing for my alloted half hour I walked over to Lupa to meet Paddy in the check out line, bagged up our things and we headed back to the car. I was looking through the El Pais he'd left in the car from yesterday and discovered there are Sodoku puzzles in each issue. Score, something in the Spanish newspapers that isn't foreign to me–well, I guess they are literally, but I was excited nonetheless. We got back and James showed up with his laptop and a 280GB external hard drive, asking me to transfer music from my iPod. Luckily the iPod rip program installed on his laptop without a hitch, so transferring the 12,000 some odd tracks was much faster than Windows would have allowed. James was so amazed by the fact that I had my own little room too. He also gave me a copy of this program called PortableApps, which will allow me to download email to Thunderbird saved on my travel drive. That's a blessing, as Google can make such a mess of my messages sometimes. I'd heard of the program before, but it had slipped my mind as something I should download before I left home.

Paddy had some beans cooking that he whirled into a soup for our lunch. Paddy makes really excellent soups, seemingly out of nothing sometimes. After eating I hunkered down with a couple Sodokus I'd torn out of older issues of the paper and went to work on them. Got bored with that after three or four of them so I decided to start writing a letter to Hannah. She doesn't have Internet access at home, so I figured there'd be a better chance of her getting her actual mail than checking email on a regular basis! I think it was the longest letter I've written since coming here. Guess I just had a lot to say, ha ha. I miss seeing her late nights and going to Denny's for coffee and our regular talks. (Edit: I miss the rest of you too, so I don't want to hear any crap!)

Paddy went up to have a siesta after we ate and Sebastien went back over to The Alamo. The plumber came back and actually hooked the lines up to the main street line. Things are really happening over there today. I listened to some more of my book, Paddy got up and went over to some town meeting that is held on Tuesdays. I gathered up some wood so we could make a fire and then Una and I took a short stroll over to see The Great Wall, and wandered up around the bodegas and back home.

After Paddy came back he started on dinner which was really excellent. Some ground meat cooked with red peppers and some salsa along with spinach and curry rice. It was a unique combination of Indian meets TexMex, but was very good. After our meal I finished my letter to Hannah which I'll mail tomorrow, and now I'm ready to hit the sack. Huttah.

I honestly can not believe that it snowed today!

That's right. I fly across the Atlantic Ocean, away from the freezing cold of Ohio, bask in gloriously warm weather over the last week in sunny Spain, and then, of all things, it SNOWS! What gives?! I woke up this morning to a much chillier courtyard than I'm accustomed to, a bad sign agreeing with the newspaper's forecast. Had my coffee and bread, pulled on my jeans, and walked over to The Alamo wearing a hoodie and gloves.

James was about doing things, and I told him I wasn't sticking my hands in any mud today as they were quite frozen from the last time and it was a warm sunny day, whereas today they would surely turn blue and fall off after mixing a few buckets of adobe. Sebastien headed to Leon with Paddy to putter around and I stayed behind to give James a hand with some things at the house. We picked out some beams to use as a door frame, and then I gave him some pointers on his landscaping. It seems they have a small grove of quince trees on the property. In my opinion they looks like crap and all but one should be removed. And honestly, who needs, or better yet, wants that much quince? Yuck!

So Marianne arrived with an automatic drip coffee pot, and little but a clue as to how to use it. It was extraordinarily cute to see her figure it out. She made coffee for James and herself though, and produced some tasty apple tarts that she'd brought along. We say upstairs in the house talking about my Camino, what I'm packing, where I'm going, etc. James is determined that I'm going to pack more than I need, which from what I hear is a very common mishap, though, and spurred on by my light packing for the whole trip, am determined to beat the norm and actually pack just enough if not too little! I'm not lugging around anymore than I absolutely see necessary. I think the most frivolous thing that I'll have will be my iPod and the solar charger I plan on taking–but it really helps to walk and listen to a book or music, and other than taking along my laptop I don't have any other way of keeping the battery charged.

He and Marianne decided to head off and buy a toilet and new shoes for Poppy, so I came home and found Una noshing on the trash that she'd succeeding in spilling all over the kitchen. Mostly my fault I'd say though, as I should have thought better about the chicken bones and leftovers being in the can. I cleaned up the mess and replaced the bag, then warmed up the leftover soup and had that for lunch with some anchovies. Then I began my project for the day: cleaning up the salon (living room) in the main house.

All that was leftover from the shipment of stuff Paddy and Reb received from the States were a few boxes of books, a box of kitchen things, and a few boxes of CDs. I sorted everything out, putting the books away, sorting through the CDs, and generally tidying up. I'm going to leave all the decorative pieces in one place so that when Reb gets home she can put them where she'd like. Tomorrow Sebastien is going to help be take a dresser upstairs, and then all I need to figure out is how to put down the rug, and secondly how to arrange a room with limited configurations that contains a fireplace, a bar, a sofa, and a full dining set. There has to be someway to arrange it so everything is functional. We'll see. Didn't get around to cleaning up the workshop, so I'll do that tomorrow.

Paddy and Sebastien got home from Leon just after five or so, and Paddy took out a bag of frozen squids that he'd gotten at Lupa on Saturday. They were whole, so I wasn't completely keep on having them served for dinner, but he said he intended to cut them up. No problem with that. In the end he just cooked them with some garlic and olive oil, and we had steamed broccoli and baked spuds. I had to chuckle at Sebastien because while chopping up the broccoli he warned me that the stems were poisonous. He says a teacher had told him that. See, teachers do lie sometimes. That's my favorite part of broccoli too!

We finished up dinner and were just starting to have some of the fruit salad that we made the evening before when the James' arrived. Marianne had some wash to pick up, and James had bought a new 80GB external hard drive and wanted me to drop the music from my iPod to it. I told him he'll have to wait, because I can't install the program that pulls the music from the iPod on my computer until German comes back next week and I have a wireless connection. Anyhow, Sebastien seemed irritated and asked him to go out front so he could speak to him. Not sure what his gripe was, but he wasn't in a very good mood when he came back in, proceeding to drink, as per usual. Liver of steel I suppose.

I cleared the table and did the dishes, then kicked back to read The New Yorker some more. An interesting article about the conservative creators of “24” (I knew there was a reason I never had any desire to get into that show) as well as another about the press leaks and scandal that occurred around Hewlett-Packard. So rarely do I find a magazine so interesting that I'm motivated to read it from cover to cover. There's a cartoon in this issue that I though the CWRU kids would find amusing: A couple standing in an empty room, staring, dismayed, at a hole in the floor exposing a scape of stars and a moon. A third woman, supposedly a Realtor showing a property says “Of course, the real charm of the place is that hole in the space-time continuum.”

The snow started this evening just after seven or so, and was really light at first, but now the temperature has dropped even more, it's falling harder, and bloody sticking! I took pictures, ha ha. I think I'll be turning the little space heater on in my room tonight!

I really want to go to a Disney park for some reason. Damn advertising! And I really want to move to California. Okay, time to go reclaim my iPod from Sebastien so I can listen to my book and get to sleep! G'night.

Roasting a chicken with pears and onion

So a good portion of my day today was spent preparing food! Just after waking up though Paddy and I took Una for a walk to Terradillos and back. We passed at least ten pilgrims on the way there. Come summer they'll number in the hundreds per day. It shouldn't be so busy when I make my pilgrimage, but there will surely be more people than there are now in March.

Arriving back in Moratinos, two of them men we'd passed were resting in the Plaza Mayor near the church. One was a Spaniard and the other an Austrian. The latter of the two did nothing but complain the entire time we talked with them: “There isn't a bar in Moratinos; This town is so small; There are too many dogs; I was too cold last night in our albergue despite my military sleeping bag; We've walked so far already; We haven't eaten yet today.” All this was rather unappealing, and Paddy'd noted that had he not been “such a whining asshole” we probably would have had them over for tea and a bite to eat. Instead he assured them that the bar in San Nicolas was just up the Camino. The best part is they're hoping to be in Santiago by this coming weekend. I don't even think that's moderately possible, especially if the 6km from Ledigos had worn them out already.

When we got back I went to work clearing up the courtyard, sweeping, moving some things to the workshop and backyard, and giving the basin next to the well a good scrubbing, while Paddy went off to Sunday Mass. After he got back he gave Una a bath, and she looks remarkably clean now and smells good. We'll see how long she can go without getting dirty. Not long I suspect. Paddy also says the weather is due to change this week, “winter coming back,” the newspapers report. I hope that doesn't happen, though to any extent it can't be as cold as it is in Ohio!

Over at The Alamo James and Marianne had constructed the frame for their huge arch that's going into the Great Wall being built. In the spirit of naming James' endeavors after historical places, I'd call it such. This Great Wall though is certainly of no Asian persuasion, and the arch he's planning to build – three meters, or six feet, across it's widest point–is pointedly (ha ha) Arabic/Moorish. All, including James, have agreed that they seem to be building the set for some grand school production of Arabian Nights.

So then, onto the cooking. For lunch I roasted the chicken that Paddy picked up in Sahagun yesterday. I coated it in olive oil, seasoned it, and stuffed it with quartered onions and pear. To go along with it I made homemade onion and sage dressing, green beans, and baked potatoes. After calling my mom for some help on timing the cooking, and some simple conversions between Fahrenheit and Celsius, the chicken cooked for about an hour and a half, and came out perfectly done. Very juicy. After we ate I immediately set the carcass in a soup pot, filled it with water and began to boil it down to make dinner for later.

I took a nap after our late lunch, and got back up to clean up the mess from cooking earlier. Seasoned the soup, removed all the bones and inedible bits, added some carrots, potatoes, and the leftover green beans then finished it up with a bit of rice. The rice ended up burning onto the bottom of the pot, but I was able to skillfully save the soup before it was burnt flavored. Not to mention, I'd used too much rice as is, and the soup resembled more of a thick chicken and rice stew! Nonetheless, we all ate, and shortly after I decided it was time to turn in after listening to a bit of my book, Return of the King.

A Guinness in the only Irish pub for miles around

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Today was quite a fun day, which started bright and early this morning walking into Sahagun to run errands and have a mini celebration in honor of Paddy's namesake. Sebastien decided to run to town–more power to him–and Paddy and I arrived shortly after 10:30 or so. It's just under a two hour walk.

Today is also market day in town, so we walked down the main street and surveyed the day's offerings. It's a small setup, but really there's about anything you could ever want. From fresh meats and produce to cheese and nuts to candies, tools, toiletries, and personal goods. Quite a large mix of wares all in all. My favorite booth is definitely the one that sells shoes and ladies' stockings. The reason being because to display the stockings they have this cavalry or disembodied mannequin legs all hung in rows. It's kind of a morbid transference from the butcher's booth with his different meats hung out to be displayed in a similar fashion.

We found Sebastien in a nearby bar, and had a coffee. Then I headed up a few shops to Cafe Zentral to check my email and upload the newest entries to my blog. After I left Paddy had gone to buy a chicken so Una and I sat out in the Plaza Mayor and soaked up some of the warm sunshine. Paddy returned, Sebastien went to make a call back home to his daughter, and meanwhile Paddy and I walked up the street to get some bread. We all met in the plaza shortly after and headed to the Irish pub in town to have our Guinness. I stopped off at the post office to drop off my letter and buy some more stamps, then just as we were arriving at the pub the James' pulled up in their festively painted car, decorated with shamrocks.

James himself had shaved his head smooth (from the sort of bald state it was in before) and painted a shamrock on his forehead, and was wearing this awful green sarong, in kilt-fashion. They joined us in the pub where the man running the bar gave us all these great floppy felt hats that were being handed out to promote Guinness. We even got Paddy to wear his for about five minutes. We hung out for about an hour or so, then Paddy and I headed home while Sebastien went to go do some other errands. We got a picture with all of us in hats (except Paddy) in front of the pub. I'm going to get it from Marianne and send it off to Guinness!

The walk home was fairly tiring, but in a good way, despite a new blister on the bottom of my foot. I tended to it, changed my clothes, and then Paddy and I had some leftovers and anchovies for lunch. I think while walking the Camino I'll be pretty much enjoying a diet of bread, sardines, some fresh fruit, water, wine, and perhaps a little cheese now and then. I'm not sure if life could provide anything more perfect than that. My grandfather will be proud–on account of the sardines and anchovies–my grandmother will be mortified. To that regard though, I could only be so lucky to be a fraction of the man that he is.

After lunch I headed to bed to take a siesta, which ended up lasting much longer than I'd planned and I slept for close to three hours. I had the most bizarre dream though, which I've been able to scribble down on a sheet of paper in the fashion of a theatre play, listing the premise, the “cast,” as it were, and drawing a rough diagram of the eclectic setting that the dream took place in. Perhaps if I get the time to write it out in full I'll share it here. The best summary of the entire dream is probably the title I gave it: “A day in California – and fire fell from the sky.” It's probably some kind of apocalyptic sign of something to come, though I'd rather sum it up to the anchovies!

After reading for a little while in the kitchen–Paddy suggested a book of essays by Montaigne, which I'm enjoying–I made a quick dinner of spaghetti with tomato sauce for the two of us. Sebastien still hasn't come home from wherever it is he wandered off to, though neither of us are overly concerned. Now I'm sitting here writing and ripping a few more CDs before I head to bed. It was a pretty tiring day, so I think I'll sleep well, and perhaps will pick up that dream I started earlier during my siesta. Cheers!

Dirt caked into my fingers that no amount of scrubbing seems to get out

So today I got up in anticipation of going into Sahagun with Paddy and Una, however when I came into the kitchen ready to go Paddy said we'd have to wait until tomorrow to go as he needed to be home at noon to go over and see the town physician to get a prescription. It seems this doctor makes a stop in Moratinos to see anyone that needs his attention once a week or so. Things like that make up the list of reasons that I love living here! So no worries, we were both up and decided to walk Una to San Nicolas and back so she could rampage about her hare field. We stopped by The Alamo to drop off some laundry and James, Marianne, les enfants, and Africa showed up shortly after. We took Africa with us on our walk. She's so excitable, being still less than a year old. She wanted to chase after Una and play, but we were leery of her going off and not coming back so we kept her on the lead (English for “leash”).

We got back and headed over to The Alamo again, and James was up to his elbow in a bucket of adobe mud, mixing it with water and straw. He asked if I wanted to help, so I stuck around to learn a new (and exciting, and honestly kind of fun) skill. So now I can add “Can mix and mud walls with adobe.” Brilliant. So the mixture is 5-6 scoops of the sifted dirt (remember James' Earth seasoning? Yea, that.) to about 2 liters of water, and then just as much straw as it takes to be able to separate a handful of the mixture with your hands and see the straw.

We took a couple tubs of it upstairs and in the same fashion as one might plaster a wall, we spread it over an existing layer of adobe. After it dries it cracks, and so then you add a layer of thinner mud mix, just water and dirt this time, and let that dry. Then to finish it you use a piece of smooth plastic to “buff” it in a sense, which smooths it out and makes the pebbles and straw pieces stand out from the rest of the dried mud. It's actually quite cool, and extremely therapeutic. Kind of like coloring or to more of a degree finger painting. The only thing is, that now where my hands were dry and had small cracks the mud has worked into them, and now after scrubbing my hands several times I can't get them back to their normal color. I suppose it'll work itself out eventually as the skin cells replace themselves.

While working today we had some pilgrims come through as well. A really wonderful lady from South Africa who was walking the Camino, and thought the work being done at The Alamo was just fantastic. She took a picture of us mixing adobe. Then another young lady came by and was talking to Marianne and I detected some of her Spanish sounded like she was speaking it with French pronunciation, and sure enough she was from France! She's from a small town near the Alps called Gap. She said I absolutely have to visit the area as the mountains are just fantastic. She showed me pictures in a book she had with her. I very well may, as that is just across the border from Italy where I plan on crossing into France later in my trip.

So after doing that for a while we all disbanded, the James' heading home for lunch, and Sebastien and I coming back to the house to have a bite to eat as well. Paddy had taken the leftover beef stew and added more things to it to make a rough version of his garlic soup which we had with some hunks of stale bread. Poor people food he says, though he remarked that the really poor people would just have stale bread and what boiled (ha ha) down to garlic water. Yum.

After lunch I decided a siesta was in order, so I crawled into bed with my iPod and listened to some more of Return of the King, falling asleep at some point and then waking up later to realize I'd slept through part of the story. I found where I last recalled listening and paused it to listen again later, and then fell asleep.

I got up after an hour and a half or so and headed back over to The Alamo with Paddy. James was working on sanding down a new table he's constructed, but the sander wasn't cooperating and probably will need to be replaced. Other than that it's going to be a nice table. The delivery men also brought the rebar for the foundation of the new wall and the men with the concrete truck came and poured the foundation. Amazing, but like Reb said, when things happen they tend to happen all at once. As soon as she had the opportunity though Una pranced across the wet cement, so Paddy had to take her to wash her feet off and Sebastien smoothed it back out. One of the neighbor's dogs, a tiny yappy thing, came prancing over and sniffing around as well. James scared it off, and then we joked that if it were to step on the cement it might sink in and all we'd see the next day would be it's tail. James warned the neighbor to lock the dog up over night because he didn't want to be responsible for it's disappearance!

I headed back after about 45 minutes or so to start making dinner. The plan was to make hamburgers with some ground meat in the freezer, baked potatoes, and a salad. We lit a fire out in our little makeshift grill and let it burn down. I grilled some onions, and then put the burgers on. When I came out to check them though they were falling apart and slipping through the wire, so I quickly scooped up the majority of the meat onto the plate and took it in and just cooked it all in a pan. It was nice still because the meat had red pepper and onion diced up in it. Grilled onions are really tasty too.

After dinner we sat around in the kitchen for a while and I finished a letter to my grandparents. Heading to bed earlier than usual because tomorrow we're going to walk to Sahagun so I need to be up early. Bonne nuit!

Dirt in my hair and stew in my stomach

Today was a pretty great day – I got up, hearing Una and Lola, the Forn's Giant Schnauzer, fighting (to the death!) over some silly food that Lola had found in his bag. Got up, said goodbye to Forn and Lola, and they left with Paddy and Una, who were going to walk to San Nicolas with them. I had what was left of the coffee and read some articles from an issue of The New Yorker that I found. I really need to subscribe to this magazine when I get back home (for good.) I've forgotten how good it was.

So after Paddy got home from his walk, we took our grocery list and drove into Sahagun to pick up supplies. Stopped first at Max Descuento (the “bulk” discount store outside of town) and got wine and other canned things. Then we drove into the city and stopped at Paca's store where I got a new notebook. Paddy's expecting a new ink pad for his cello (green I think) but it hasn't arrived yet. Then we walked over to Lupa and got the rest of the groceries on our list. Paddy bought some whole squids which give me the eebie jeebies, but remind me of Hannah.

After that we got some bread and then headed back home. Today we got a good number of things done around the house. Had some tuna for lunch and started cooking the stew I had planned to make for dinner. After that was started I went to the back yard and hacked away at the beam above the back gate so that it doesn't stick anymore, and is much easier to open. James and Sebastien took the day off to account for their hangovers, and Sebastien was nice enough to water down a small area in the garden plot and move most of the large rocks off it. He and Paddy went back into Sahagun to see about renting a hand tiller, but didn't end up getting it, as Julia (a girl about my age in town who speaks English rather well) had told him that one of the neighbors may have one we can borrow.

While they were out I moved some hay from the barn out to the compost pile and watered it down in hopes of prepping a good heap of compost for later this year. Then I went and made some rows in the soil for the sweet corn, and planted eleven plots of seed to test out the heavy clay. The germination period is 7-10 days, so we're going to see if they take. If not, we'll worry about putting down lyme and fertilizer.

I also drilled a slot into the donativo box that Paddy bought in town the other day. Hopefully if pilgrims are going to continue to stop and eat/sleep here they'll be inclined to donate some Euros.

We had dinner fairly early by Spanish standards, at around 6:30, so that we could go over to Barrunta and watch the futbol (soccer) match between Sevilla and a Ukranian team. It was a really great game – Sevilla won in the end, but less than 30 seconds to the end of the game their goalie, of all people, made a miraculous goal which put the game into overtime for another half hour since they were tied, and then Sevilla made another goal before time was called. It was a surprise seeing as the first half of the game was completely uneventful with no goals scored.

Tomorrow morning Paddy and I are going to walk with Una into Sahagun. I'm going to email Jeremy and see about getting Paddy's older VodaFone to work with the new SIM I bought from him. That might be worth all this hassle saving me the price of a new phone (€60, or about $90-100). We shall see. Anyhow, I'm going to go hop in the shower, so I don't have to take one in the morning, and then heading to bed. I finished listening to The Two Towers and am working on Return of the King. I've got a lot of audio books to listen to... thankfully on occasion.

Don't STOP the Rock 'n' Roll!

I think tonight's going to be an early night for me – I'm headed to bed right after I get some thoughts typed out. I'm tired, but feeling rather good compared to yesterday. I got up this morning a at about 9:30ish, which I think has become my “usual” time. Not too awfully early, and not too late that I feel guilty! Perfecto. I was still a bit grumbly when I woke up so I had some coffee and bread and then a nice hot shower.

Paddy and I went out back to will the garden into being manageable, hoping if enough good thoughts were directed it's way the work would do itself. Sebastien has this idiotic idea that he's going to just go out there and use a hoe or rake and break up all the large chunks of clay. He likes hard work. It makes him “feel like a man.” Direct quote people. Now I have to admit that irritated me a bit, making my think of my sister's “working man” boyfriend. Such cock-a-mamey bullshit (excuse my American) sometimes, I swear. Anyhow, tomorrow while we're in town we're going to see about renting a smaller tiller and I'll just knock out the whole area in a few hours – easier and more time efficient. Sebastien can dig holes over at The Alamo if he's feeling insecure about his manhood.

After that, The Alamo is exactly where I headed, proceeding to piss Sebastien off I think by telling him that I had no intentions of helping him dig the ditch the other guys messed up. 1) I don't want to dig a ditch, 2) I don't understand why the guy who dug it with a crane-like digger can't come fix it, and 3) if anyone needs to be helping him, it's James! So instead I worked on sanding the posts James had left me, though the sander kept eating the paper, so I'm going to have to complete the project some other time after someone fixes the tension on it. Edit: turns out the sander is broken, so James is going to tinker with it.

Came back to the house, read a little about Spain, and then Paddy fixed spaghetti with a nice (he called it a poor imitation of) putanesca (sp?) sauce. I've never had it before, so it tasted good to me – olives, anchovies, and some other things cooked in a simple tomato base. After lunch I retired from the kitchen to read The New Yorker for a bit in my room, and then decided I needed to get out for a bit, so told the guys I was taking off and went for a walk with Una. Little did I know this was exactly what I needed.

We headed East, past the “ghost town” site, through the next village over called Teradillos de Templarios, and onward to Ledigos. Teradillos was a really cool little town, with a couple nice areas for pilgrims to stop, cook out, get some water, and rest. Basically like “utility” stops along the way, but they were quite quaint. Once I was outside Ledigos I wasn't sure which way to go (the Camino isn't marked to travel it in reverse, so you have to kind of follow the arrows backwards, which sometimes isn't as easy as it may seem). A man approached me and asked me something, which at first I didn't understand, but then suddenly realized I did, and perfectly well... he was speaking French!

I don't really know what prompted his salutations in French, but it was a surprise, and a pleasant one at that. It turned out that he was a professor in Ledigos, a Spaniard teaching French. We had a very nice conversation, walked into town and then met one of his relatives, an older man who according to the first guy is like the be all end all of knowledge and knows everyone around. It was a very interesting time. We were there for about thirty minutes, and then Una and I made our way back to Moratinos. It was a fantastic walk, and really helped with my bad mood. One of the best parts was the graffiti I saw on a stop sign, which I thought was good enough to be the title of this entry. I got back to Moratinos and Sebastien and James were sitting outside The Alamo working on consuming one hundred shots of beer in one hundred minutes – a silly spectacle at the very least.

I got back and a new pilgrim, Forn, another German, had arrived, with his Giant Schnauzer, Lola. Both a very friendly, and we had a nice supper of mash, broccoli, and some pork. Certainly not the tastiest thing I've concocted while here, but it did the trick.

James and Sebastien are back know, and being a bit rowdy, and I've kind of lost my train of though, so I think I'm going to head to bed. All in all though, I had an excellent day. Cheers!

Update after last night: So James and Sebastien were quite drunk when they'd come back, and proceeded to get on me about 1) my attitude, which Sebastien thought was because of him for some reason and 2) because I left the posts unfinished earlier. I couldn't really do anything about that, and I didn't really think to ask Sebastien if he knew how to repair the sander until after I'd left The Alamo after sanding for about an hour, and going through four or five sheets of sandpaper. Then Sebastien got all nasty about how he thought I was doing things like slamming doors and ignoring him because I had some problem with him – which really, is not true. I told him the other day that I just wasn't in a good mood, but in his drunkenness he refused to believe me when I told him that my grumpiness was in no way associated with him. Things basically got to a point that they both had offended me to a degree, and I was tired of arguing with them, so I got up and left to go to bed.

What a crappy way to end my day, eh? James came in about 10-15 minutes afterwards and asked me to speak with him, and apologized, and took a more accurate account of what had happened with the job I told him I'd finish earlier (Sebastien had made it seem as though I worked for five minutes, and then for no reason left. He was irritated that I wasn't willing to help him dig the ditch.) Then today (writing this on Thursday now) they'd both apologized for being stupid, blaming it on their inebriation. That's not a very good reason, but I'm not going to aggravate the situation by making any more drama than they've already started. I'll shrug it off (and still feel a lot better despite it all) and go about my business.

Grumpy for some reason

Not really sure what's up with me today, but I'm not in a very good mood. Haven't been grumpy all day, but since lunch or so I've not really wanted to be around anyone. So I'm sitting here on my bed ripping CDs an listening to The Two Towers. I finished the Capote biography last night – it was a good book overall... not bad, not fantastic, just as Paddy'd said. I did enjoy it though and would recommend it freely.

We went into town earlier today to do some shopping and whatnot. I went over to Cafe Zentral while Paddy went to the grocery store, Luna, and James was there. For some reason there was only one computer up and running. I think it was more a matter of the guy watching the bar not sure how to activate them. But no problem. At least it was James and not some kid playing a video game as I've often seen there. So I sat for a while and talked with him about the door and windows he wants to put in his new wall, and also explained to him how rebar worked – me of all people. These little things I've stored away, seemingly useless information proving itself important.

So Paddy came and joined us, and we took turns on the computer. I checked my email and got some information about growing corn and onions in the garden patch that Paddy wants to plant in at the house. A neighbor has tilled up an area behind the house a couple of times, and there is sweet corn to be planted. I'm concerned that the soil might be too heavy with clay, but we're going to do some test planting and see if it works.

James and I talked about what they were doing over at The Alamo, and he asked me to come over tomorrow and do some sanding on posts they're going to use to create a pagoda behind their new wall... which I'll believe when I see! Also he'd mentioned something about me taking refreshments down the Camino headed toward the “ghost town,” setting up and selling them to pilgrims that happen by. I'm really not sure how kosher that idea is, and probably won't take him up on the offer, regardless of the potential profit.

Jeremy emailed me about buying a cell phone here. The cheapest one is €60. There's one here that used to be Paddy's mobile that he doesn't use anymore, and he said I was welcome to have it. It's a VodaFone phone, but for some reason it says only SOS calls can be made when I put the SIM in it. So I'll email Jeremy again and see what he has to say about that. If I can avoid buying a new phone that would really be great. I got a copy of my passport today too while in town so I could send the “rebate” in for my VF SIM card – after they process my information they'll add another €12 to my account. A gimmick if there ever was one. I'm sure they pocket so much money because so few people actually send the card back in. I popped it in the mail this afternoon after getting home along with a letter I wrote to Lindsay and Danielle.

After we got back we had a mixed lunch of leftovers from last night and I reincarnated the soup I'd made for lunch yesterday – there was about a bowl of it left so I added more water, another bouillon cube, more carrots, curry, and couscous. It ended up being like a stew almost. Quite tasty.

After lunch Paddy took a nap and I puttered around the house. After he got up I helped put together a small fire pit in the courtyard, and then cut some wood up so we could start a fire, the plan being to grill sardines for dinner. I made a nice spinach salad with balsamic vinegar, pears, and some feta. Everything tasted pretty good, and I had some more practice at de-boning sardines. Paddy did jokingly remark though, “The most awful thing in the world: watching Ryan try to eat sardines.”

So I've been “hiding” in my room successfully since dinner, and I'm feeling a bit better. I think I just needed some quiet time by myself. I've been having strange dreams about people I've not seen in years lately. I don't know what they're all about. Interesting at the very least. We'll see what tonight's slumber brings. Good night.

Mopping and making the death chamber not so deadly

So I woke up today at around 9 A.M. Sebastien, to my surprise, was still sleeping, but grumbling – Una was barking. I got up and went to the kitchen, had some coffee and a few pieces of bread and some strawberry jam. Paddy was out, presumably taking the dog for a walk. He got back, and I guess a pilgrim from Argentina – there seem to be a lot of them – had come by. The two Hungarians from last night had already left. Paddy and I talked about what we should do today and decided we should mop the kitchen floor, and take care of the nails in the Danger Room upstairs (where there are nails jutting out of the rafters, which are very low and a hazard to someone my height!). He had to go into Sahagun to run some errands, so I offered to take care of the other two jobs while he was out. Gave him my letter to mail and some money to get me some stamps for the US. I cleared the kitchen out, swept, and then mopped the floor down. Took the area rug out and hung it on the line, and then in a sudden rage beat it clean with the broom – I wasn't really upset about anything, but it felt good in a way. Rearranged the kitchen and then went about scrubbing the mud off my sneakers, put on some clothes, and took a hammer upstairs to do some more pounding. I tacked in or bent up all the nails that were sticking out so now it's relatively safe to run about that room, though I still wouldn't go rubbing my scalp against the rafters! Paddy came home with bread, my stamps, and a lot less hair – he'd gotten a much-needed hair cut while in town. We sat outside in the sun and he read El Pais while I read The New Yorker which came in the mail today. There was a really fantastic piece entitled “The Way We Are: Of wildflowers and weed,” by David Sedaris, which made me laugh a lot. I haven't read any of his stories in a long time, so it was good reading. I finished that and then started to make some hemp jewelry. I have a ton of glass and stone beads, so I figure I might try to the stuff I make while traveling around. Paddy went to take a nap, and I made some impromptu cabbage, carrot, and onion soup for lunch. Sebastien came back and we ate soup and chatted a bit. Even after his weekend walk I think he's still stressed about working over at The Alamo. I spent most of the afternoon reading Capote, which I am about 100 pages away from finishing. Paddy also had me read a story by S. J. Perelman, which initially I didn't find as amusing as I guess he had intended me to. I was kind of thrown off by it, making a change mid sentence from my biography to something nonsensical. I'll have to read some more of it later – he was/is purportedly one of The New Yorker's best humorists. Sebastien got back from waiting around for the diggers, and made us a dinner of boiled red cabbage, mashed potatoes, and bacon. Certainly an Irish meal my any standards, but he said it was pretty typical Belgian food as well. We finished dinner, I did the washing up, and now we're just hanging out here listening to Jewel. I'm probably going to head to bed in a bit, but might try to finish up my book beforehand. Nonetheless, adieu.