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.