“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.