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.
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