Today I got up at around 9:45, had some coffee and then threw on some clothes. We were going into Sahagun to do some re-stocking shopping and to get an Internet fix. Not long after I was ready to go Marianne came over and asked to steal me for 30 minutes or so to help with the yurt. I panicked–but then Paddy and Rebekah assured me that they were still going to walk the dog before going into town. A sigh of relief, me feeling like a crazy Internet junkie, I went over to The Alamo with Marianne.
There I found the yurt's skeleton, circular lattice work on a 2x4 platform. I was needed to hold the central support with Marianne while James and Sebastien put in the spokes to hold it up. The yurt is sort of like a giant overturned wheel cloaked in fabric. So we held, and James and Sebastien fumbled and grumbled. Things were good, things were bad, crooked at times, falling apart at others. But we managed to get the framework held together enough to install the remaining spokes.
Paddy and Rebekah showed up with Una about an hour later and by then things had progressed to the point where everyone was needed to attach the layers of felt and waterproofing to the structure. It took another hour or so and then we had most of the yurt assembled. Paddy headed back home to make some lunch, and Reb and I stayed to help with the finishing layers, our excursion postponed until after siesta.
At about two-o'clock we headed back home to have an incredible chili-esque concoction that Paddy created from the hardly edible slop I had made last week while they were in Madrid. It was great. After eating I did the washing up, and Rebekah did a Tarot reading for me. It was nice, she's not given me one in a few years, and it seemed pretty positive. I don't hold much stock in things like that as I think, like horoscopes they can be applicable to anyone's situation, but it was fun nonetheless. Then Paddy went to nap, and I went back to The Alamo with Sebastien to help him arrange his new home. We constructed several tables out of scrap from the yard, and I explained the intricate differences between a closet, an armoir, a dresser, and cupboards to Sebastien. It seems in Belgium they call the lot of them “closet.” Weird.
Back home around 5 found Paddy and Rebekah ready to go. The four of us headed into Sahagun, Paddy and I Interneted for about an hour and a half, and Reb and Seb did the shopping. I talked to some friends via Trillian which was super nice. Draque claims that I've left behind a “Ryan-shaped hole” and that people at his parties since I've left, who don't even necessarily know me by name, ask where the guy who makes the great drinks is. I also got some good information on the GR routes throughout France, checked email, updated Blogger, the usual. I forgot to upload pictures to my grandfather's Walgreen's account though... I still need to take some of myself for family, as they're starting to question my actually being in Europe seeing as I've been in zilch as far as my pictures are concerned.
After everyone was done we got a drink in a local pub then headed home. Sebastien went back to the yurt where he seems bent on spending all his time now. Whatever makes him happy I guess. He didn't even have dinner with us–his loss!
With some spontaneity I roasted onions, apricots, apples, red bell peppers and nuts with some nice chicken leg-slash-thigh combos that Reb bough, all cooked in a super curry. Then, without Basmati or Jasmine rice, I doctored up some perfectly cooked – thanks to Delia Smith – white rice with sugar, cinnamon, laurel, and ginger. It went with the curry very nicely. Paddy and Rebekah both praised my efforts, Reb saying if she had been served that food in a restaurant she would be impressed. That made me happy.
Oh, the record for “Funniest Exchange” today (CAUTION: Not for those with any strong religious convictions.):
Premise: A discussion about Holy Week, specifically about how Rebekah's birthday lands on the day Jesus was killed.
Rebekah: Yeah, but on Sunday he comes back. He always comes back... every year.
Ryan: Kind of like that damned groundhog! “Well guys, Jesus saw his shadow... looks like it'll be another five hundred years of Christianity!”
END
I also managed to slip in the phrase “goddamned Jesus” into a conversation today – I can't even recall what we were discussing, though it was amusing at the moment. I think we can all agree that no matter what it might have been I was certainly on a roll in terms of earning my ticket to Hell today (should such a place exist. See Henry Miller on Paradise and it's flaws, March 26).
Good night!
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