WEDNESDAY SAUNTER

We sauntered around the town of Ennis much of the day. From the first walk in the early afternoon to get a cappuccino at Suas CoffeeHouse until the evening when we went for a Guinness at Knox's. Albeit the town is not large, we managed to make it out several times today. It was a pleasant day spent outdoors in the cold and out of the musty apartment. We are taking advantage of all the time we have during the day when he normally would be at work as Friday and Saturday he will have to return for the busy Valentine's Day weekend.

In a small town, one is likely to run into familiar faces. Today was the case everywhere we went it seemed. At Aldi, we saw a co-worker of his - the guy who danced with everyone at the staff party - and a friend of my boyfriend's I met the first time I was in Dublin. He was there with his girlfriend and we chatted for a while. Then there was a Polish friend of his who was on his way to the store to buy food before his shift at Knox's. He did not seem surprised to see me, perhaps since I have been here many times the past year. Later we met another friend who was a roommate of his for a brief while last year. In the evening, we saw two other people from his work when we were at Knox's.

After seven days of my being here, I finally made it into the kitchen. I sliced two small onions, half of a red bell pepper, and half of a green bell pepper. I seasoned the mixture with Mayan sea salt, fresh thyme leaves, and Urfa crushed chilies. Meanwhile, I boiled 150 grams of basmati rice with three sprigs of thyme. When the rice was cooked, I added it to the pan with the vegetables and mixed in some Greek feta. My boyfriend, not being a fan of vegetarian food, could not stop raving about it. He did not believe vegetarian food could be so tasty.

My Saffron called me tonight and I spoke with her and her siblings. Cinnamon and Sage were doing homework but I had Saffron go get them so they could take a break to chat with me. The girls are doing better after the sickness that kept both home yesterday and all three were happy to see me and talk with me.

Tomorrow we will continue our saunter around Dublin. It will be a short night for us as we plan to make the express bus leaving at 7 in the morning which will bring us into Dublin three and a half hours later. My boyfriend already made us sandwiches for the trip. Unfortunately, I already devoured the package of Riesen throughout the day which I had planned on saving for the bus ride. They are addicting as pistachios - open the bag and they will be gone within hours, if I am so patient. A day spent sauntering is a day well spent.