…and a flock of goats, too. Is flock the right word? I don’t know. It was quite the sight, actually… old fellow crouched on the top of a gorge, tying on his turban and calling out every once in a while to the goats so they wouldn’t run off too far.

I was also paying very close attention to a lot of the plants as I walked into town today. I keep seeing leaves in shapes I’ve never seen before. I think I shall steal some leaves to make a lamp; I know a place I can go to get hanji paper made with leaves pressed into it, and I have the BEST idea for a lamp. There’s also a tiny little spring on the way, always continually bubbling just by the side of the road. Every day people walk past it and nobody thinks anything of it, but to me it’s fascinating.

Maybe it’s just that I’m trying to figure out what to do with Neil and Alonzo (who may soon be renamed and given a new nation of origin; I’m thinking about it). I know how they start out, I know where the end up about halfway along, but that early-to-middle part is what has me stumped. I really don’t know what to do there. That’s why I am out of the house again. I produced a good eight or ten pages this morning, but I was interrupted by the arrival of Sala, the cleaning lady, and then Sangpo brought the econd bag of sawdust up for me, and that was it for the morning. I spent the afternoon reading a little V.S. Naipaul and then realized I should leave for town as I only have bread and a mouthful of whiskey left in the house!

So I set the sawdust burner going, and then took off for the town. I’ll try finish some more of my shopping, and get a little food to bring back. Then I’ll eat something and head back, dive back into the writing, unless I run into someone, anyone, who wants to sit around and talk. I’m having no trouble meeting people to talk to for short periods of time, but I haven’t had a real conversation in something like a week now, and that combined with staying alone in a house where monkeys sometimes jump about on the roof at night (they didn’t last night though) is a little weird.

Tomorrow is a heavy writing day, I think. I may take a break and go for a walk just after lunchtime, but I think I’ll otherwise be in all day.