The Talking Cat Dream
It is mostly such a mundane dream. My wife and I are outside our home. We’re youngish, roaming about in our middle years. This is not the house we live in, nor a place we’ve ever lived in, but easily recognized as a standard, pleasant American middle class dream place, part of a planned development, a few stories tall, with a yard and neighbors in like houses. Not quite homes cut from the same design, but homogenized with individual flares and nuances. Our home is stucco and off-white.
As I say, we were outside, in sunny weather, in the backyard. Our cats walk about, being cats. One began scratching his claws on a headboard. “No,” I chase him away, telling my wife, “Don’t let him scratch this.” I set about repairing it. Adding a strip of wire grid that will keep murder mittens from scarring the wood. I pursue this past time for a period. It’s more tedious than I expected.
Railroad tracks are laid not far from our backyard. I’m up in the house, on the second floor, looking down when a train comes by. It’s an old-fashioned steam locomotive. I can see into the neighbor’s backyard on the right. They have a little train, about knee high, just an engine and coal car, that goes out and greets the train when it passes. I see this several times in the dream and conclude that the neighbors have a motion sensor along the rails. Or maybe they’re just sitting inside, waiting for a train. I never see them, though I know the man is bald, in his late fifties/early sixties, white and wears glasses and flannel shirts.
I’m back in the backyard, working in the bed headboard. It’s an old piece but mass produced, one we purchased from J.C. Penney when we were young, with decoupage flowers.
The cat, a ginger, starts talking to me. His enunciation isn’t very good but it’s clear enough that I know that he’s talking about birds. I snort this away, amused. Cats and birds are like sun and sky. The cat insists, “You have to see these birds, Michael.”
I follow the cat just to appease him. We go down a sloping meadow to a small cottage surrounded by glossy dark green bushes. “There they are,” the cat tells me.
I hear the birds before I see them and know that they’re parrots. Five of them, green, red, blue, and yellow prominent among them, flock toward us, chatting at us while coming up to see what and who we are. I worry about the cat and birds fighting and hurting one another, so I’m wary and cautious. But the birds interest me. I tell the cat that they’re parrots. He’s intrigued. I tell the birds that the animal with me is a cat and that he and I live up the hill from them.
I then see a snake. Don’t know what kind it is. It moves fast and is gone. I worry again: will it bite or harm me, the cat, the birds? I tell the cat, “There’s a snake here, watch it.” He’s immediately interested in trying to find it.
I retreat back up to my house with him, away from the colorful, noisy parrots. Back in my yard, I tell my wife, “There are parrots down there. Come down and see them.”
That’s where it ends.
Thursday’s Theme Music
The last Thursday of January, 2022, is upon us. We’ve already passed an entire month, as we’re now on the 27th. Does that seem too fast to anyone else? Who is in charge of the speed of time?
Sunrise hit like a bowling ball slowly rolling through the pins at 7:29 AM. Sunshine will flee the scene at 5:19 AM. It’s 44 F now but is expected to hit 61 before descending back down to 32 at night. A fine day, but I will tell you, it gets cold fast when the sun starts making its day-end run. I was with friends, outside, having a beer at 4 PM yesterday. All of us were dressed for it but that sun slide away and took all warmth with it. We dropped from 58 to 45 fast, and it wasn’t a friendly 45. What we endure for a beer with friends.
“Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)” by Looking Glass (1972) is riding my mind’s rails in the morning mental music stream. I can honestly say I don’t know why. It’s a song I know well from AM pop on transistor radios. It’s also showed up in a number of movies over the decades. Something about the song, a story with pop rock atmosphere, about a girl in a fishing village in love with a fisherman, settles into the mind groove and plays without offending. I also used it — twice — as part of the floofinitions when the floof-rock (flock) group Looking Floof and their hit “Brandy (You’re A Fine Pet)” was featured.
Here’s the music. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the jabs when you can. I need some coffee. See if that’ll help me match January ’22’s speed. Cheers
A Remembered Dream
When I was brushing my teeth after lunch, I remembered a dream I had last night. Basically, all that happened in the dream is that a young woman of color came to me and said, “I’m a dentist. Let me fix and clean your teeth.” She sat me in a dentist chair and did some work on them. I don’t have the greatest of teeth — I was terrible at taking care of them as a child — but no current problems. Wonder what made my mind dream that up?
Wednesday’s Theme Music
Well, happy birthday Eddie Van Halen, Paul Newman, and many others. Yes, today is January 26, 2021, a Wednesday, as it happens. Sunshine invaded our valley at 7:30 AM. Lovely to not be stumbling through a dim house but instead stride through sunshine washing the floors and windows. The temperature is 40 F and we expect to reach 63 before the sun takes its rays and leaves at 5:18 PM. As expected with these sort of winter temperatures, clouds are skipping the valley today.
I singled out Paul Newman and Eddie Van Halen from the long list of Jan. 26 birthday notables listed on a webpage because of their influence in my life. Paul Newman was a big star by the time the cobwebs cleared from my infant mind and I started paying attention to the world. He was one of Mom’s faves. Whenever something involved Paul Newman, Mom talked about it. Frank Sinatra was the other one like this for her. Guess she had a thing for blue-eyed men.
Meanwhile, Van Halen was born the year before me. Started his band when I was sixteen and then rose to become one of rock’s pre-eminent guitarist and another star in my rock universe. That he died so young — just a year younger than I am now — bothers me just because I admired and enjoyed his playing. I’m sort of fatalistic about death on the one hand, believing it’ll happen to all of us, while also wondering if there’s another side, something that does happen beyond death. Many accuse me of mysticism when I speak of these things; they are sure that death is final and there is nothing more. But, abiogenesis remains a mystery that exists but can’t be explained, sort of sliding it into another mysticism category. Then there’s the matter of what was here before the Big Bang? I think understanding everything is still a work in progress and that as we learn more, we’ll discover many more baffling components of consciousness, existence, time, and reality.
Today’s morning mental music stream inhabitant is “Over the Mountain” by Ozzy Osbourne (1981). The song arose yesterday while walking. I was at the top of a crest, about 2900 feet. Across the way, the sunset was spreading a rosy jam across the golden mountaintops that stood against a blue sky. Spectacular. In came “Over the Mountain” as I thought about what was happening on those mountains and on the other side. So much life that we know little about except in general terms until the shit gets real, right?
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the jabs when you can. I’m popping off for more coffee. You stay and listen to the music. I already heard it. Cheers
A Commnication Dream
I was traveling alone. Between flights, I was staying at a hotel. The hotel was pleasant, and I was in a mini suite. It was a smooth trip. I had everything I needed and all was working. My fight was at 6:35 AM. I thought that was perfect; I always prefer traveling early. I made my plans, working backward, getting there ninety minutes before the flight, traveling to the airport, checking out of the hotel. Meanwhile, I passed time by having dinner, surfing the net, having a drink, and socializing with strangers. All smooth, under control, relaxed. I decide to dress, check out, and head for the airport. But before I do, I’ll check emails. I found that my wife had sent me messages but that I’d missed them. She wants me to call.
I check out and call her on the way to the airport. The connection is horrible. She’s angy and upset. It sounds like she’s telling me someone died. I set my phone down. It gets misplaced but two woman come up with it as I’m searching for it. The phone has a code on it in red numbers: 752. I somehow understand that this a code to lock the phone because a problem has been detected. I’m exasperated because I don’t think the phone has a problem, and I need to use it now. But using it requires me to call corporate to get it unlocked. I’m confused about where to call because I don’t work. Is it IBM, ISS, Network ICE, Tyco, some other corporation who employed me?
Somehow, though, using my computer, I manage to get the help needed to unlock the phone. It’s still plenty of time before my flight. I call my wife; she tells me my brother-in-law died. Who? Which? Give me details. Instead, she chastises me because I’d not called her in several days. I realize that she’s right, that I hadn’t called or emailed her in almost seven days.
The dream ends.
General Updates
Watching, walking, reading, writing, cats…that’s my world. Oh, and the wife. And eating and sleeping. And games. Cleaning house. Shopping. Can’t forget Wordle, Spelling Bee, and Sudoku. And two DIY projects. And keeping up with the news.
All family except my wife are several thousands of miles away. Literally on the other U.S. coast. We’re on the west and they’re on the east. Visiting under COVID conditions is problematic. The best way would be to drive across the country. I supposed we can pile the cats into the car and do that. I don’t think it would be a pleasant trip for cats or humans.
- We’re watching The Expanse. When Amazon began airing the final season, my wife proposed that we watch the series from the start and then indulge in the final season. It’s worked well. We find ourselves speaking in Belter slang after watching an episode. We limit ourselves to one per night.
- Also on the watch list is Anxious People, Cowboy Bebop, Bordertown, and Undercover on Netflix, Myth Quest on Apple +, and Third Watch and The Rook on The Roku Channel. Vera and Would I Lie to You are back in play on Britbox, and PBS offers us Around the World in Eighty Days (a rebooted series with David Tennant) and the new season of the rebooted All Things Great & Small on PBS.
- We just finished Upright, an Aussie series about a man with issues taking an upright piano to Perth, and Firebite, another Aussie original, with an interesting twist on vampires. These came to us via AMC+, along with Ragdoll, Kin, and Stella Blomkvist. I usually keep three to four channels on subscription per month. I rotate the subscriptions. I figure, why not? A monthly subscription usually costs between one and two coffee drinks or beers. Not bad, to me. Funny, but the most expensive subscriptions are from Showtime and HBO Max, and they usually have the least enticing fare. I watch for them on special. Amazon and Roku both chase new subscribers with deals. My AMC+ subscription this month and my Showtime subscription last month were both just $.99 for the month. Very good deal.
- Reading is a constant. I’m now reading Binti by Okarafor and Bewilderment by Powers. Both are beautifully written. Just finished were Harlem Shuffle, When We Cease to Understand the World, Fortune Favors the Dead, Find You First, When We Were Orphans, Hell of a Book, and Telephone. Ondeck is an old Jack Vance novel bought at the library for $1, Louise Penney, Caleb Carr, Amor Towles, and others.
- My average walking distance per day remains 11.2 miles. I range from 75 to 80 miles a week. This warm weather, my improved ability to walk and run in-place while reading or watching television, and the longer periods of daylight, all contribute to the sustained average. Also, there’s nowhere else to go with COVID still playing hot and fast.
- Despite all my walking, I have gained weight. Twelve pounds. Gads. The discovery shocked me. Beginning to work on the plan to whittle that off. Just don’t like carrying it.
- I did put together one jigsaw puzzle this year. I did start it last year, though. I enjoy them, but they absorb me and steal focus. So, no. I reluctantly set them aside.
- My poor fur friend, Boo, continues to cope with his cancer. He’s a mess. A mass on his jaw keeps him from eating properly. It’s a challenge for him and me. I’m his primary caregiver. He often drools after eating and can only eat small portions at a time. But he’s still trying, so my wife and I will keep trying. I crunch his grain-free kibble and make it into a sort of chunky soup as his favorite. His drooling means that we chase after him with tissues to catch the drool. It’s hit and miss, as we’re not up twenty-four hours a day. The hardwood floors take hits and require mopping a few times a day. I put several towels down for him to sleep and eat upon. Those are changed each day. We wash several loads of Boo material each week. We wonder, how long can he go on like this?
- The other two cats are doing well. They give Boo space, which he and I appreciate. Tucker and Papi are endearing characters.
- Still editing The Constant, my novel in progress. Halfway through the process. I’ve begun the next novel in that series. Working title is Fiveland. Couldn’t help myself. Was reading Bewilderment when the next novel’s plot and opening both slammed into me. Trotted on in and wrote the first chapter and began sketching the plot and story in my mind.
That’s all my happenings. Hope you’re all staying busy and healthy out there. Drop me a line. Let me know. Time to return to writing and editing like crazy, then go for a walk. Cheers
