238: Dreaming in green

(The elusive male cardinal makes an appearance.)

There’s a long, long trail a-winding into the land of my dreams.

~ Stoddard King, Jr.

Today has a strange, dream-like quality to it.  I don’t know if that is due to the day itself,  or the result of the endorphins flowing through my body after a great workout this morning.  Perhaps a bit of both.

What's that you say?

I would have thought all the rains would have started to bleach things out by now.  But no.  The greens continue to get greener, and all that green adds to the dream-like quality of the day.

Today's view of the pond

When I first went out the sky was dark and gray, the clouds churning as usual.  After a while the clouds broke up and there were patches of blue sky and sunshine.  My walk was slow today.  So slow there were times I wasn’t sure I was moving.  But I must have been as I managed to get from here to there and back again.

Earth, sky, and water

The bees were buzzing, the birds were chirping, singing and chattering, and the green frogs were ponging.  If you stop to listen carefully, you can hear the water in the ground bubbling, burbling, babbling, and streaming towards the pond.  All water roads on this property lead to the pond.  It was dug in the 1960s by the Civilian Conservation Corps to help conserve water.

Buzz, buzz

I hiked back into the woods where I had a small adventure, one that caused me a few moments of regret about half way to the creek.  The ground is so mushy that I found myself sinking 6-8 inches into the mud.  For a minute I thought I might keep sinking.  Fortunately that was not the case.  I did have some trouble extracting myself.  I patiently waited and slowly wiggled my feet, one at a time, until I was able to get both foot and shoe out the suction created by the mud and water.  I had to do this a few times before I made it to firmer (not by much) ground.

Expanding creek

The creek continues to rise and expand, running through much of the woods now.  I know I’ve written this before, and hesitate to write it again as things may change, but… this is the highest I have ever seen the creek.

See the triangle shape near the center of the above photo?  When the creek is at its usual level, I stand just on the other side of that to take photos.  The next big tree to the left of center is where I have been standing during the spring months while the creek is at the usual spring levels and the vernal pools take up some of the ground.  The fairies living in the fairy stump will have to evacuate soon if the rains continue.  The stump will be underwater.

Dogwood reflections

When I finally escaped from the quagmire of the woods, I walked over to the side of the pond where the dogwood is thriving.  It must be enjoying the cooler, wet weather.  It is filled with blossoms.  I stayed there for a while, admiring its beauty and delicacy.

Dogwood dreams

That which the dream shows is the shadow of such wisdom as exists in man, even if during his waking state he may know nothing about it…  We do not know it because we are fooling away our time with outward and perishing things, and are asleep in regard to that which is real within ourself.

~ Paracelsus, quoted in The Dream Game

Dreaming the stump

Great dreams contain inexhaustible truths, and orient us, like runes, toward our futures.  One hesitates to try to explain them; one wants to dance them, act them out in living gestures.  The more we put ourselves into a great dream, the more we get back.  Great dreams are wells that never run dry.

~ Michael Grosso

Taking a nap under the spruce

Be careful what you water your dreams with.  Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream.  Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success.

~ Lao Tzu

Dreaming in sunshine and shadows under the white pine

Right now, this very moment, you are asleep…  Even if you are reading these words in broad daylight — sitting at your desk or beside the kitchen table, your feet firmly planted on the floor, eyes open, senses alert… as sounds of life rise and fall rhythmically around you — you are deeply asleep, and dreaming furiously.

~ Vincent Casspriano, Jr.

Hanging by a thread

I suppose I may have dreamed the sunshine and the patches of blue sky.  If so, it was a very good dream.

I finished my walk, took off my long-sleeved shirt (I had a sleeveless shirt on underneath so as not to shock the neighbors), and sat on the edge of the deck, soaking up the sun and continuing the dream.  Hmmm… or waking from the dream, perhaps.

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