dream - twilight zone

The dream begins with me out on property that I own. (don't really own). I am walking with someone, showing them the large pond bordered by a favorite tree, now bare, in which is perched a red bird. During our conversation I become aware I need to get to my house. I simply sit down and somehow slide back to the house - some sort of slip and slide but amazingly I do not get wet. When I arrive I dress for work but then decide to walk into town to get something first. In real life I catch the bus into the city before daybreak but in the dream the sun is already high in the sky as I hike the sidewalk into some small town. I head into a Super Walmart, which is full of thousands of people each pushing a shopping cart as if they are in desperate search for something and yet every shelf is empty. Just wall to wall shoppers, shiny shopping carts and completely bare shelves. I walk out, pass the gas pumps and only then does the camera pull back (until now I've been seeing everything through my eyes) and exhibit that I am walking in my dress shoes, wearing business black slacks and an undershirt. (so I suppose I was shopping for a dress shirt but why at Walmart and why I didn't drive is beyond me). As I start back for home I realize I am going to be late and berate myself for not driving to the store. I enter my home and Act I of the dream ends.
Whether I awoke for a moment or simply rolled over in my sleep I don't know but there certainly seemed to be some time that elapsed between that act and the following scene.
I am entertaining a large group of people in an urban apartment which appears to be mine. Everyone is dressed in formal attire. I am greeting folks, walking through my place, past all the Reimbrants, the Dalis,... until I get to the kitchen. There I sample a few items, offer some advice to the chefs and then set out to check on my guests. As I step out of the kitchen someone stops me and asks about a painting that is hanging beside us. I smile and say that the artist was no one but that the painting appealed to me. I actually found it somewhere and hung it in that spot so that normally I would be the only person to see it. Suddenly the dream angle shifts and instead of me being the lens, the camera pulls back, away from the unknown visitor and myself. We glance at the painting again and move into the living room. The camera pulls closer to the painting until it reveals a rough drawing of a pond, a single bare tree bordering it, in which is perched a red bird.

The end.

How and why the dream came full circle to the same scene amazes me. It was a very vivid dream, although I never could clearly see anyone's face. Or at least I didn't recognize anyone there. The property could be similar to land my parents own. They have a pond that developed a leak and is now dry. There is no solitary tree and I'm clueless as to what the red bird represents. I never entertain, have less than a handful of friends close enough that I would even think of inviting into my house, which is located in suburbia and contains only copies of Wythe's works. strange.


On a humorous note, I taped two gift cards to the top of the trash can before setting it out this morning. When I returned home I was a bit miffed to see the envelopes laying in the yard (why wouldn't the sanitation crew have thrown the envelopes in with the trash) Closer inspection proved that the gift cards were still in the envelopes. They had simply emptied the trash can and tossed the can, along with the gift cards back into the front yard. So now the question is whether to give them a second chance or pass the cards along randomly to someone else.

Lastly, upon returning home yesterday I was greeted by a letter from a medical office I had used a couple of years ago. Turns out a 'former employee' of theirs had been charged with stealing personal data from files and using it to obtain credit for herself. It gave me the number of an officer in charge of the investigation and advised me to contact credit agencies and wished me a good day. Kind of a "hey just wanted to let you know that we might have facilitied in screwing you over pretty good but no hard feelings and have a nice day" letter. I called the credit agency and the lady was very helpful. Although I was amused to learn from her that she had overspent for Christmas and was concerned about the debt she had incurred. Seemed a bit ironic.

Night