Again, I'm typing this up late at night. It seems to save a bit of "time" as early morning posting allows for FAR more detail, AND more scenes, whereas this late, only the basic essences remain of what was dreamt.

At any rate, the dreamer was in an outdoor type of environment, having something to do with possibly a road traveling basically left to right through a meadow of sorts. There may have been some trees, but it wasn't heavily forested, and did not strike me as a wide open expanse.

The dreamer was as if on foot, and angling toward the road, when there were seen a NUMBER (half dozen to a dozen!) creatures, walking as if they were upright grizzly bears, and they all too were headed toward the road.

The dreamer took a step back, as if backing away from the wooded half acre or so between the dreamer and the road, only the dreamer took a look over the left shoulder, only to see a MASSIVE straight-edge drop (practically like one side of the Cliffs of Dover) down to what appeared to be a river in full flow down below. Not like a creek or stream at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, but as if a flood had brought the water into full speed, nearly at level 1 white water rapids.

The moment was *SO CLOSE* that the dreamer had that sense of balance, that if the slightest lean left would've plummeted the dreamer down to the rushing waters, but the dreamer actually "thought" to lean to the right and so returned back to the scene on Terra firma (solid ground) whereupon the dream ended, but the feeling of disaster had been averted.

In personal news, yesterday (8/25, Thursday) my 92-year-old mother (with a heart history, no less!) went into surgery where they used anesthesia to "put her under" because her left humerus (upper arm bone) had broken in a fall back on the 15th, and was so displaced that surgical insertion of a rod was the only way to set the bone and alleviate her pain, misery and suffering. Not only did she survive the surgery, but her attitude has improved remarkably today as well! :-) I suspect that may have been the "cliff" in the scene. The bears could have represented all the myriad obstacles that were miraculously avoided during the ordeal (from the 15th through the 24th.)

Obviously, this is early Saturday morning, and as a consequence of sitting here at the keyboard before much else goes on, there's a LOT of dream content to process:

Start with "The Drive," the dreamer seemed to be heading off on a road trip to Canada. There had been some prior preparation regarding 2 or 3 guys (one specifically) over which vehicle would be best. Please note these were not of the sleek, race car types, but of the rugged, truck-like vehicles, where one even had a flat bed.

While somewhat unclear during the choosing process as to which vehicle was selected by the dreamer, it may have been more like a "double" yet not an 18-wheeler with tandem in our traditional sense. It was more like two low, flat vehicles, nearly in shape to a DeLorean or Ferrari yet with a rectangular, also low & flat, trailer of sorts.

The dreamer was mildly concerned at the outset regarding gasoline on such a lengthy trip, but that concern simply passed: save tomorrow for tomorrow, and the Lord doth provide, etc.

Upon arriving in Canada (one might assume near Toronto, although no actual town was mentioned— Gina is believed to be somewhere in or around Streetsville (IRL) ( https://villageofstreetsville.com )— a type of suburb of Mississauga, suburb of Toronto— the dreamer checked into a type of motel, paying attention to the surrounding landscaping, presumably to help find "his" way back from any journeying around the area. There were a few trees and perhaps some shrubbery in the area, for landscaping purposes, but not much in the way of grass. The ground was more brownish-dirt like in appearance.

One would assume that a check-in at a front lobby of some sort would've occurred, but such was not specifically detailed within the dream itself. What next developed was a minor foray out into the surrounding area by the dreamer in that strange double-chassis vehicle. Getting a bit confused, the dreamer pulled up this one "access road" that dead ended at an embankment where the interstate had been put through. Still, the quiet zone allowed the dreamer to contemplate getting out a tablet (like a smartphone) in order to pull up a GPS-oriented map.

It was at this point that the mind of the dreamer became aware of what was in the rear chassis, that being a type of reconnaissance drone with aerial camera surveillance, but the dreamer wanted to simply view the tablet instead. Even "I", the recording mind of the dream, seemed a bit dismayed that such a cool hover-drone was not to be used, when the dreamer figured something like, "Hey, I could be doing this from the comfort of my motel room" when the action started to become a bit jumbled. The return to the motel seemed confusing, as if lost in a strange city, which was pretty much the case, even though as I type this up, it could've simply been right back down the access road, and a left turn into the motel property, yet the dream pretty much ended right about there. Clarity 8+.

The Liaison at the (south) side of the house was a curious incident, very much in setting like the south side of the house where I live (where the house runs lengthwise, north-to-south, facing east, with sunset views in the west) on the grassy strip between the south-facing window and the driveway. Only in the dream, there was a bit more land than "In Real Life" (IRL) and the driveway was apparently not present, or at least, not an issue.

The dreamer was stretched out in the grass with a female— they both seemed about in their 20s to 30s, although age was not an issue in this dream. What *was* a "thing" was that they seemed to be engaged in the act of procreation, although it may have been simply more along the lines of "recreational sex."

That it was outside in apparent daylight was not so much an issue, either. What *was* a bit of an issue, was the dreamer's concern that his mother might come looking out the south window and see them.

To be clear, however, IRL, the inside of that window is blocked by an old, early 1960s sewing machine and has blinds that make getting over to look out rather difficult (NOT impossible, but something one would typically avoid except in very curious circumstances) and my mother is of limited mobility in her old age, and would be doing well to get through that room to do the laundry, let alone bother with looking out the window, yet the dreamer still seemed concerned that they could easily be spotted.

Thus, somehow, the couple shifted position eastward (away from the south-facing window) making an angled view to where they were located that much *more* difficult, yet still somehow not even remotely concerned with any neighboring house to the south, or cars passing along the road. What *was* curious is that, at the end of the dream, it was as if the dreamer was curled up with the dog in a normal human/dog nap, no funny business whatsoever, but I awoke with and still have the impression of curling up with the dog *rather than* the originating action of coitus under the sun. Clarity also 8+.

The assisted flight was perhaps a form of astral body projection perceived as a dream (just spitballin' here) however, the functional mechanics of it were rather clear:

The dreamer had something like a small, circular fan, of maybe 6"–9" diameter, and maybe 3" height, with a jellyfish-like or even squid-like, clear plastic exhaust tube, maybe 1½–2" diameter, and about 2'–3' in length. The device (fan) was placed beneath the body / in front of the belly-button/stomach, and the dreamer leaned forward as if lying upon one's stomach (prone.) The fan was providing "air support" in the sense of thrust sufficient to keep the dreamer aloft. Now as to how the fan obtained air intake? Unknown. As to how much the dreamer "weighed" in the dream? Also unknown. The dreamer was simply reasonably happy, cheerful, pleased that the device allowed the dreamer to go "flying" about the countryside, as it were. Only it wasn't countryside— it was city. And not just city, but a construction zone amidst a developed area with other buildings.

These were not like skyscrapers, but more of the box-like, three-to-five story type buildings. In one section, the dreamer flew from an altitude of somewhere in the vicinity of two floors up into and over what was likely a 2nd story floor under construction, where the "feel" of going from altitude to "ground level" was notable, as all the other folk were standing about on that floor level.

I can recall at least one kid (maybe under 10? possibly around 8?) who was with his mother, and the kid was like pointing at the flying dreamer just as if a young toddler would look up at the sky and say "Airplane!" and wanted to fly just like the dreamer was flying.

To be honest, the dreamer was sorta wondering why there weren't other folk out flying with their own devices?? What if the method being used were the dreamer's own invention?

At one point, and this may be something of a first for me, personally, I really can't recall right off the bat, a light rain started to fall, slightly harder than a drizzle, but nowhere near a downpour. And yes, the dreamer felt the raindrops upon the body.

It made the dreamer wonder how the device would function in the rain? And what would happen if the device started to lose power? Would it slowly descend to a soft landing? or cut out like a battery-powered weed wacker or battery powered mower, and just *quit*? At any rate, the ability of the device to gain altitude or go faster seemed to diminish, and there was even a type of sputtering involved, and either the dreamer transitioned onto land, or the dream ended. Clarity 9-, due to all the flying.

The "Animals in Distress" dream involved the dreamer *possibly* on land after having been flying around in the previous dream, or *possibly* as a totally unrelated dream, but on land just the same.

There was heard a "meow" (more like a short "mew?") which caught the dreamer's attention, and ("he"?) began looking around for the source, as there was surely a small (by the sound of the call) cat in the area.

Sure enough, a young cat (maybe a year old, if that much!) appeared, with a basically white coat but with large areas of brown and tan (like maybe one of each, some on the head & ears.)

The dreamer gave it a brief pet, maybe one stroke at that, and the cat went off as if in search of something to hunt. The dreamer looked around, and found a small, square, plastic bucket (like what one gets at the store for 48 ounces (3 lbs) of potato salad) with newborn kittens inside. One or possibly two looked alive, the others in not so great a shape (possibly sleeping, but that would be an optimistic opinion) and what seemed like a few dead ones as well. They appeared to be in a small layer of brownish/tan liquid, as if all their bio-refuse had been collecting in the bucket.

The dreamer took the bucket up and without thinking of any possible consequences, dumped it out onto the ground. There appeared to be one small kitten (or possibly carcass?) stuck in a corner of the bucket, and the dreamer had to repeatedly shake the bucket (even so much as to strike it upon the ground at least once or twice) in order to dislodge the object from the bucket. All I can tell you is that it's possible the dreamer felt that, alive or dead, kittens or bunnies (there may have been a baby bunny in the batch) whatever had been contained within that bucket has a much better chance at either survival or food for predators while *free* of that plastic bucket. There was the passing notion that *maybe* the mother cat had delivered the kits in the bucket thinking it would be "safe," but failing to account for the fact that it had no holes by which any accumulated fecal matter could pass through to the ground.

Re-creation of handshake from Sunday afternoon:

Yesterday afternoon, in real life (IRL) my neighbor's "son" ("M", resident of the southern section of the duplex to the north) backed a U-haul into the driveway. As that duplex is, of course, a rental, I went up to the "dad" ("T") and said, "TELL me you're NOT moving to California...!" (As I understand it, T and M are not biologically father and son, yet IF I have this correctly, T is either married or at least in some way "paired with" M's mother. They form a very nuclear (IE: "traditional") *functional* family unit.)

T explained that the owner of the duplex (one "Lila Rich" if I'm not mistaken) had given them a verbal promise ("contract") that she would never raise the rent. Well, apparently (in this Biden disaster called an "economy") she broke her word and did raise it to $1500 per month. That old shell is basically only worth $1K/month, and only then because of its location, and the general rise in inflation over the past 20 or so years.

T, M, and M's mother "I" (that's the first letter of her first name) have been excellent neighbors, quick to lend a hand if needed, and using what little land was a part of that property to install above-ground vegetable planters along the driveway *and* some taller plants (including tomatoes) along the south side of the building. From their bounty, I tasted my first "off the vine" banana pepper, and it was not as spicy-hot as I'd expected! I chopped it up into an egg soufflé (over two mornings) and it was "good!"

T told me they were moving *near* 231-S and were only gonna pay $800/month in their new place, so it looks like a good deal for them, and they will *likely* have slightly more land as well. Their work appears to be mostly contractor-type (home repair/remodeling) and some of the potential clients out on 231-South are *very* wealthy!!

At any rate, yesterday afternoon, I gave T a really solid, parting handshake, one of those "hail and farewell" type grips.

So last night/this morning, before around 4 AM, I had a dream wherein the dreamer was shaking hands with T. It was very nearly exactly a recreation of the handshake from real life the preceding afternoon, only in the dream, T mentioned a concern regarding covid as he and the dreamer were shaking hands, but the mind of the dreamer readily dismissed that almost directly "out of hand" (please pardon the nearly unavoidable pun) / put it out of mind, and the shake concluded as did the dream. [Clarity 9+/10-.]

What caught my interest most of all is that it was as if "real life" were only a half-day ahead of the "dream reality," or that the dream world was only a half-day behind "waking consciousness." I've almost always considered my dreams to be a half-day (or more) ahead of "real life," although there is the occasional dream brought about in response to waking events. Also, the grip in the dream was pretty much as "real" (or possibly moreso!) than the grip in real life. *Both* were fairly strong grips.

I find it possibly curious that the dream may have been an "expanded view" of what was being mentally contemplated *during* the "physical" handshake.

Beautiful blue sky w/clouds, pond, and croc!

The dreamer was in some form of motion when a right turn as if off a road or highway (as if into a country driveway) brings our traveler into full view (slightly looking upward) of magnificent, blue skies *possibly* set above a farmhouse. The sky was so gorgeous as to steal any "focus" from what may have been upon the earth. The dreamer (who seems like "the voice in my head" under normal, waking conditions) notes the "painted white clouds" that occupy a goodly 50% of the sky space. So while the heavens were mostly deep blue, the meshed interlacing appearance of the (mostly) white clouds give the dreamer the thought that painting such a scene would require a lot of "blending" between the whiteness of the clouds, the darkness of the undersides of some of the clouds, and the areas of sky where they "came together"— I mean, it was *beautiful!* Quite possibly *the* most beautiful sky view I've ever seen in any dream to date. There was no sense of sunrise or sunset, nor of any rainbow, so the air was that of a relatively bright, sunny day, although the sun was not seen.

IF this were on US-241 South (south of Murfreesboro, possibly as a suggestion from the conversation IRL yesterday afternoon with "T") somewhere toward Manchester, then the turn into the property would be (roughly) facing west, so if the sun were overhead or not yet fully noon, that could explain why the setting was so well lit yet with so many clouds *in* the west.

The dreamer spotted a (muddy) pond off to the right (north-ish) and although the 3rd-person ("God mind/narrator") of the dream was retreating from the idea of "No! Don't go into that muddy pond! That could be where the cows muck around— / That looks like a cow-pond—" there was also this actual sense of energetic temptation to get IN to the pond! So the dreamer did just that.

Fortunately, the water as only around 2'–3' deep, and the narrative mind was thinking ("Well, at least I think I can keep my jammies / pants legs from getting wet if I keep 'em pulled up—") when the dreamer's view suddenly went to a log-shaped object between 1½'–2' long, just above the surface of the water. Sure enough, pointed snout, with two dark eyes to either side of the rear of the skull— it was an alligator! Only the mind of the narrator just called it a "CROC!" and of course, the idea of a croc (or alligator) being "this far north" seemed irrational (I physically live in Tennessee, IRL, and have only seen a roughly 14' reptile while on vacation in my youth, in a zoo in the southern states, such as either Alabama or Florida, although I'm unable to recall which it was. I was likely on a "band trip" in high school) but trying to argue "you shouldn't be here" while nearly face-to-face with a croc (I know, it was an alligator— NARROW "A-shaped" head— crocks have a blunt, C-shaped snout) put the dreamer in the situation of "no matter what 'should' or 'should NOT' be, still gotta deal with the situation at hand—" and the situation felt like, "Take one look away from that croc, and he'll have you for lunch." (I believe that sentence was courtesy of the narrative mind during the dream.)

There was also, curiously, an appreciation for the "golden" *beauty* of the critter's skin texture amidst that muddy water. "Golden" is a very apt word to describe the crock's appearance (and yes, I know, it was an alligator, by shape.)

The dreamer felt (or possibly knew instinctively) that a good, fast, hard branch-whack to the snout would likely cause the critter to rapidly move off, but as the dreamer had impulsively jumped into the pond *without* a branch of any kind, had nothing in hand, and was reluctant to physically hit the critter's snout with his (or her) own, bare hand. And yet the dreamer struck a few times *at* the critter's snout *as if* to hit it, pretty much just hitting the air between them, as if the shock waves would be enough to strike the critter. (HA!)

Still, the croc had his (or "its") eyes fixed on the dreamer, but even so, may have had the clue that this wasn't an unsuspecting meal, and rather than pick a fight, turned right (or west-ish) and began to move away.

The dreamer, having sensed the crisis was over, began the thought of backing out of that pond, when that part of the dream ended.

Whether this next bit was a part of the same dream (or not) is unclear.

Encounter w/Gina, on her birthday, and about that infant....

The dreamer was at a gathering of sorts, with at least one structure (for the sake of setting, let's assume it to be squarish, with the back-side facing west) and possibly an external garage or work shed of some type (to the north-west) and also possibly with a "party barn" (to the south-southwest.)

This dream scenario is quite likely a mishmash type blending of a number of events over my past lifetime, along with some rather symbolic events, some "good" some "not so good," but here's what I can stitch together of the dream itself:

The dreamer was in a room just inside the structure, possibly a north-facing, screened-in porch, or the room directly inside that area, with an infant (seems like a baby boy) of the age of 6 months or younger, when babies mostly just nap, eat (consume a bottle) and poop. I can recall at least one view of the cherubic face, in a warm, cozy one-piece (cotton? flannel? wool? blended?) cocoon-like garment, with the face smiling out of the head-piece in what could be called "a happy baby" visage.

AT SOME POINT, there was an encounter with a version of Gina from back when we met, during her 18th year of age, although in the dream, she could've been into her mid 20s. The conversation was innocuous enough that I (in waking consciousness) seem unable to recall anything of what was said during the dream. But what I *do* recall was the *attraction* / desire to be *with* her. (This section *may* have occurred in what was just described earlier as the "party barn.")

Then there was the "sudden realization" (not actual quoted words, but a way of describing the feeling of the dreamer) of the child left unattended in the structure, and the next view is of the child as if in distress, possibly face down in a small amount of water. The dreamer (gently) checks the child to be sure it is OK, breathing, and in fact, there is the sound of an infant's respiration within the dream, whereupon the dreamer makes sure the infant is OK, then returns to the discussion with Gina, although at this point, it's more like "communication" rather than "interaction."