So last night I had a Dan Bern dream. I was watching TV on a big screen television that was attached to the wall. I think I was at my parents’ house, but it wasn’t really my parents’ house. A commercial came on the television and in the middle of the screen was a book with talking line-drawn characters. I recognized them as Ted the Cow-type drawings, but now that I look at the book, what I saw in my dream was not Ted the Cow-type drawings. Anyway, two of the line-drawn characters started to sing a well-known Dan Bern song (don’t know which one it was but my dad said something disparaging about those “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah”¹ lyrics) and I immediately ran to the store and bought a new shirt.

While the salesperson was ringing up my purchase (an oversized pink, lavender and aqua button-down denim shirt²) she asked what I wanted to drink — it came with the shirt, so I said a Coke. Then she said that the Coke had some strange powder³ in it and was probably contaminated, and showed me the front pocket of the shirt. Sure enough, something fizzy⁴ and white was floating in the Coke filled pocket of the shirt. She sent for a new shirt, but it was not the same color. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to buy it, but since it came with free Fiestaware, I figured I’d get it and donate the shirt.

On the way out I mentioned that my favorite singer, Dan Bern, liked Fiestaware⁶, but didn’t expect them to know who Dan Bern was. Turned out they did because he owned the shop.

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[1] This really happened once — but I was listening to Beethoven at the time.
[2] I recently found two oversized denim shirts and wasn’t sure if I should keep them or not. They are both blue though.
[3] I mis-read a mis-read comment on a bulletin board and confused Coke (as in Coca Cola) with coke (as in cocaine) and had to re-read it. Weird it would pop up in a dream.
[4] Last night my daughter had fun with suds and the kitchen counter and floor and walls were covered in soap bubbles. Before I went to sleep I worried about who was going to clean it up, since my daughter didn’t seem willing.⁵
[5] Dean cleaned it up.
[6] I don’t know if Dan Bern even likes Fiestaware — but he does live in New Mexico.

So last night / this morning I had another dream about moving into another house. This time, however, the house was pretty normal — brand new, in fact. I was secretly pleased that it was brand new, although I profess to only like older homes. This time, also, we had not sold our current house, and were just checking the new house out by spending a couple of nights in the new house to see if we liked it.

We didn’t have any strong feelings about the house, one way or the other, so figured, why not… It was in Alexandria, Virginia — where we lived before Bethesda; and we discovered, after spending two nights at the house, it was built right next to the George Washington Masonic Memorial. I’d recently been thinking about that place because I thought the steps would be great practice for our trip to Ireland where we were planning on visiting Skellig Michael, an island that, if you walk up 600 steps, you’ll get to visit an ancient monastery.

We’d just decided on buying the house when I noticed that it was not only adjacent to the Memorial, but built in the middle of a cemetery. In fact, looking out one of the windows, I saw several very old tombstones. At first I thought that Clare would love it — being all into haunted places and all. Then I realized that I couldn’t live there because it was obvious that the builders had dug up graves to build the house.

Not sure where that dream came from, but it seems as if we’ve learned our lesson — don’t buy a house without touring the whole thing.

So last night I had a blogging dream. I dreamed that I carried a sharpie everywhere I went and as I did things, I wrote on the wall or pavement what I did. (even when I used the toilet)

Or perhaps it was a twitter dream.

Whatever it was, it makes me wonder if the dream was telling me that I reveal too much.

Some of the more memorable times of my life have been when I’m in a situation where each turn of the road or path leads me to something fun, unusual or breathtaking. It was that way my first time searching out tide pools on an island off the west coast of Scotland. I didn’t want to leave the island, knowing that behind the next rock was an even more wondrous tide pool. It was that way driving in Montana to Paul and Kelly’s wedding. Each turn of the road brought us to even more beautiful scenery. It was even that way last summer when we visited The House on the Rock in Wisconsin. Each room was full of more unusual items than the last. We had to see all of it, even if we were getting tired after several hours of walking.

So it’s no wonder that my favorite kinds of nighttime dreams are when I’m finding new and exciting things around every corner. This type of dream is usually associated with the purchase of a new house. I’m usually told that we need to move away from our house after we’ve already sold it and bought the new one. I’m always sad about leaving our house, but as soon as I begin to explore the new house I realize it is full of places to explore — so much so I may never stop finding new discoveries.

This morning when Dean got out of bed I was having one of those dreams. As I slowly awoke I realized it was not real and we had not sold our house. I was disappointed because the house in my dream was at least four stories high (plus the basement) and I’d only explored the basement and the two bottom floors. So, instead of getting up with Dean I fell back asleep hoping to get back to the dream about the house. It worked! I got to see the third floor of the house before finally waking up for good.

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I must have been more excited about Revish’s Grand Opening than I realized because last night I dreamt about it.

I walked into a bright shiny new office and was greeted warmly. I was told to stick around so I could meet Dan. I did wait around and saw several employees go in and out of the office – all wearing black trousers or skirts and white button down shirts. Someone named Barbara had to leave early, so the manager (not Dan) asked if I would cover for her.  I was not sure what to do, but said I would be happy to help.

Then I woke up because the cats decided to have a fight at the foot of my bed.

The only other thing I remember about the dream was the copious amount of ice cream being passed around, and everyone carrying thick books.

Oh, and I never met Dan - but I heard him on a podcast this morning.