Work and a seasonal Cold led to a few days of quiet here on the Zone. Pretty boring. Although, if I could fully transcribe the dreams from the last hours of sleep this morning we'd have a couple of pages of fresh, strange stuff. In one of them we were heading out for a two day camping trip, stopped for supplies, and decided to spend the two days in a room I found at Walmart. Pitched the sleeping bags and gear in this small empty room near the bathrooms. Saw the sights during the day, hung out at Wallymart all night. The manager didn't seem to mind at first, but the morning we planned to leave he poked his head in the door and asked if he could have his room back. We're packing and a sales associate was insisting that Faith sell his wife a refrigerator.

The other dream was purely historical fantasy. A trip to my Sister's new place somewhere in the midwest. A huge, and I mean huge, sprawling farmhouse/barn with every concievable animal and relative tucked in the corners and crannies. A young bear sniffing at the front outside, the dogs inside going crazy, hard to get inside with both sides trying to get by. Turn a corner and find a new set of animals in pens or stall, chickens in coops, baby lambs in the same coops? Climb some stairs and here's the cousins, or kids of cousins. Grandma was looking well. A real earthy, communal feel to the whole dream. Most of the kids were involved with little projects. One of the little girls with a basket of sticks she had collected and when I wondered what they might be everyone laughed and said that they were for combing hair, silly. Back behind the house, past some more pens and grazing areas, was a dump. A monster of a dump, drifted in ash and perpetually smoldering. You could spot bright edges of recognizable artifacts rounded from the heat. Like a game, see a distorted corner and try to guess the item. A mountainous terrain of cast offs. I dislodged a sled made from old skis and sent it whooshing down the ashy slope. A small knot of boys had been following me and they all went scrambling after the sled, a promise of afternoon's fun. Wander back to the house. More relatives, many strangers. Much of the dream I am struggling to pull names buried deep in memory to match with the familiar faces. Now that I think about it I don't remember ever seeing my Sister or her family.

It has been raining much of the week with heavy fog in the mornings. I not even sure how far along the fall colors are. Got to get out of the house today, take some photos.

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