nnmq nnmq

-McCoy quote: "A... teddy bear?"-

Most interesting dream this week was about a red shape-shifting algae that I was (I think) involved in developing in a lab. Once again the color red features prominently -- if I didn't know any better I would think that I was Jonas.

It's hot and humid and not even noon. The end.

Reality check. I could use the weather here as an excuse for not posting yesterday, but the truth is that I forgot because I was busy watching Star Trek (original series) and wishing that I could find a good communicator noise to use as a ringtone. Funny how sometimes one gets into a rabbit hole and sort of forgets everything else for a time.

nd ntd nd ntd

-Ad quote: "Wholesale to Distributors"-

I had a dream a few nights ago about flying on a plane, which is not surprising since I flew yesterday (I suppose that since I fly regularly, but not as much as someone who flies for business reasons, this activity falls in that dream sweet spot of mildly unusual happenings). Still not as much fun as flat-out flying in a dream, by which I mean flying without the aid of machinery.

As I predicted last week and the week before, the dandelion field is growing back. Right now, there are just the green echelons of spears, of whippy-thin stalks topped with high-pinched buds. I would say that the buds are shaped like teardrops, except that no teardrop is actually "teardrop-shaped", so really it's a ridiculous phrase.

And whoo boy, is there a lot of them. I've always heard about the persistence of dandelions, how they grow back more when they're cut. But I never expected to see such a thick bed of them on the crest of that hill, so dense that even if one or two of them wilted, they wouldn't fall very far off of vertical before being propped up by a neighbor.

If this is the dandelions' way, perhaps I am not so distraught that they were cut.

Reality check. I would be even less distraught if I could have a real flying dream...

nd s

-Notepad quote: "2.565"-

Oddest dream this week was eating mints that came from the eyes of prisoners. Don't ask me how that came about, because... that's just weird. Really, really weird.

Anyway, the reason that I didn't post yesterday was because I happened to be going to the Colorado Renaissance Festival, my first one, surprisingly. It has nothing to do with Society for Creative Anachronism, though I hear that it's quite likely that you'd see SCA people wandering around. This is possibly because we have loads of amazing garb (or want to shop for more).

Highlights were...

- The musical act Cast in Bronze (a carillon -- that's an awe-inspiring instrument that looks like an organ except with enormous bells instead of strings or pipes -- was what he played). This guy not only plays the carillon quite well, but he certainly has a flair for the dramatic. Which is probably necessary when one is playing such a grand instrument. He dresses up all in black with only his eyes showing, framed by a golden bird-shaped mask. He also is prone to suddenly swivel his head to stare at the audience on one side of the stage or the other, and by suddenly I mean that you feel like he just caught you causing mischief out of the corner of his eye, and is ready to investigate further.

-Watching the hilariously bad staged tournament. Honestly, when one is in SCA, watching people pretend to do battle medieval-style (albeit on horseback, I will give them that) is just too funny. Because they obviously didn't want anyone actually making contact when going at whatever top speed is for horses, the riders had to kind of jump off their horses when they were "hit". Also, 2 on 2 does NOT constitute a melee battle.

-Steak on a stake and cheesecake on a stick. I need say no more, except perhaps that the latter tastes even better than it sounds.

-Wondering how it's even possible to make macaroni and cheese on a stick. Apparently it is, because one vendor was selling it.

-Wondering what, exactly, fairies have to do with the Renaissance, and why so many people dressed up as them.

-Being one of the better-dressed characters in the festival, due to the free garb that gets lavished on the newbies in my particular chapter of the SCA.

Reality check. All told, a moste excellent daye.

jft7

-Penn quote: "Everybody pronounces it 'Soyss'."-

The most interesting dream I had this week was the one in which I was learning mathematics from a mild-mannered (don't know why I used that particular adjective, but that's what I wrote in my dream journal) French engineer. Guess I dreamed about this because I recently spent some time reading information about Augustin Cauchy, an engineer who became a mathematician later in life.

Mere hours after last week's post about the dandelion field, workers were out there with weedwhackers mowing it down.

Judging from the length of the grass in that area before they came through, I am hoping against hope that this is something that happens only every few months. As far as I can tell, none of the dandelions have grown back yet, but, knowing dandelions, they'll soon be back in greater force than before. A few low-lying wild morning glories seem to have escaped the butchery altogether, and are blooming like crazy now that the magnificent dandelion clocks aren't there stealing their show.

I am struck by how ordinary the field now loooks. It's a trimmed, manicured, domesticated lawn, its smooth expanse ruined every now and then with a wartlike tuft of weedy flowers. Understand that before the trimming came, even the grass looked beautiful -- waves of slender, elegant blades. Now it's the grass that one can't look too close at: the ragged stumps of green topped with a film of beige scars.

Even though I know that grass is healthier when mowed, my visceral reaction is that it looks healthier when it can grow to its proper taper. Certainly, unmown grass is more forgiving -- once you have the cut grass it's an arms race against both weeds and the grass itself to keep it looking neat. But unmown grass looks good even if it grows another inch, or is longer in patches, or is sprinkled with dandelions. It looks right.

Reality check. I hope the dandelions come back soon.