Dream Recipes
I suppose everyone wonders what make up our dreams when we’re sleeping. I know I’ve always been curious about this, because dreams often don’t make a lick of sense.
Last night I dreamed about various people from different periods in my life. The people were not the age they are now.
One of the people in my dream had an injured face for some reason.
Some were people I didn’t know or recognize. (Like extras on a movie set I suppose.)
The dream consisted of people from my childhood and also from my young adulthood.
When I woke up, the thought immediately came to me that dreams are kind of like recipes.
Throw in people from one time in your life. A few more from another time span. Add a pinch of this and a pinch of that about your life, and you have what could be considered a recipe.
Except you don’t know what it’s for. You don’t know how to bake it, how hot the temperature should be, or even what you’re cooking.
Many people think of dreams as a time our brains are processing information. So could dreams be recipes for certain types of processing?
I found this on NBC news online:
Stickgold (the person studying dreams) believes that dreams serve a purpose for the brain, allowing it to make necessary emotional connections among new pieces of information.
“Dreams let you consolidate and integrate your experiences, without conflict with other input from real life,” Stickgold said. “Dreaming is like saying, ‘I’m going home, disconnecting the phone, nobody talk to me. I have to do work.’”
Love to hear your thoughts on this.
Well, enough with dreams.
I am now reading “Wicked River.”
Amazon blurb:
Six million acres of Adirondack forest separate Natalie and Doug Larson from civilization. For the newlyweds, an isolated back country honeymoon seems ideal-a chance to start their lives together with an adventure.
But just as Natalie and Doug begin to explore the dark interiors of their own hearts, as well as the depths of their love for each other, it becomes clear that they are not alone in the woods.
Because six million acres makes it easy for the wicked to hide. And even easier for someone to go missing for good.
As they struggle with the worst the wilderness has to offer, a man watches them, wielding the forest like a weapon. He wants something from them more terrifying than death. And once they are near his domain, he will do everything in his power to make sure they never walk out again.
***
“Wicked River” is one of those books where there seems to be surprise and danger at every turn. Literally.
I’ve read about half of this book, and Natalie, who has been married to Doug for less than a week, is finding that she doesn’t know her husband as well as she thought she did. Which presents another type of danger.
Sometimes I wonder which is scarier. Dealing with a total stranger who seems to want to harm you, or wondering if the person you’re closest to has been lying to you and putting you in danger.
I think I’d take the stranger.
My cucumbers seems to be drying up. No new ones this week.
And my latest tomatoes have dried looking cuts in them. I’m sure that’s a symptom of something, so tell me if you know. I’ve had to throw the last 2-3 tomatoes away.
Have a wonderful day doing whatever it is you’re planning to do. Charlie sends his best, even as he snoozes next to me here on the couch.
So nice to sit here with a cup of coffee this morning and start catching up on your blog. My mom, sister, and two cousins were here visiting this past week and left yesterday. Such a great time we had but it is nice to get back into the old routine. I have so missed your blog this week.
Dreams often seem like a whole other life…I definitely think we dream for a reason. Processing our life makes perfect sense to me!
I like the dream/recipe analogy. I’m a vivid and lucid dreamer. I can tell myself within a nightmare that it’s only a dream and wake myself. I have certain recurring dreams that happen seemingly randomly (can’t get through to 911 – always for a different reason) and frequently right before travel (get to the airport and don’t have my suitcase). They say lots of dreams are related to being an empath and I can buy that. Sometimes, though, they make no sense whatsoever and I strain my brain trying to figure out… where did THAT ONE come from??
That book sounds like the genre we used to call Gothics. A mix of romance and mystery. I used to enjoy them but I thought they had gone out of style. Or maybe they just morphed into scary stories. Probably a bad sign but I rarely dream.
As you know (I’ve mentioned this on your previous blog post about dreams), I have very strange and vivid dreams, too. The other night, I dreamed that my second cousin (whom I’m very close to – he lives on the south side of Chicago, about 50 miles from me) was visiting and we talked about him moving in. Then we got in his car and were driving around my neighborhood and he drove the car partway into the lake even though I was telling him the road ended. (And heck no, he is NOT moving in with us! lol)
Tomatoes splitting or cracking are usually from extreme temperature fluctuations, especially in the spring. Or if there was a dry spell and then tons of rain, this can mess with the tomatoes, too.
I’ve heard that tomatoes can absorb a lot of water after a heavy rain, and so they swell up and the skins can crack. Maybe that’s what happened to yours.
I think that quote from the dream expert makes more sense than any other description of what dreams are about. I think the part about our dreams happening when our brains aren’t taking in more data makes sense. I remember a lot of my dreams, and tell them to my husband the next day after breakfast. I heard somewhere as a kid that you shouldn’t describe your dreams out loud until after breakfast or they will come true. My husband rarely remembers his dreams so he likes to hear about mine. Sometimes my dreams seem clear and the symbolism seems pretty obvious, but other times they are just a mish-mash of details from different times of my life.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you are processing information at this time Brenda. I think the loss of Abi may spur this kind of development too. The fact that your dream seems to revolve around a cast of characters may indicate you are processing not only your past, but your present. I think times of high trauma can do this to us and a subsequent questioning mode is not unusual at all. I’ve been reflecting back to, “The Journey” lately for my own area of study but note how she mentions, “the journey will teach you many things”.
Personally, I try for grounding in dream understanding by referring to the scriptures. God used dreams in the scriptures to speak many times so I don’t think it is a subject to be entirely dismissed as hooey. Twice in my life I’ve had dreams at the passing of two pets – and those two particular dreams I’ve held very close to my heart ever since. They are the dreams I can recite by detail and the ones that never ever leave me. Lots of dreams can be nonsensical but those dreams that come and stay and move to change an occurrence in your life are the ones I consider heaven sent.
I think we all have areas of our lives that can be unresolved and sometimes we don’t even know ourselves it is this way. When you are processing and questioning that is a good thing and because in that process can be great learning.
I do find it strange you see an injured face and perhaps Brenda that face is actually you and because you have been injured. Or, that face could even be mine and because I too am injured. We are deeply, deeply injured when we lose these special ones and it’s no small thing to those of us who are living it.
Bless you …
I don’t seem to remember dreams anymore, probably because of sleep medication I take. But when I was a busy editor I used to have frequent dreams about chasing kittens around and not being able to count them all! I finally attributed it to my waking life of trying to keep track of my projects! Later during a difficult time during my first marriage and shortly after a divorce, I had a “theme” in my dreams of trying to find someone I new in a crowded place like a stadium.
I am just envious that you have tomatoes at your door, cracks or not! I would eat them anyway unless they were yukky inside.
Dreams are fascinating, aren’t they? Mine are nothing like “Inception,” but the movie did hit the nail on the head with the bizarro shifts from one place to another. You are very eloquent in your description!
I used to have dreams about two places. One was bright and sunny and had a red tile floor. The other was dark, and smelled earthy and felt very safe. Decades later, I returned to Nairobi (I had been a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya) and discovered the bright place was a hotel terrace that I loved (but I had forgotten it was like that) and the dark place was a seed shop I used to frequent–it didn’t have electricity and the only light was from the front door. Here, I had thought they might have been images from movies or things I had conjured from books, or even short travels.
Often, severe rain after high temps and lack of rain will cause tomatoes to split. Pick them as soon as you see the split. They are safe to eat if you do so right after picking.
Look up http://www.yates.com.au and ask a garden expert, Brenda. I just asked google…hope that helps.
I heard kids in my yard talkng..eating all my blackberries! I was scolding them and they were still eating them til I said some might be buggy. Lol. The birds planted them taking over my other flowers. If they were blueberries I would prob leave them. I want to at least have some to bake with though.
I thought when tomatoes split it was because of too much watering. Anyway, I love your book reviews!
Interesting thoughts on dreams Brenda. More often than not I do not remember my dreams except if it is a bad one, not a nightmare just a bad dream.
As for your tomatoes, I think nitrogen. But I am not positive.
How is Charlie feeling? and you?
Have a great day you two!