Bad Dream 229 -- Finding the Flow

This dream showed up shortly before waking this morning.  I had awakened at 6:00 and went back to sleep and was awakened by Alexa at 8:00.  It's somewhat fragmented, but it felt important to record what I recall:

In my dream, I am in my car starting to drive home from some unidentified event.  I get down to a road I think I know, but am confused as to which way to go.  I recognize the size and shape of the road, but I have never entered that road at this point.  

I take what I feel is the right direction, but find myself in the wrong direction, as I see a lot of cars ahead with headlights rather than taillights.  I turn around and start in the other direction.  The dream shows me to be on a two-lane road sometimes and a four-lane divided highway at others, but it feels like the same road anyway.

Still not sure as to which direction to go, I pull off the road when I remember that my phone has a compass app -- which will clearly identify the direction I should take.  East or west.  When I park my car in the small parking lot of some place of business, I get out of the car and reach into my pocket for my phone.  What I find is a real compass, which I recognize from my teenage years, and this pleases me a great deal.  After identifying true north on my hand-held compass, I think I also call up the app to double-check.  Totally unnecessary, but I fell this is some kind of minor celebration: all alone by myself, I have figured out which direction in which to go.  

I get back in the car and head in the original direction in which I was travelling.  Yes, this feels right.  

Through the magic of dreams, my car has now transformed into a bicycle, (my orientation early on was that the right direction was left to right -- but now the right direction feels right to left, but it is still the one I initially chose) and I am pedaling easily down a comfortable two-lane road that runs parallel to the Susquehanna River.  It is now one of those glorious moments when everything seems to be right and blessed.  The river is unspeakably gorgeous and I feel wonderful.  

I see a sign for a donut shop ahead, and decide to pick up a donut and coffee to make the wonderful moment even more so.  I pull into the parking lot and get off my bicycle.  I have been considering getting a single donut for this moment's nourishment or three donuts: one for the moment plus two for future nourishment.  I notice that one of the pedals is missing from my bike, which is a surprise because I hadn't noticed this while I was pedaling.  I make a mental note to get a new pair of pedals from my favorite bike shop when I get home - and possibly consider a brand new bike.  

The donut shop is a very small "Mom and Pop" outfit, and I notice quickly that there are very few donuts available and very few display spots for donuts at any time -- and all the donuts are in a single tray behind the counter.  Not my favorite style of donut, but that's okay.  I mentally prepare my order as the nice older lady behind the counter starts to come over to me.  

I wake up to Alexa's alarm.

Bad Dream 227 -- Richard wants to burn down the house

This dream is a bit sketchy.  It came to me that way...

In my dream, I am standing in the house Deb and I owned for several decades -- that would be 419 W. Union Street in West Chester.  It was built in the very early 20th century and we were both very fond of it.   

I'm simply standing in the house as several people are moving about.  It turns out that my older brother Richard has a plan to burn the house down.  He's been trying to convince our mother that it would be a good idea, as there would be a financial benefit after the fire is done its work.  Mom is not convinced, but has decided not to interfere with Richard's plans as he is probably right.  Typical of her.  

At one point, Richard slows down his moving around to explain to me how this plan will work.  He talks rapidly, and there's a certain logic to what he says, but I recognize several assumptions he's made in his analysis that are unlikely to work or be true.  But if Mom (and other family members?) are not going to interfere, I realize that there's nothing I can do.  

The fire starts in the upper part of the house.  And I think "Well, at least the fire will take some time to burn down to the lower levels, so the actual inferno won't be as large -- at any given time -- as it might have been if he had started it on the ground floor or basement."

Somewhere along the way, I realize that most all of my belongings are still in the house and will be completely destroyed in the blaze.  I'm highly distressed about this.  Richard's plan is about the house and it doesn't include my stuff.  I move around to try and collect my most precious (emotionally, not financially) items but only come across a couple members of the Zoo Gang.  And those I pick up.

Even though I thought the fire had started in the upper parts of the house, at one point, I see smoke rising lazily through the boards of the flooring into a room that isn't on fire yet.

As the indications appear that the fire is growing, I think/hope that Richard may be right.  But I find it highly unlikely.

Bad Dream 226A -- Djembe or Donuts? -- Analysis

My first "key" into this dream was the feeling that the dream pivots at the empty building and my brief discussion with Al Meador.  When I enter the building, I am in  search of a Djembe.  When I leave, I'm in search of a donut shop.

THE OFFICE -- the office seems to represent my everyday humdrum(!) existence.

WHY A DRUM? -- in addition to the "humdrum reference mentioned above, the other potential wordplay reference is quite possibly Thoreau"s reference to a "different drummer."  As I continue to consider and try to understand introversion.   

THE EMPTY BUILDING -- this seems to represent the here-and-now.  The room has been used significantly in the past, but is now empty -- awaiting a new usage.  

AL MEADOR -- A student I knew at Drexel.  Wonderfully smart in a whole variety of fields and a great but subtle sense of humor.  He was -- and hopefully sitll is -- a polymath.  I might qualify as a superficial polymath. 

BUYING DONUTS FOR OTHERS -- It may mean something that I'm abandoning getting a drum for myself in favor of getting donuts for others. 

SHABBY DONUT SHOP -- What's in here has been here for a long time.

CHAOS IN THE DONUT SHOP -- My various "parts."  Some making donuts, some ordering and eating donuts. 

YOUNG PRETTY WAITRESS -- See below.  

CHANGE WITHOUT AN ORDER -- Reward for things I haven't done yet?  Things that I did and "paid for" without recalling what/which?  OR I can't expect any help from my various "parts" to get donuts?  With help from Regina, the possible wordplay of "change."  As in moving from this to that.  And that is part -- or maybe most or all -- of what I would get from feeding donuts to those people.  And my waitperson walks away because it's now on me to consider and pilot that change.