The Dreaming Tree The art, photography & dreams of Lana Gramlich. Also notes on nature sciences (astronomy, parklands, etc.,) & dream related subjects. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 13 0 19 4525

Articles from The Dreaming Tree

Random Stuff & LND; Music & Guns 2008-02-10 22:43:00 I was at the D’s. D.D. was part of a band & was scheduled to play a gig at a local bar. We went there to set up, but a gunman was inside, threatening everyone. We went back to his parents’ house, to hang out, talking about what to do about the gunman & the gig.D.D. was one of my roommates in Toronto. Ironically, the other roommate called me today.Another scanned photo from Canada; sunset clouds over the field near "my" old woods.In other news, last night the raccoons (or maybe oppossums?) overcame the baffle I bought for our sunflower feeder, so it's back to the drawing board. Where are Acme products when you need them?I also seem to have been right when I suspected in Thursday's post that some of our Winter visitors may have been getting ready to leave. Since then our backyard has seemed preternaturally empty. Only 5 of the dozens of chipping sparrows remain & most of the goldfinches seem to have left, too. Checking my eBird stats, I saw that last year they left in the 2nd week ... Amp

Signs of Spring 2008-02-09 20:43:00 It was a beautiful, sunny, 70F+ day today & the Abita Creek Flatwoods Preserve had finally dried out, so we went for a hike.2 black vultures. We clearly heard crows nearby.One of dozens of bluebirds.This mockingbird was funny to watch. He'd take a few hops, then pause to display his wing patches, then take a few more hops & display again. We also saw a pine warbler, a dozen marsh wrens, some kind of woodpecker & a flock of about 40 robins.I started seeing butterflies today for the first time in a few months, including a lovely yellow sulphur in our backyard. This is a meadow fritillary. It was a warm enough day for the anoles to be out. I'd hoped we might see one of the local cottonmouths, too, but no such luck...yet. ...

New Painting & LND; Girl & Animals 2008-02-09 12:30:00 Something about a girl or young woman. Later I was sitting at a table with Charles & others. We had to come up with a list of animals that don't moult or shed their skins. Charles kept saying "African animals" over & over.The painting was inspired by a copper wire sculpture I saw years ago that reminded me of a dancer. I used irridescent white in the background to catch the light because I wanted some sparkle. I don't like naming paintings, have a hard time doing it & this is no exception; "Happy Dancing Princess." It sounds somewhat like Engrish to me.11x14", acrylic & yours for $25 (including shipping in the continental US.) ... Amp

LND; Harassment & Windsailing 2008-02-08 14:57:00 I was with a group of young people. We all had things we had to do individually. The young people were hostile toward me, however. Whenever I was around they'd make fun of me. A young man seemed to be the ringleader & tended to start it all the time. I went away for a while to work with a few different people (not part of the group,) who were setting up a windsurfer. We talked about how Asian people, in particular, tended to like windsurfing. Soon I had to go back to the abusive group. M.F. was among them now, but she was nice to me, in spite of peer pressure. It was a relief to have even one friend.This is a direct reflection of problems I had throughout jr. high & high school, where I was a complete outcast. Those were the hardest years of my life, particularly as things were even worse at home. Most of those memories have been repressed for decades. The few times something flashes back to me I hurt as intensely as if it were yesterday. There's still a lot of anger & resentment the ... Amp

Thursday Morning's Birds 2008-02-07 22:27:00 It was an exciting morning for birding here at The Hermitage. While getting ready for work, I noticed a red-shouldered hawk out my window, harassing a pileated woodpecker & chasing it around. I was astonished the hawk would go after such a huge bird (particularly as there was at least 100 smaller birds all over my backyard.) Unfortunately the movement was too frenetic to capture on camera, but here's a chipping sparrow & a goldfinch watching a few other birds heading for the brush;In the midst of the hawk excitement, I saw a couple of crows flying over my house, carrying nesting materials in their beaks. Unfortunately I didn't get them on camera, either, but here's some goldfinches, chipping sparrows, a female cardinal and a white-throated sparrow;As usual, a squirrel was pilfering sunflower seeds while the getting was good. Actually, it was unusual to only have the ONE squirrel, but I digress. He really perturbed this poor blue jay, who looked at me at one point as if to say, "Wel ...

LND; Young Woman 2008-02-07 07:56:00 Something about a young woman.I'd remembered more than this when I first woke, but some dreams cause me to wake particularly troubled & my subsequent thoughts chase the dreams away. These are clearly the dreams I need to remember, but my subconscious self-preservation efforts prevent it. Part of me is still not ready for those truths, it seems.The picture is from Balls' Falls, another scenic area in the Niagara Region of Canada. ...

LND; Driving in the Rain 2008-02-06 08:25:00 A young woman was driving (my view was from right outside the windshield.) It started raining so hard she couldn't see. She pulled herself right up to the steering wheel so she could wipe at the inside of the windshield, trying to see. Her face was somewhat panicked.Overnight thunderstorms probably inspired this dream. Sometimes the beat of rain while I'm sleeping becomes the crackle of fire in my dreams.The picture is from an Autumn afternoon at Short Hills Provincial Park. ...

Quick Painting 2008-02-05 22:35:00 I started off intending to have the moon peaking through some clouds & much more moonlit forest, but I got pulled in a different direction. I think the simplicity of the final product is more peaceful than my original idea would have been. Besides, as I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to do something quick, spontaneous & fun.Its 5x7" acrylic on canvasboard. If you like it, it can be yours for $20USD (including shipping in the continental US.) ...

Study & Last Night's Dream; Around My Apartment 2008-02-05 16:32:00 I was going to my apartment & had to cross through a couple of areas that Native American women lived in. The areas were marked almost like a football field & didn't have any buildings or plants on them (beyond scrubby grasses.) Each woman stopped me to tell me something. I got through them & climbed the staircase to my apartment. The staircase was tall, external, wooden & rickety. I didn't trust them. I ran into my landlord & told him my concerns about the stairs. He seemed to think that meant I was giving my notice, which was not my intention. Although I tried to explain myself better, he didn't seem to get it. I went outside, where I saw a bunch of goldfinches & a scarlet tanager.Indians yet again (this time in Native American form.) Also a repeat of someone not getting/hearing/understanding me (see Feb. 2nd's dream.) The apartment doesn't reflect my reality. I live with Charles in a one-story house, not alone in an upstairs apartment. However, the rickety external stairs are r ... Amp

Brown-Headed Nuthatches 2008-02-05 01:33:00 One of my favorite bird visitors are brown-headed nuthatches. They're probably one of the gutsier birds in our yard, despite their small stature. Although most birds take off when I open the back door, these little guys don't mind feeding even when I'm scarcely 3 feet away. Quick little fliers that never alight anywhere for long, they're somewhat difficult to photograph. Here's our local trio on their favorite feeder, tolerating a lone goldfinch.Brown-headed nuthatches are rare in Louisiana, so I consider myself particularly blessed to have them. Their population, so closely tied to our vanishing longleaf pine forests, declines about 2.2% per year. Loss of habitat is their #1 threat & has placed them on Audubon's WatchList.Brown-headed nuthatches work as a group to support a single nest & are among very few tool-using birds. Our local trio (which showed up last Summer,) have been pecking lately at a dead pine along our driveway, possibly working on a nesting cavity. Nothing would ...

Another Hike at Fontainebleau 2008-02-04 09:15:00 The Flatwoods were still flooded out yesterday, so we went back to Fontainebleau State Park, where the new boardwalk over the marsh was finally completed...The Causeway Bridge is barely visible (& then only when enlarged,) way in the distance on the right half of this photo.3 coots and an egret. There were many coots in the area & they were all kicking up quite a racket.Red bellied woodpeckers are very common here, so I was delighted to see this red headed woodpecker for a change.We watched this egret fishing for a while.One group of the dozens of robins that were in the area. ...

Last Night's Dream; Strange Sound 2008-02-03 14:28:00 I was with a group of others, doing a project for work. I heard a strange sound nearby, although when I looked in that direction, I saw nothing. I thought it was some kind of monkey making the noise. It happened again soon after & two of us looked at one another, puzzled. The noisemaker came eventually came into view; it was just someone with a mundane power tool (like a lawn mower or a chain saw.)The project for work was not related to my "real life" job in any way.Another picture from Canada. Can you tell I've been digitizing old photos lately? ...

Lake Ontario & Last Night's Dream; French Fries 2008-02-02 14:00:00 Kai told me he liked the fries at the convenience store up the road. I agreed. Later I was with a young girl. Another girl came along to speak with us. Then I ran into my last, surviving Aunt. I told her I lived on Spears Rd., but corrected myself immediately. She didn't seem to pick up on my correction, however. Yet later I was on a couch with a blanket pulled up over my legs. A man came in & sat in a chair nearby.I was just thinking yesterday that the store up the road has really good french fries. The couch I was on seemed to be in the living room of my old house on Spears Road in Ft. Erie, which has probably been on my mind due to recent memories of lake effect snows, which are worse in Ft. Erie than anywhere else in the Niagara Region.The picture is looking west over Lake Ontario from the world's tallest free standing structure, the CN Tower. The curve of Earth's surface is visible from such a height, as is the mist from Niagara Falls, over an hour's drive away. ... Amp  French

Doves & Friday's Dream; Misunderstanding 2008-02-02 13:49:00 I got a hold of a friend on the phone & he came by. I asked him to get me something. I waited for him on the sidewalk between a road & a parking lot. Soon he pulled up & I leaned in the passenger's side window. Unfortunately the thing he got me was $75, which was more that I was comfortable paying (although I did.) Charles saw us together & assumed we were cheating on him. When I was with him later, it took him a while to reveal this & I kept insisting that nothing was going on (because it wasn't.)Here I'm waiting on a ride from someone else again, indicating a dependency, a lack of control over my own life. I'm also between a road (indicating movement,) & a parking lot (indicating non-movement.)Although there's always at least a few doves around, today there was at least a dozen. The top picture shows one trying to get away from another--the poor thing got chased all over the yard. ... Amp

Last Night's Dream; German Women, Counterfeit Money & Saving Animals in Peru 2008-01-31 10:46:00 I was outside in a neighborhood with others. In the street near a tall building a bunch of German women were jumping preternaturally high in unison. They were all dressed alike & holding large, rectangular pieces of paper. The group I was with went inside. When I left soon after the women were gone. Out in the street I found an unusually large $100 bill. The back of it was printed newspaper. I realized that it was one of the papers the German women had. There were others in the street. I gathered them up & gave them to someone. Later I was with others on a train in Peru. The main man in our group had a bunch of animals in cages. We were all working to protect them. During one stop I took a large lizard (like a Komodo dragon, but smaller,) out for a walk on a leash. When we reached our destination, one of us got into a slightly rusted, orange, white & turquoise taxi. Our main man had purchased it to use toward our purpose of protecting the animals. Standing nearby with another person fr ... Amp