Dreams and Decks

I awoke this morning from a strange dream.  It was neither a good dream nor a nightmare, but just a strange dream.  I was at my Uncle Robin's house. Though the details of the house were nothing like his house, still, my dream says I was at his house.  There was a feeling that I was supposed to be on my way to South Carolina to visit my estranged husband, John.  My son and daughter were also at my uncle's house and they both told me they were not going to make the trip to South Carolina.  I really didn't want to make the trip either.  It would be an 8 hour drive and I was tired.  But I felt guilty about promising to go, and then not going, so I resigned myself to making the journey.

Just as I was preparing to leave, Uncle Robin asked me how long it would be before Stephen (my son) moved his car he'd left behind on a previous visit.  I had no idea, but clearly he wanted the car out of his driveway, so I told Steve I'd drive his car to a nearby convenience store, and he and his wife could then bring me back in their other car so I could get in MY car to drive to South Carolina....(confusing and particularly nonsensical).

So I got into Stephen's car, one I had never before driven, and I started to drive.  I inadvertently touched some control and this video projector opened on the dashboard.  A cartoon-type show was then projected onto the windshield, and the effect was to make the entire windshield opaque...a movie screen.  I complained to Stephen, when I parked the car at the convenience store, that the movie on the windshield made it kind of hard to drive.  He explained to me that this was a wonderful invention, that the cartoon was always different and was actually a computer generated film made by the car's "eye" translating what was actually on the road into an entertaining cartoon.  I didn't want to seem ungrateful for the opportunity to drive this car with such a fabulous invention, but, as I told Steve, it made me nervous to drive down a street and not be able to see anything in front of me.....

Once back at my uncle's house, I got into my own, clearly outdated car and drove to South Carolina.  The dream then made a leap and I was in my in-laws' living room, sitting next to my estranged husband, John, whose appearance told me he was about 90 years old.  His hair was LONG and snow white and I was braiding it in thin little braids.  To our left I saw his parents sitting on the couch, and they were the age I last saw them, in their late 70's....but their son was easily 20 years older.  I heard John's mother tell his father, in a tone hushed, intended as a whisper, but clearly audible, "I think there's a chance Judy will take him back...see, she's doing his hair...."

And that was it... no conclusion.... no cliffhanger... just visions of this ancient old man with long white hair with a few skinny braids, and the cartoon life windshield... strange dream and the images have stuck with me all day.

In REAL life, we had another busy day.  It was a glorious day with blue sky, low humidity and comfortable temperatures.  We drove to Windsor, VA, about an hour and a half drive from here.

James River Bridge

We picked up some old stairs and deck from a lady who was replacing them with something larger.  Joe talked her out of two rain barrels, extra lids, two BIG tents, two 5 gallon water jugs, a hand truck and a six foot folding table, all of which were loaded into the van (of course).

Judy assessing deck and stairs....

Joe Modifying Deck...

Railings Removed

Rain Barrels..OK, so they USED to be filled with OLIVES!

The ladies selling the goods were very nice, as was their neighbor, who helped Joe load the deck and stairs into the van.  We spent nearly two hours there, enjoying the conversation with these folks.  We certainly have a lot of fun with our Craigslist escapades! 

Helping Hands

Another Load in the Trusty Van

Back at the old farmhouse, Joe quickly put the deck and stairs to use.  We can now easily get in and out of the 48 foot long semi trailer that is soon to be our storage trailer. At the end of the day, we shared some leftover pizza and declared it to be yet another wonderful adventure.

Success!

Tomorrow, after church, we will attend a get-together at my choir director's house -- a cookout and jam session... I'm very much looking forward to that.  We haven't taken enough time to play music this summer, so this will be fun.  And then it will be back to work for the week....man, the weekends go by TOO fast!