Dreamlands

I write this now before I forget it, because it contained grand scenes of a kind I haven't seen before.
Recently my dream life has been much based around a specific house and garden, which I feel is my psyche restoring or renewing itself after all that has happened. This was a different vista and it reminded me of much earlier dream countries I thought I had lost.

At some early point, I was sharing a room with my mother and a whole legion of butterflies entered the room. I couldn't work out whether they were trying to swarm, and suddenly realised there were budgies and parakeets among them. It was a bright, beautiful sight.

Then with a group of us,friends, making a combination of funny clips about some subject I can't recall. Someone I knew was meant to do the sound, but her equipment was dodgy and she ruined it, just as she had ruined a few earlier pieces. It wasn't important. Another friend and I decided to go for a night out, but we kept losing each other up to the point where I was completely lost and also seemed to have acquired a mutt.

He was a young male (though neutered) dog, a bit like a staffy, and he reminded me a bit of poor Tyler though with less German Shepherd evident. I don't recall what his name was. I had him on a leash and we found ourselves wandering along garden walls towards beautiful green hilly country that reminded me a little of Oxfordshire, the Vale of Pewsey and the Uffington White Horse, in fact I kept expecting to see the Horse but we never did. The dog kept leaping off walls, and I had to haul him back. At one point we passed a house full of boxer dogs, owned by a dark haired woman.

When finally we had to find a hotel, I found myself in a generous though rather odd place, with a mother, her shrewish female relation, and children/relatives. They offered me the shrew's bed, and she was very rude about it too. I tried to rest, but needed the en-suite, and while I was there, my dog sat in front of me and looked me in the eyes, only he had changed. His coat was thick and long,between fawn and white, like that of a shetland collie, though his face was very snub nosed. One odd thing were his eyes, which were milky blue/white/yellow with small pupils. Now that I think about it, he could have been an amalgamation of Smokey and other dogs, maybe even Treaver, though the eyes were nothing like any dog I have ever met. Leaving the loo, a black greyhound like dog sprang out and played on the carpet.

I went to find the staff, but the only one I could find was the shrew, who told me that if I wasn't going to use the bed, I could at least make it for her. I did so, only to find blood on the sheet. My first thought was that it was a period stain, but it was right up near the pillow end. It was very red. As I pulled the sheet up to fold over the ends, I noticed that the blood stain had splattered down over the rest of the sheet, which was blue. It was dry but still very noticeable. The shrew was watching me.

I made the bed and apologised for being brusque before - I had just been tired and a bit lost, I explained. She relented and took me out to the front of the house, informing me that we were 'near the peak district,' but perhaps she meant the Lakes. Out the front was the most extraordinary scene. There were huge lakes or estuaries, and on them were great tall sailing ships, roiling in squall. It was night and the light was extraordinary, the scene very real and grand. But where,near the peak district, could this be? And how could I have ended up here?

This dream is reminiscent of those I used to have, vivid scenery, some kind of plot... vibrant. I can still see the hills I thought were Oxfordshire, and the strange harbours of the north, even as I write.

Edited to add: Having written it down, I went back to sleep only to dream that a friend interpreted this for me! She said it was something to do with water spirits that lived in the air ('Gales' she called them) and presented me with the 2 of cups from the tarot and a fish lifted live from the water - and presumably returned to the same.