is for dry digits
Before I explain what I mean by that, let me begin by telling you about a couple things that happened yesterday. First was a major curiosity. Last summer I did a giveaway on my blog and one of the packages I sent off was to Ireland. Yesterday the package, or should I say what remained of the package, was returned to me all these months later. It apparently never made it out of the U.S. but who knows what sort of adventure it has been on. Being a mailartist such occasional oddities with the postal system aren’t unknown, but they are unusual enough to provoke curiosity. What exactly happened? I like imaging stories filled with fabulous possibilities. The parcel that never made it to its destination was filled with hands and I had affectionately been calling it my handy package.
The other thing to report was a simple everyday kind of interaction. A friend called and I was a bit delayed answering the phone because I was washing dishes at the time and had to dry my hands. And then we had a lovely little conversation, largely about tarot.
And then last night I had a dream. Take the tiny little details of my day, put them in the vitamix blender of my nocturnal brain and see what smoothie is delivered via the dream theater.
In waking life some time ago I read a book of which the story and many of the details are totally lost to me now. But in one of the scenes a group of friends in Vienna in the early 1900s meet for an afternoon of coffee, pastries and card playing. Only the card playing is really giving each other tarot readings under the guise of playing cards.
So the scene I find myself in my dream last night was this café in Vienna sitting at a table with 2 friends having pastries and drinking coffee. Only we’re reading palms instead of tarot. And speaking German. Which is a bit awkward because my actual grasp of the language, despite my lineage and years of high school study, is quite rudimentary. The only thing I can actually understand in our conversation is the word drei (pronounced like the English word dry) which means the number three. But even though I actually understand the word in German, I’m somehow confused because I think my friend is telling me to dry my hands and I don’t know what she means because my hands aren’t wet. I’m trying to explain that I have peacock eye markings on several of my fingertips (true), but I can’t think of how to describe peacock in German, and my pantomiming a fancy peacock tail is cause for hilarity but not actual understanding. The whole dream was like that – a comedy of errors and confusion, waving hands, pointing fingers bejeweled with fabulous rings, laughter, and most of all the word three expressed as drei.
I woke up inordinately happy from that dream. Laughter that carries over from inside a dream is always such a delightful gift isn’t it?
And so today while I’m writing and thinking about digits, both as numbers and fingers, I thought I’d give you a peek at some of my hands. Because they are indeed one of my favorite things to collect.
This is a handy little gathering on one of my bookshelves. Bonus points because it looks like they’re all pointing towards some poetry books.
A few more hands and books. The set of hands are salt and pepper shake and that makes me smile as well.
Fabulous little Italian deck.
And one of my fave handy journal pages in a collaborative journal I did with a friend.
Now I’m handing it off to you. Have an amusing dream to share? A poem about palmistry? Some handiwork to brag about? Do tell – you know I love to hear. And I’m likely to give you a high five as well.
You are a hand collector! I have a hand necklace a Belgian friend gave me. It has a legend but basically means throwing someone a hand. And I have an artist friend who photographs hands and once took photos of my husband and mine entwined. So I’m totally fascinated with your collection.
Oh Drei Yay! Your peacock charade telling makes me laugh and want to have a dream sharing fest. I can tell you a reoccurring dream I’ve had: I’m on an passenger airliner with a lot of other people, only we never get off the ground, we just race from Florida to California along the ground. Everyone is complaining that the windows need to be larger to see the scenery but we’re going so fast it’s a blur. My feeling (and a wise woman once said that the meaning behind a dream is the feeling) was anticipation, the sort where I’m waiting for something to happen (like taking off) and it never does. I haven’t had it in a long while. Just wait, it’ll come tonight now that I’ve remembered!
Oh Susan your storied necklace sounds fabulous – and how wonderful to have a friend who photographs hands. I love that!
And what a fabulous dream – I may well be disappointed the next time I get on an airplane and I we don’t travel on the ground. 🙂
Sounds like you had a delightful time in that dream. How fun 🙂 I normally love the mystery of a dream. Wondering what the actual meaning really is. We can speculate forever sometimes wondering right into what feels correct. And yet, there will always be that lingering thought about whether or not you’re on the right track. It then goes back to feeling your way through instead of thinking. I love it actually. 🙂 Your hands are positively lovely.
I’m with you Kelli on the total delights of dream investigation. Dreams feel like such a fabulous double gift to me – the dream experience itself and then the pondering of it afterwards.
Oh, that poor package, no doubt trying valiantly to reach its destination, only to be thwarted by the postal system. Wouldn’t it be great if the hands could talk and tell you about their journey?
I have several recurring dreams, two of which involve hotels, for whatever reason. When I’m stressed about having too much on my plate, I dream that I’m in a hotel room at checkout time, and there is stuff piled everywhere, and the more I pack in my suitcase, the more seems to appear out of nowhere and I can’t get ahead. And when I’m stressed about money I dream that I find a hotel key card and realize that I left a hotel room some time ago but forgot to check out, so I now owe the hotel thousands of dollars. I also dream about elevators a lot. I should look into it and see if that means something.
I absolutely WOULD love to hear from packages about their journeys. Once it occurred to me that having a load of packages on a delivery truck might be like a parcel cocktail party. I wonder if packages have conversations with their neighbors, or if there is a particular type of package that is standoffish and one that is chatty; whether they all say goodbye in unison when one package is taken off for delivery. Inquiring minds what to know! 🙂
What interesting recurring dreams Sarah, and perfect that you can tie them to how you’re feeling at the time. I have a favorite recurring dream where I’m walking and suddenly remember I’m very near a fabulous resale shop that I can never quite remember until I’m almost there. And then each time I arrive there are the most fabulous treasures to poke through. I’m always a bit disappointed and disoriented when I wake up and realize the store isn’t actually in this reality.