Thoughts from Alison that might at least entertain you!

Dreaming Weird

(I still have NO idea how to control this post, but at least I can use a different font?)

I'm only trying to pass on a peculiar dream from last night...

I dreamed that Epcot Center was a spaceship - you know the big sphere/ball thing at Epcot?  It's actually one attraction there, but in my dream it was all of Epcot, and it was a spaceship.  And it crashed, at our work offices.  Well, not all of it - just part of it, because apparently even though it's one spaceship it comes apart into many smaller spaceships too.

In the dream, I noticed that Epcot Center seemed to be circling slowly above our office.  It was also alarmingly low in the sky for a spaceship.  Just as I said to Karen (a coworker) "doesn't it seem like it's too close to us for a spaceship?" - it crashed.  It crashed outside our office, but then it was actually inside our office, which was suddenly a gigantic warehouse.  There were two guys in the spaceship - sitting at desks, but with everything crashed down around them.  They appeared to be dead (just slumped over their desks, with destruction around them) so we called 911.  As we were explaining to 911 that Epcot Center had crashed in our office, the two guys woke up - they were only sleeping, and they were fine.  Karen said "Oh, never mind - they're not dead."

AND, the two guys were identical twins.  (Also almost identical to someone I used to know.)

And then I woke up.

Any dream analyzers out there among my readers?  What do you think?

Heifer Project in Africa!

Hello all you Weekend Enjoyers:

This is just a silly (out-of-context, anyway) picture that my friend Erin took for me on her recent trip to Africa!  She snapped this photo of the Heifer Project International Headquarters in Kampala, Uganda.  Erin knows well that my pipe dream for employment lies with Heifer International.  Awesome!

(Side-note:  Erin's husband, Jerry, is working on his PhD at the UofMich.  His research is on chimpanzees, specifically their ankle joints if I'm remembering correctly.  That doesn't tell you much, but he spends quite a bit of time in Africa researching.  This was Erin's first trip.  I may post a link to Jerry's great blog here, after I check with them to see if it's ok to share!)

Happy Weekend To All - Be Well Out There!

Night Wanderings of a Fuzzy Brain

Hello on this sticky hazy evening, Friends!

Last night was a dream-filled night of not enough sleep for me.  I can't remember much in full detail, but I should tell you first that I am reading the first Harry Potter book (birthday gift from John!), saw part of the Prisoner of Azkaban (also Harry Potter) on TV yesterday, have been thinking a lot about the still-unbelievable bridge event in Minneapolis, and watched some of the Tigers game yesterday.

So...  That said, the bulk of my dreaming last night was a cross between Harry Potter characters/stories, all of my friends from St. Paul/Minneapolis/MN, lots of flying, and a visit (again) from Sean Casey, the Tigers first baseman who likes to show up in dreams while I'm making bran muffins.  The only things missing from last night's dreams were the muffins.  (And nudity, I guess - if you consider that a dream standard)

We went to see the Bourne Ultimatum today, and I've still got all the above pieces in my head.  I wonder what tonight will bring?

Peace, Friends.  Have happy flying magic sporty dreams, if you like that kind of thing!

Dreaming Big

I have two "Dream Jobs", or Pipedream Jobs maybe?  I like to pretend every now and then that I might have one of them someday. 

The first one is maybe the farthest-fetched, and probably something I wouldn't actually pursue in reality.  There's this part of me that would love to be a Smoke Jumper.  Yep, you read it right.  A Smoke Jumper - the elite fire fighting teams who parachute in on the far side (or the inaccesible side) of a wildfire and fight it from the ground.  If you wonder why on earth I would be intrigued by that, read Young Men and Fire sometime.  It's by Norman Maclean, who also wrote A River Runs Through It, and it's one of my favorite books ever.  So that's the real sort of "pipedream."

My other dream is to work for Heifer International.   

If you aren't familiar with Heifer, check out their website sometime.  This is an incredible organization that has been doing amazing work throughout the world for 60 years.  Their mission is about fighting and ending hunger, but their method is the amazing piece.  They are educators in the truest sense, and their work is all geared at teaching agricultural skills and sustainable practices.  Their "passing on the gift" policy is what sets them apart, in my opinion.  Please read about them when you have a chance.  And maybe someday I'll get to work with them, although that would probably mean we would have to move to Arkansas!  www.heifer.org

I have a smaller scale dream related to Heifer, but still one I haven't been able to pull off yet.  Heifer has two working farms in the United States, which they call Learning Centers.  There are study and work programs at both sites throughout the year.  One of their offerings is a Women's Lambing Program at Overlook Farm in Massachusetts.   http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.201575/   This is my reasonably attainable dream:  To go to a lambing program there!  It happens every spring for a few different sets of dates.  There is a combination of education about Heifer's programs and working/helping with the annual birthing of the lambs!  Someday, I will go.

If you like to dream big, consider making a donation to Heifer, or to Food Gatherers www.foodgatherers.org where my husband works!  I've found that both make wonderful gifts - unique, always appreciated, and never just "more stuff" to give people who already have plenty.

Peace and Good Things to you all, Friends!