strange sleep.

Wallet lost in a mall. Twice.

Some sort of expedition: the others who came along shifted, as situations in dreams are wont to do. An icy canoe-paddling approach to a grand shopping mall whose edges were lapped with icy water- some sort of Native American Experience tour tied into the Modern American Consumer Experience- aghast! The landing was an approximation of huts and shelters meant to emulate what life might have been like for up-north Winter Natives, but for us the ice was all synthetic, and we were not frozen and soaked through, as we would have been had we gone canoe-fishing and foraging back in the day we were meant to be imagining.

Beth and Chris were there in this part of the dream, as well as Kelley and perhaps a few other Baltimorons (as she says). We entered the mall at length, found ourselves amid the roiling chaos of a large cafeteria, planning next steps, or perhaps simply planning who wanted to split up and where to meet later on. A point found only Kelley and I remaining in our seats, and we both walked away-- to realize a few minutes later that we'd forgotten our bags. Rushing back to the scene, we found our things all still there, but strewn by thieves who'd only bothered with taking the cash and cards from our wallets, and our keys (for some reason). Relived to a point that the remainders of our belongings remained, we continued on.

Later I found I'd lost track of Kelley, too-- was wandering distractedly throughout the place, unable to get my bearings, or any sense of how the layout of the place worked. Lost. And later, having suddenly caught up with Bath and Chris at what I suspected was quite the other end of the place, I told them what had happened, and I think I then lost track of them again somehow.

Then a moment that felt like waking in the middle of wakefulness- to realize I had lost my possessions, again! No coat, no bag, no wallet- all hand-held items had gone, and me with no memory of how this second lapse had occurred. Quiet breathless panic, as I commenced to run throughout the massive mall, trying to retrace steps, looking everywhere in vain.

There was more to the story, and eventually (after a cousin of mine magically appeared and magnanimously hijacked the PA system to make an announcement of reward for the wallet), I did get at least my wallet back, for which I was grateful. But still at such a loss! My sketchbook, my coat, my bag- where was the rest of it all? I didn't want to appear ungrateful, but wished that the cousin had listened more carefully before making his announcement; had included other items in the list. After all, now the wallet was empty of cards and cash, little remained in it save useless things like a Key Food card and some receipts...

There was much more, but little in memory remains.

dream:

In which my family were living back in the house at San Doris Circle, which was much changed.

My mother had a militant and energetic little black dog of a breed called a Fire Terrier, as well as two huskies-- the inimitable Bo (free of leg problems in the dream) and an elderly Chinook. Add to this small menagerie the following:
A rooster, who lived in the house in a wire cage that sat on whatever surface was near to the people (a social bird, with a large black beak that was most un-chicken-like). This handsome fowl was ostensibly quite friendly, but threatened to bite me whenever i got close.
Another bird- perhaps a a parrot or macaw of some sort, whose personality I didn't get a chance to fathom.
I can't recall what else, but I know there were others...

Jon was there, as well as Flip. I believe Jon lived there, but Flip and his family just spent a lot of time there. I was merely visiting, and to the majority of animals, an interloper.

There were a number of staircases in the house, all of which were curving, steep and incredibly difficult to navigate. The main stair led up to the bedrooms, and appeared to have two sections which looked at odds with one another; poorly designed for use, although it made an interesting visual. The portion that gave an impression of having been added on hurriedly bent away toward the master bedroom. There was also a servants' stair, which went from the semi-below ground garage up into the kitchen, and was quite curving after the fashion of a spiral staircase, but larger, and I never recalled that being in the house before. (Indeed, the garage had never been remotely sunken before!) Next to this garage-room was a sort of alleyway, also with stairs, and to the right was a door through which to get to the garage, and on the left another door- looking into a kitchen. (At first I took this to be some second kitchen- perhaps lately of use for the servants of the spiral stair-- but then I saw some strangers in it and realized it belonged to the house next door.).

I'd been following my mother up this stair-alley and we came out upon a vast backyard, where a party seemed about to begin; people here and there and it was a lovely sunny day. She told me to walk around and see the front yard-- see what they'd done to it. I was just in awe the whole time because most of it was very different and much larger than I'd remembered it (and completely different, of course, to what the house was like in reality)-- the decor was of such and eclectic style-- combinations of brightly colored modern exaggerations of victorian pieces and patterns mingled with kitschy fifties elements and some really wonderful chintz. Unbelievable, but somehow very homey and comfortable too. There were strange toys on the floor- like blocks that were also little army tanks, and they made a sound like industry or monsters.