Adventures in dreamland and in reality

Some adventures:

Exercising: The other day Maddie and I inadvertently went for a run when we ran into our runner friend Ellen and a friend of hers who had hiked the whole Appalachian Trail. We joined up with them while they finished their walk, but I didn't want to hold them up (as some people know I've gotten kinda slow) so for every one step they took, I jogged a few to keep up...sort of how I walk with Ben.

We ended up at Ellen and Mike's house, where luckily I got a glass of water and a ride back.

Looking out Ozawa Hall

Music: I went with Ken Ross to the opening of the Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood. I couldn't make much sense of it but after reading Ken's review I understood it better. He was kind enough to put up with me whispering, "Are we going to get some melody next?" He smiled and shook his head no. Despite the mosquitos, it was fun to go and sit in the beautiful Ozawa Hall and look inside and out. Always great to do things with friends from the newspaper biz because you never run out of things to talk about.

Inside Ozawa Hall

Speaking of the newspaper business: I walked into Thornes Marketplace in Northampton the other day and bumped into an old friend from the Transcript-Telegram, Diana Carter, who had bumped into another friend from the T-T, Barry Werth, and his wife, Kathy Goos. I walked over and said, "Is this a T-T reunion?" Barry said that at any minute, Greg Pearson might walk in.

We fell right into an easy conversation as though no time had passed. By the way, when I say "old" in these instances, I mean old as in length of friendship and not as in years!

Dreamland meets reality: I dreamt that I was walking down a street and saw Patty Rosenfield, a friend from Atlantic Beach, and gave her a big hug. Then we saw her brother Tommy walking down the street and called him over for a group hug. The next day I learned that their father had died.

Recurring dream: I dreamt that my mother told me she was going on a long trip to faraway countries and wouldn't be able to call me. I told her I was really upset and actually angry because I needed to hear from her. She said I had grown too attached to her, like she had done with her own mother, and she wanted to help me get some distance. I said it was too late for that and woke up feeling sad.

Feeling pathetic, taking action: Yesterday I had that bereft feeling of wondering where everyone went. Parents departed from the earth, children departed from the area. I called Carolyn and said hello from a person who was feeling lonely and wondering if anything was going on. She said come on down for hotdogs. So I picked up some corn and tomatoes, put Maddie in the car and went on down to Springfield for a cookout with good friends and good conversation for me and two dogs for Maddie: the famous Theo and an adorable golden doodle puppy who Carolyn and Chip are babysitting.

Maddie enjoyed playing tug-of-war with the puppy and even let him climb all over her. They put him in the crate and she went over to see where her little friend had gone. I enjoyed talking to like-minded friends and went back home no longer feeling sad.