Ashes

The dream takes place in a house. I think it’s my house as it was on Castlemill but more formal and with additional rooms. But i’m pretty sure i’ve dreamed this version of “my” house before. The kitchen is open to the dining room and the table is set for a formal dinner. I’m in the kitchen with mom when dad comes in from being outside. The ashes are coming and we have to prepare. It comes in three waves and dad thinks we should begin getting rid of the ashes at the first wave and stay ahead. It seems reasonable to me and we all get a tool (i think it’s a paint scraper) and begin removing the very thin layer of ash that’s settled on the tops of the surfaces of furniture and counters. After a little bit of this “scraping” ii think that it’s overkill. I go into the living room and close the vents. The furniture in this room is beautiful dark wood and rich colors of upholstery. The vents are ornate brass things and close with a nice clang. After i close them all, i get a square of cloth and begin dusting off the ash that’s come into the room. When i get back to the dining room i tell mom and dad that i’ve closed the vents so no ash can get in to the other part of the house and that we don’t need to scrape the ash because it comes off just like dust. I’m polishing the dust from the dining room table – it’s empty now, and the table cloth is gone so that i can see the texture and grain within the wood. The edge of the table isn’t smooth and even. It’s inlaid pieces of wood that give the edge a kind of jagged star-like appearance. It’s hard to clean and i wonder where this table came from because i don’t remember our table having a jagged edge and i’m wondering is this really the table i want to inherit or do i want the other one in the kitchen which is smooth edged and less “fancy”…

Now i’m sitting at an old fashioned wooden bar on backless bar stools. It reminds me a lot of the bar in The Rockford. There are two men to my left and one to my right. I have my back to the two on my left and i’m listening to the one on my right talking. He say’s something about ?? (some type of liquid to drink as a shot but like lighter fluid). As soon as he says it, i say in “Only if it’s in Jäger!” while the guy behind me says in unison “Only if it’s in Meister!” For a moment i wonder if i’ve said the word i meant to say but then realize Jäger and Meister mean the same thing. We’re both laughing hysterically at the meeting of minds. I lean back into the man behind me and he puts his arm around me. The heaviness of this arm feels comforting. The two guys behind me and i go outside the bar. It’s a playground. There’s a swing set and one of those metal ‘merry-go-round’ things, a teeter-totter. The man still has his arm around me and the other guy (it’s Thai Jay!) is swinging on one of the swings. He’s much too big for it and we’re laughing. Jay’s big smile makes me feel happy.

House represents self. I like my house, the furnishings are very nice. Nicer than i ever remember it being. Clearing off the ashes to see the beauty it covers and hides. Closing off access to the outside to keep ashes out. ? The meaning is not leaping out at me. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust? Or Playground…. Jay is a picture of youth and vitality. A Puck-like character. Youth. Joy. Ring around the rosy, a pocket full of posies. Ashes, ashes, we all fall down…. Remnants of a plague. Life/Death. ?