Lucid Dreams, Treebeard and The Changing Leaves

Today was one of those strange days where reality and dream mix in a way that makes you wonder about the nature of time.

It all started with me waking at 3.30am… some may say ‘the witching’ hour lol or thereabouts, unable to get back to sleep I tried all my tricks. I spent thirty minutes on my phone checking emails, messing around on hive (perhaps not the best although I do have my phone set to blue light filter) and Google surfing until I felt tired again. Then I tried reading a few chapters of my book before falling into a fitful slumber of extremely vivid and lucid dreams.

At one point I was flying down a road staring at the brickwork and street art flitting past me, and the visuals were so vivid that it was just like real life. I would then wake up and see my bedroom wall, wondering if this was the final straw that would break the camel’s back of my always rather tenuous sanity 😂

Eventually I fell into a deeper sleep, still peppered with vivid dreams.

I was wandering through autumn woodland as the leaves changed from emerald green, to burnt umber and earthen browns, eventually flaring to crimson all in a matter of minutes. It was kind of like watching a time-lapse except the air was still and the trees didn’t move.

After standing for some time, I lifted off into cobalt sky scattered with ashen mousy clouds. The crowns of trees now swayed below me in a cascade of colour; a tapestry of leaves undulating through golden, ochre and tawny copper, to mahogany mingled with viridescent chartreuse.

This scene unravelled beneath me like a conveyor belt of patterned pigmentation as I soared on earthen scented updrafts. All the while there seemed to be a low hum emanating from the trees mingled with the muted call of waking birds in the first blush of dawn.

After what seemed hours of drifting above this waking world I suddenly crashed down headfirst into the ground burying myself up to my knees in a bank of mud. I remember having the distinct impression that leaves were starting to sprout from my toes… at which point I woke up to the morning light and my alarm telling me it was 8.15am and time to wake up for a planned morning walk.

I have not had a flying dream this vivid in over a decade, and it was a truly magical gift after those hours of sleeplessness.

Despite the dream’s otherworldly and lucid nature, the more I think about it, the subconscious inspiration becomes apparent.

The night before I had made a plan with my girlfriend to visit a local park early in the morning before the weather turned rainy to check out the changing shades of the autumn leaves.

This walk did not disappoint, and in many ways it mirrored my dream… apart from the flying, or spontaneous human planting 🌿

The trees changing foliage were truly magnificent, resplendent in that brief window of time where different species of tree are showing their most vibrant colours prior to shedding their leaves for winter.

The Japanese garden was particularly impressive with the Acer trees weeping blood red leaves from their canopy to carpet the ground. Contrasting with evergreen trees, pines and ferns this garden is truly a piece of living art, especially at this time of year.

I even tried my best at a bit of macro photography (a bit of a tall order with a Galaxy S7) of the dew drops on the stems of this Acer bush 🔽

Adding to the feeling of the life of trees - and somewhat strangely given the humming trees in my dream - I discovered a tree with a face as I wandered the Japanese garden.

Maybe a relative of Treebeard from Lord of the Rings 🌲⬆️

The local wildlife in the Victorian walled garden were particularly accommodating this morning, with curious squirrels and pigeons striking a pose.

I think they were slightly irate that we didn’t pay the photography fee of a handful of nuts or seeds, but someone had already beaten us to it.

Thanks for reading 😉 🌿

All of the pictures used in this post are my own, taken today using my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

I would like to give a big shout-out to @stickupcurator (and @stickupboys) for their amazing contribution to supporting music, art, imaginative writing, and all things creative on hive. If you haven't already, you should go check out their account for music, crypto podcasts and much much more 🙂👍

If you would like to read some of my fiction published on hive, I have published 83 short stories on the blockchain catalogued in my Hive Book Store.

If you have enjoyed this post you can check out my other work on my homepage @raj808.

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