Dream: The Soap in My New Orange House

Dream 20050323, 3:40 AM:
I don’t remember the backstory, just the final vivid scene. I’ve bought a new house, like just-finished new, that is blocks from my parents’ house. I am taking possession, and Dad cautions me to make sure that the transactions have all been properly completed. Gretchen also has a new house nearby. I decide to go to my house and sleep, and I ask Mom how far a walk it is to my place. I don’t remember walking, but I get there.

My brother R. is staying with me, I don’t know why. We settle down to sleep, both sleeping on a mattress on the floor. It seems like it’s the way the bedroom was designed. The bedroom is fully furnished, and at the head of the bed, angled down toward either side, are sets of drapes that open to the side; the drapes don’t surround the bed, but do separate the bed area from the rest of the bedroom and master bath. [real world note: the bed that Chris and I sleep in has full drapes.] I am trying to turn on a lamp that I can reach from my bedside, and it’s not turning on. It’s one of the two-part glass lamps that my Grandmother paints, with roses on a blue background. I try the switch at the base, and feel my way around. [I wish that I had recognized that I’m not able to change the light levels – this sometimes clues me in to the fact that I’m dreaming.]

I finally stand up, get out of bed (or off the floor mattress) and turn the light on. It doesn’t brighten the room much, but it wakes my brother. He rolls himself into the blue covers of the bed, and rolls off one side of the mattress. He is tracking some kind of dirt or mulch as he rolls sideways, as if he had gotten into bed with his shoes on. [Chris and I have been working on the garden, and much dirt and mulch has been tracked in the past week or so.] I look out the window, where I can see house after house in a row, and I can see their televisions. I wonder if they can see me, as I am naked, but it doesn’t seem like a major issue. It seems like we’re sleeping in the front room, in a bay that juts out of the front of the house, with windows on three angles. There are small horizontal blinds instead of drapes.

My brother is annoyed, and complains that I should try to sleep instead of turning the lights on. I go into the bathroom, which is just an area attached to the bedroom (no door) and start washing my hands and face in the sink. The sink is *huge* – I remark to myself that it’s almost like a small bathtub compared to what I’ve been used to. The entire bathroom (and most of the bedroom, now that I notice it) is upholstered in shades of very bright yellow and orange. I step up into the sink, which is big enough for me to just sit in – larger than a sink should be, but not as big as a real tub. I look at how the walls flank it at an angle on either side, and notice that the area that has the toilet backs up against it, and I can see the yellowish upholstery that is above the toilet. I am washing with a bar of soap that was there with the house, and it is colored along with the room; it is shaped like a bar of Dove, and divided halfway across, the top half swirled with yellow and cream, the other half swirled with orange and cream. It smells very flowery, like orange blossom, [note: I bought Chris a lemon tree, which is in flower, and I smell it every time I go through the front door] but I like it, and enjoy the scent of the soap as I wash my face and play with the lather. I remark to myself that I could make it, although it’s not a scent that I would normally use myself because it’s such a strong floral. I look at the swirls and think about how to pour it in layers. I finally get out of the sink, and walk around the room; I realize that I’m dripping water onto the new upholstery and carpet, but I figure that it ought to be OK since it doesn’t seem to be making water spots. There are weird yellow and orange upholstered cushions up against some of the walls; they remind me of the old camper that we had when we were kids. My brother tells me that I should go to sleep, but I’m still feeling agitated and restless.

4 replies
  1. loveisagypsy
    loveisagypsy says:

    That was wicked cool!! Dreams in vivid colors always make me tired for some unknown reason. I think it is fantastic that you can remember yours so well. I feel like such a voyeur 🙂

  2. admin
    admin says:

    The thing that amazed me most about this dream, was the vivid scent. I often get just a tantalizing whiff of stuff in my dreams; it was neat to be able to distinctly smell the soap. Even if it was a little perfumey.

  3. admin
    admin says:

    The “go to sleep” aspect – I often get false awakenings, where my dreaming self half-realizes that it’s the middle of the night, and I should be sleeping. I often have dreams where I wake up in my bedroom, or in a bedroom somewhere, and either can’t get out of bed, or need to go back to sleep, or something like that. I think that the colors and the scent have to do with the lemon tree that I bought for Chris (which smells very sweet and perfumey) and a bunch of *very* yellow and orange marigolds that we have in pots waiting to be planted.

    My partner Chris gets transposed with various members of my family, in my dreams. Sometimes I’ll be out with somebody, and it will seem like my Mom one minute, then Chris the next. I guess my subconscious just blends them together in context – it’s a friendly “family” person in a particular role.

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