Good Luck, Best Wishes For You

On behalf of all the good little dreaming girls and boys on the other side of the mountain, as they wait for toy train to bring "an assortment of numerous and species assorts with the popular vogue syncronous...", read the rest in the picture above. Good luck and happiness to everyone from the dreaming people of dreamland.

Lotus Flower

After tossing and turning a while, I rose from the bed and started looking at pictures from an autumn visit to Les Jardins Botanique in Montreal. The lotuses were past their prime, but still packed a wallop of psychedelic beauty. No wonder the lotus ranks up there with the rose, as a powerful symbol. The lotus grows in swampy soil. The idea of something so beautiful coming out of the mud suggests how a someone could be floundering about in confusion, but then, with a little patience, effort, discipline and intelligence, flower into a wise and decent person.  During difficult moments, after wandering waist high into the weeds, or stumbling into brambles, I scramble back on the Mornovian Path. I will soon close my eyes and visualize these flowers and hopefully, fall asleep, to join the billions of people dreaming right now.

Sight for Sore Eyes

I made an appointment for an eye exam next week, to find out why the eyes are so sore. Meanwhile, I close the eyes and visualize a flower. Imagine the moment of dying. What would be the last thing a person sees or thinks as the body becomes a corpse? Before falling asleep, I find it relaxing to fill the mind's eye with pleasant colors and forms.

vegetable

An aerial view of a cage patch happened as I bent forward to rub my right eye. I suffer chronic pain in the right eye. Even pain killers won't stop the pain. So what can you do about it? Live with it. Don't complain. Rub the eye until cabbages explode under the eyelid.

golden countryside

Sometimes, when waking up Monday morning to the prospect of another week, it helps to visualize something pleasant. I thought of this landscape, of Prince Edward Island, where one doesn't hear noisy neighbors, or breathe vehicle exhaust. The landscape is not cluttered with signs. In the morning, one could wake up to the beauty of nature. Of course, one could find nature in the city. That requires a bit of creativity.

chocoate Easter bunnies on parade

Protection of the Easter Bunny, milk chocolate in gold-colored foil, unwrap the bunny, break off a piece and hold in in the hand. Close the hand over the chocolate and let it melt. Open the hand. Observe the dark-brown, sweet substance in the palm of the hand. Lick it off. Chocolate coats mouth and teeth. Milk bunny softens and collapses in the mouth.

Existentialist Dummy

A manikin or dummy having an existentialist or Lohbado moment, bearing the full burden of freedom as he stands in an old barn and gazes out at potato fields stretching to the horizon, notice the contrast of light and dark, to emphasize the tension of inner and outer. Maybe he should move to Prince Edward Island, home of Ann of Green Gables and relax by the ocean.

SMILE

I never gave much thought to smiling, until Thich Nhat Hanh described how one could draw in peaceful vibes and breathe out peace with a smile. It's been years since I read Miracle of Mindfulness, so I forget the details. The general idea is how a smile and awareness of breathing could flip a person into a state of mindfulness and relax body and soul. The other discussion of smiling occurred in 1975, the summer I worked in northern Manitoba on a track repair crew. I took a photo of a Saulteaux man and he didn't smile. He said it's foolish to smile into the camera, but didn't elaborate. The way he said it made the meaning clear.

Compost Zombies in Love

Halloween, time to dig out those zombie pictures. Fruits and vegetables don't last very long. They have to be eaten before they get over-ripe and then begin to rot. I thought about this while lying in bed last night and felt bloated, a sense of putrefaction going on in my belly, not to mention bad breath and a film of sweat.

meaning

May your wine-filled sardine cans overflow with Cheerios. I found some bottles of home made wine in a closet after moving into this apartment. Apparently, the wine is about ten years old. There was also half a box of cereal in the cupboard. It made the perfect photo op. For a comment on meaning, read below.

we got divorced

  Well, it happens to a lot of people. Don't feel bad. Change is part of existence. Maybe they could remain friends.

Grandmother and Stonehenge

Reverend Stonehenge Stumps waited until Peter Stumps reached the age of sixteen before introducing him to the Mysteries of Isabella and the secrets of lonely, northern highway through muskeg, beaver, heavy stands of spruce, fir, pine and birch, moose and bear country.

Really Good Deal

As a companion piece to the Bread Os posted on Club Morono, Dreaming Man decided to offer painted bread circles for as low as 79 cents, or the fresher ones at 99 cents. Hurry, while supplies still last. Take advantage of this time limited Dreaming Man Eye-Popper Deal.

Balopian Tubes

The image and text are a preview of a graphic novel in progress entitled The Wheel of Lohbado. 

Sometimes I would feel the hunger coming on, a force building inside, forcing me to act. Sometimes it's not good to be a man of action. Friends told me to slow down. Look before you leap. Take time to reflect.

going to bed situation

Are you one of those people who dread going to bed, how the body doesn't want to let go and sink into sleep and deep relaxation? The above image shows Oogah appearing in a graveyard in front of a hill, a modern day Golgotha, place of the skull. Oogah also had trouble sleeping at night and waking up in the morning.

Finger Forward into the Future

Press the right button. To press the right button could of course be the wrong thing to do when relating to a spouse, boss, colleague or some friend or stranger. To press a person’s buttons could lead to anger, or conflict.

The Slough of Despond

Coffee, most people know the taste of coffee. I'd describe black, sugarless coffee as woody, acrid and slightly pungent, like the way the tongue curls from smell of a bog. The slough of despond, resulting from loneliness, weighed me down this morning. It's a familiar demon.

Male/Female Communion

I drew a character, gray-haired, perhaps androgynous, neither male nor female. He exists in a state of male/female communion, free from desire and at peace with his nature. Desire de-stabilizes a person.

Makefearsome's Ocean

"Another grand discobely!" (Finnegans Wake p. 294.) Back, from the real ocean of salt water to the horizon, sand and red cliffs, to the unreal ocean of samsara, or dog eat dog, catty world of the daily grind after vacation ends, don't be afraid as you plunge into the fearsome ocean.

Motel Highway

A stretch of highway between the New Brunswick Border and Riviere de Loup featured many motels with vintage signs. I snapped pictures as the car cruised down the road. We drove from PEI to Montreal in one day, two drivers.

prayer wall

The elements of perfect prayer appeared against a red brick wall as the Via Rail train raced out of central station, Montreal, destination Toronto, Oakville and so on. At cruising speed, shapes and lines appeared, often in high contrast out the window, like frames in an old film projector.

Broccoli in Plastic

Walk from fresh morning breeze after pounding the pavement, open the apartment door, surrender to a gust of musty damp warm air, cough a few times and then locate the source of the smell: a forgotten plastic bag of broccoli.

not a vegetarian

Today I went the whole hog and performed a culinary experiment in non-vegetarian cuisine, after twenty-five years of ... ______ (fill in the blank). Not only did I walk to the supermarket in the strip mall and purchase two pieces of pork for two dollars, I took it home and ate it. I've eaten raw seal liver, raw caribou heart, beluga whale, fish in various states of death and decay, but to bite into the lowly pink pig was something I hadn't done in years.

Creative Process

Here's a panel from a comic book in process, I won't give away details, except to say that I'm rushing to get it done soon. It's the first comic book I've done for print, so it won't be technically perfect. But, that's part of the process, learning curves every step of the way.

Apocalyptic Heat

Apocalyptic Heat, a struggle between what people do to nature and what nature does back to people. Dump oil in the water, forcing hot damp air north, creating extreme heat and monsoon rain where such weather never happened before. Cities pounded by rain, dangerous, record-breaking temperatures, high winds, I remember the days when people denied global warming and argued that such a term was coined by a handful of fanatical ex-hippies to describe how nature sometimes goes through unusual weather cycles. Now global warming is a household word.

Hot Heat

 

Remember, it's not always the pretty picture that counts. Not even the lowly selling/buying pawn shop, gold-silver, beanie babies in any form escapes the control God spreads over the zone. The thing about the present heat wave, as I was saying to Joe over lunch, this heat is a hot heat, the direct opposite of moist or dry cold. Only a saddu would wander bare chested, no sunscreen, head exposed to the sun in an Oceanside Job Lot parking lot, or down the streets of a ville run by the mart.

In the Hot Seat

I stumbled upon this scene of a burning truck seat several years ago at a dump in the Canadian Arctic, outside a small village, far north of tree line. I stopped to watch the orange ball of fire and black smoke and took a few photos.

Let It Speak

Basement moisture strangulation, food belly situation, it’s time to smile. Instead of grumbling about the situation, welcome the experience. Let it speak. Don’t turn away from insistent sensations, muttering apparitions, weeping spirits, jealous demons, hungry ghosts, you’re in one of those realms.

Art as Catalyst

Art could act as a catalyst to help one overcome deterministic imprisonment within one’s conditioned circumstances. Art, in so far as it involves opening of the heart and mind, embodies freedom. This type of art often presents unique or unusual images, which at first could baffle the viewer. Often the baffled viewer reacts with frustration and irritation, spurning the possibility to open up to something new.

Myth of the Golden Age

Sometimes, when I sit here with a heap of aches and pains and the usual problems, I start fantasizing about another world, in another time, when things were fine, where everything was better than the present world. I dream about a time when things were not so difficult and it was easier to be happy, when air was pure and water unpolluted.

Desert Rats

Rock Hill, famous for his role as Detective Grant Ratofski in the under ground film classic The Purple Fingers of Moriah Pussburger, after being stranded in the desert of Arizona for eight hours in sweltering heat, returned to the land of the living after Lyle Pymples, a desert rat, vagabond type of middle-aged man staged an unspectacular rescue.

Forgiveness

This man is being way too hard on himself. Nobody is perfect. Everybody makes mistakes. I don't know what he did, but yesterday a man got caught shoplifting in a pharmacy. Was it worth it? Read more and find out.

The Art of Happiness

I'm reading The Art of Happiness, by The Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler. A couple weeks ago, somebody dumped about twenty books on the curb. A friend gathered them up and brought some home. When I dropped over for a visit, the smiling face of the Dalai Lama caught my eye. I picked up the book and started reading.

Mad Melvin Arrested At Mannequin Hotel

 Thanks to the speedy intervention of Push Button Man, Mad Melvin will never again unleash his megalomaniac schemes of destruction on the world. Read all about the hot action down at the Mannequin Hotel in the city of Leben Traum.

Polar Bear Head

It's not easy getting up close to a polar bear. A taxi driver in Churchill, Manitoba, back in 1975 drove myself and two buddies to the dump to see polar bears. I was nineteen at the time. He yelled at us to stay back as we approached the bears.

Various Worlds

Behold, a world in a jar of pictures, they once were cucumbers. After marinating a while, they turned into pickles. I spend each day in various worlds.

Mind Factory, Its Give and Take

Finnegans Wake is the inspiration, or reference book, behind Dreaming Man. A few words from that book unleash mental associations and stimulate the mind, sort of like the sudden disruption of shouting voices you thought, but were afraid to say, during a serious gathering to discuss momentous issues.

Pink Tower Construction

Cherry pink city, you don't have to be afraid to say it out loud, or you could say it quietly, or just think the words: pink bowl of cherries life routine, similarity of movement every day during a lifetime, for example, the lifting of a spoon or glass to the mouth, the placing of one's head on a pillow, standing under a spray of water and so on.

Bicycle Dream

Voila, a trusty old bicycle, in need of a new chain and new gears, outside the door to my basement apartment in Montreal.

Boiled Egg Sunshine

Sun floating up there like a boiled egg, as wind whips up the cloud and tree branches rake the sky, I stood neck deep in the ground, in some version of inferno, sending up prayers, eat your boiled eggs and wipe crumbs off the counter.

Clean Cut Dream Salon

Obviously clean cut feels good, like close shave, trimmed fingernails, clipped nostril hairs. Do what you like with other  God-counted hairs, bikini lines, leg bristles, armpit display, every man or woman has his or her fair share of hairy garden.

Keep Your Dog on a Leach

Do you have worry and regret at the end of the day? Did you follow signs, heed messages, accept feedback and notice what was going on? Did you have your dog on a leach? Did you deposit the little plastic bag containing dog turds in a garbage bin, or did you drop it on the sidewalk or push it down a sewer vent?

Time Saving Device

With so many time-saving devices, cell phones, palm pilots, little computers and services like text-messaging, twitter, facebook, email and so on, what do you do with saved time? That could be an interesting study: how do people use saved time?

Trajectories

Mannlicher Carcano Radio program, March 20, 2010, in response to sound files received from lok8tr, Alberta, memories of  Alberta, from 1980 to 1985, I lived in Lloydminister, Edmonton and then High Prairie.

Smell

Smell of coffee and grease in a fast food restaurant, smell of exhaust fumes along a busy street, musty smell of a basement apartment, funky roast turkey and mashed potatoes smell of a toilet, smell of garbage in the garbage bin under the kitchen counter, each place is a little world, with its own set of rules, emotions and mental associations.

Day Dream

Day dream procrastination, a wave of drowsiness, followed by choppy, agitated waves, it's sometimes difficult to get going in the morning, to settle down and face the task at hand.

Happy Food

Happy Food, Lord Heart, livid lips, luminous teeth, languid tongue, wet nostrils, gleaming eyes, take a moment over lunch to read whatever appears before the eye, a piece of advertising, the information on a package of crackers, the contents of a jar of peas, the composition of ketchup. Pause, in the kitchen, where the belly goes for comfort and contemplate the mysteries of the organism.

Show Bar Ersheinung

 

Apparently appearing manifestly surface show, all part of a phenomenological experience involving self-transcendence, I mean, so much talk about hog virus turned out to be a lot of hog wash. Somebody got rich off the deal, selling all that vaccine. 2009, swine flu, an extraordinary popular delusion.

Meditation

 

After confusion intensified to breaking point in the life of Reverend Red Gunn (Red is short for Fred), Red stumbled across a copy of the Zen classic translated by Thomas Cleary, The Blue Cliff Record, and opened it at random to Case 87, "A clear-eyed fellow has no nest..."