cumbia, krucial, snowy owl, sturgeon
Feb. 20th, 2026 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
asakiyumeCumbia
Sometimes I have perfectly wonderful dreams--this morning, for example. I dreamed I was invited onto the dance floor to dance cumbia. I've had exactly one cumbia lesson in my life--not even a whole lesson; it was tacked onto a salsa lesson. But in the dream, I put aside all timidity, joined my partner, and it was perfect. We were so in sync; we improvised--I can catch the feeling just writing these words. This had the same joy as dreams of flying: incredible, freeing movement.
Krucial
The cashier was a young guy with fluffy hair pulled back in a pony tail. His name tag said "Krucial."
"That's an awesome name," I said.
"My mom gave it to me. It was on a wrapper," he said. [Maybe related to this: Krucial Rapid Response]
"That's great," I said. "You're crucial for your mom!"
"Awww, thank you!" he said, and and we high-fived.
Snowy Owl
A snowy owl has been hanging out near where I live. All the birders in the area are going there and taking pictures of it, and some of these have filtered into my social media, and they're magnificent, like this one, by someone named Dale Woods:
Sturgeon
Elsewhere on social media someone recommended the story "The Man Who Lost the Sea" (1959), by Theodore Sturgeon. I've never actually read anything by him, and the person linked to a 2009 reprint in Strange Horizons, so I gave it a read. The poster said it involved a surprising twist. Well not really: I understood the situation halfway through. But I liked the story all the same: the writing was lovely, and I wanted to see how the main character would realize the truth. This, very near the end, struck me especially:
If you want to read it, here's the link: "The Man Who Lost the Sea."
Sometimes I have perfectly wonderful dreams--this morning, for example. I dreamed I was invited onto the dance floor to dance cumbia. I've had exactly one cumbia lesson in my life--not even a whole lesson; it was tacked onto a salsa lesson. But in the dream, I put aside all timidity, joined my partner, and it was perfect. We were so in sync; we improvised--I can catch the feeling just writing these words. This had the same joy as dreams of flying: incredible, freeing movement.
Krucial
The cashier was a young guy with fluffy hair pulled back in a pony tail. His name tag said "Krucial."
"That's an awesome name," I said.
"My mom gave it to me. It was on a wrapper," he said. [Maybe related to this: Krucial Rapid Response]
"That's great," I said. "You're crucial for your mom!"
"Awww, thank you!" he said, and and we high-fived.
Snowy Owl
A snowy owl has been hanging out near where I live. All the birders in the area are going there and taking pictures of it, and some of these have filtered into my social media, and they're magnificent, like this one, by someone named Dale Woods:
Sturgeon
Elsewhere on social media someone recommended the story "The Man Who Lost the Sea" (1959), by Theodore Sturgeon. I've never actually read anything by him, and the person linked to a 2009 reprint in Strange Horizons, so I gave it a read. The poster said it involved a surprising twist. Well not really: I understood the situation halfway through. But I liked the story all the same: the writing was lovely, and I wanted to see how the main character would realize the truth. This, very near the end, struck me especially:
For no farmer who fingers the soil with love and knowledge, no poet who sings of it, artist, contractor, engineer, even child bursting into tears at the inexpressible beauty of a field of daffodils—none of these is as intimate with Earth as those who live on, live with, breathe and drift in its seas.
If you want to read it, here's the link: "The Man Who Lost the Sea."
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Date: 2026-02-20 06:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-20 06:08 pm (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2026-02-20 06:31 pm (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2026-02-20 06:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-20 07:04 pm (UTC)That's lovely. I'm glad you met someone like that while dreaming.
A snowy owl has been hanging out near where I live. All the birders in the area are going there and taking pictures of it, and some of these have filtered into my social media, and they're magnificent, like this one, by someone named Dale Woods
That is yet another animal that looks like its own plushie.
(I saw an article in the Globe about snowy owls in Western Mass some weeks back! It was conspicuous to me at the time for interviewing Jane Yolen's owling child.)
Elsewhere on social media someone recommended the story "The Man Who Lost the Sea" (1959), by Theodore Sturgeon. I've never actually read anything by him
Theodore Sturgeon was a huge influence on me, one of the writers I encountered young in my parents' library and scoured used book stores for throughout high school, and what's striking to me now is how contemporary his style looks now instead of marked of the 1950's like so many of his cohort.
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Date: 2026-02-20 07:22 pm (UTC)re: the owl, YES. It's as if plushies, the concept, were inspired by snowy owls. (I didn't know about Jane Yolen's owling child! I did know there's a documentary about snowy owls at Logan Airport. I keep meaning to watch it.)
re: Sturgeon's style, YES. I was thinking that too, as I read. It could easily have been written today. And I thought of you when I got to this sea quote!
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Date: 2026-02-20 09:56 pm (UTC)Two different links to it:
https://vimeo.com/1077351571?fl=pl&fe=vl
https://www.annamillermultimedia.com/owls
And your dancing dream sounds wonderful! I don't seem to dream about dancing very much, though I sometimes dream about preparing to be in dance performances (which I've done in real life).
I don't think I've ever had a dream of flying. I used to know someone who had flying dreams in which she had to dodge power lines!
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Date: 2026-02-20 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-20 11:53 pm (UTC)Heidi E.Y. Stemple! Her father was David Stemple, a birder. I had no idea about the documentary.
re: Sturgeon's style, YES. I was thinking that too, as I read. It could easily have been written today. And I thought of you when I got to this sea quote!
Thank you!
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Date: 2026-02-20 07:40 pm (UTC)And so is that gorgeous owl!
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Date: 2026-02-20 07:58 pm (UTC)And I love the owl. It has such a pleased look, its eyes half closed like that.
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Date: 2026-02-21 01:24 am (UTC)I read and reread Sturgeon obsessively as a child and young adult. Some of his stories do NOT stand the test of time, but the language does. P.
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Date: 2026-02-21 02:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-21 05:06 pm (UTC)That dream sounds wonderful!
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Date: 2026-02-21 05:07 pm (UTC)