I don’t sleep well.  I close my eyes and I fall asleep, but I don’t wake up refreshed.  I wake up worried and I wake up tired.

Sometimes, I have nightmares and bad dreams.

Last night I had my first nightmare in my new home.  I don’t know what caused it.  As Ebenezer Scrooge supposed, it could have been caused by “an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato.”  It could have been a Canada mint.

I thought I heard footsteps on the stairs and then they approached my bedroom.  They paused in front of my bedroom door and as I waited for the intruder to do whatever intruders do, I contemplated grabbing whatever weapon was within reach.  I was frozen in sleep.

I screamed.

I woke up and found it was just a dream.  There was no intruder and I was alone here in the country.

Meanwhile, in Bath, Maine, some geraniums have survived a killing frost.

Sleep…it’s out there somewhere.