The white caribou

I took this photo this past Wednesday (July 8) outside Caribou Cafe, which is also where I took the June 15 photo is "Humanoid deer creatures."

The white hart -- or white caribou, I suppose -- is stationed in front of a door, or portal.

The fact that it's specifically a caribou, or reindeer, led me to make some connections. Caribou is a link to Cherubim, which comes from the Akkadian karibu, as noted in "Glimmerings, and disappearing stars, at the window" (June 2024). I made a pun on reindeer and Mithrandir in "Octopods with bright and dark eyes, and Mithrandir" (May 24). Mith means "gray," so a gray randir (reindeer) -- but of course Gandalf the Grey later becomes Gandalf the White. Way back in 2018, in a comment on Bruce's post "Tychonievich's Meditations on a Tarot," I had written, "Mithrandir should clearly be the Hermit, I think."

These reindeer-related contemplations also led me back to my 2020 post "Philip as a Christmas reindeer in polyvalent perspective," which begins by mentioning that I had recently gone 50 hours without sleep.

Shortly after rereading that old post, the algorithm suggested a song I'd never heard: "Welcome Home, Son" by Radical Face. I listened to it.

The lyrics begin thus, linking to the 50 hours without sleep:

Sleep don't visit, so I choke on the sun

And the days blur into one

The song triggered a vivid mental image of running through a wood after a white hart, trusting that it would lead me "home." After I'd listened to the song, I looked at some of the comments, and this one struck me:

This song reminds me of those moments when I trust my horse and I start galloping in the field and I let go and outstretch my arms, the wind blowing on my face, cooling down my worries of falling, the sun shining on my back, warming me on the cold day. Trusting an animal with your life is the best feeling. I love him.

The reference to "trusting an animal with your life" synched with my mental image of following a hart and trusting it. The comment ends with "I love him," with him referring to a horse. The name Philip -- which my 2020 post identifies with "a Christmas reindeer" -- means "horse-lover."

Here is the album cover art from the Radical Face song:

And here's one of the "time warp images" from "Love pop, baby, love pop" (September 2024), recently reposted in "A white hart and a portal to a parallel world" (June 10):