I dreamed last night that I was calling waves against a sea-wall and a little jetty;

Sort of reminds me of a cross between Bjork's "Violently Happy" and the Disney "Sorcerer's Apprentice" short. I find there's a very accessible underlying emotion in your dream.

Today, I help my father put in a ceiling in the summer kitchen. Naturally, it's ninety degrees.

It's hotter there than here? That's just wrong.