Christmas on Island Time
I caught this one in the early part of summer on one of my walks. I pass this spot almost every day, and one particular bush kept catching my attention because it was shaped so much like a Christmas tree. I remember thinking, I don’t know who shaped this thing, but I’ve never seen one of these bushes look quite like that.
Then my imagination took over. I thought, wouldn’t it be fun to turn it into a summer Christmas tree? Not the usual snow, lights, and winter coats, but something completely different—straw hats, sunglasses, leis, flip-flops, beach balls, surfboards, and a little bit of Christmas mixed with summer.
Once I saw the first one that way, I noticed the bushes continuing farther down the parking lot. That gave me another idea: why stop at one? A whole string of them would add depth and make it feel almost like a little parade of Christmas trees stretching into the distance.
That’s how this one came together. The original bush gave me the shape, and everything else grew from that first thought.
Sometimes all it takes is looking at an ordinary bush and seeing Christmas in July.
Fishfall Festival
I took this picture back when I lived in San Jose, probably around 2010. I used to walk a trail that passed right by this spot, and the bridge always gave me a fun view looking down toward the water.
On this particular day, there was quite a bit of water coming over the spillway. It must have been springtime, probably after some recent rain. In San Jose, you don’t exactly stumble across waterfalls every day. They’re nothing like the bigger, badder-ass ones we have here in Oregon, but you take what you can get.
What I always liked about this one was how uniform the water looked coming over the edge. It had a nice shape to it, almost like a curtain. Looking at it again years later, I thought it needed something a little unexpected.
So naturally, I threw in some aquarium fish.
A few goldfish, an angelfish or two, some extra color, and suddenly that little San Jose waterfall had a whole different personality. Sometimes all a familiar scene needs is one slightly ridiculous idea to give it another life.
