The Night the Jellyfish Took Flight
Every Halloween, businesses around our town of Dallas, Oregon, participate in a local tradition of putting out imaginative decorations. This year, I’ve had especially good luck finding inspiration in these displays, and this one immediately caught my attention. There was something wonderful about its simplicity, yet it was filled with imagination. That’s exactly the kind of starting point I love. I saw those playful jellyfish and imagined them floating freely through the air, bringing a little magic and wonder into an ordinary world. From that one idea came two very different interpretations—one bright and whimsical, the other glowing with the mystery of Halloween night. Both capture what drew me to the original display: a sense of playfulness, freedom, and the joy of letting imagination take flight.
Capture the Flag
I was walking along one of my favorite creek trails here in Dallas, Oregon, the other day when I noticed a pile of excavated dirt off to the side. Workers were installing a new park bench, and the leftover dirt had been piled into a little hill.
Most people probably wouldn’t have given it a second look, but to me, it looked like the perfect giant anthill. And that’s when my imagination started wandering.
I thought, wouldn’t it be fun to have a little game of capture the flag going on right there on that hill?
Before long, that ordinary pile of dirt had become a miniature battlefield, complete with two teams of determined squirrels, tiny forts, ladders, flags, and plenty of competition.
We even ended up with two versions of the battle. One looks like the fighting has just begun, with the hillside still green and full of life. The other looks like the battle has been raging for days, with the ground worn bare from all the activity.
All of this from a little pile of dirt beside a walking trail.
Sometimes imagination doesn’t need much of a starting point. Just a small hill, a passing thought, and a moment to wonder what might be happening there.
