Fairy Lanterns

Oregon is just fodder for my imagination. There are so many beautiful and interesting sites to see. So many smells, so many things to hear. Sometimes I feel how Dorothy on the Wizard of Oz must have felt when her black and white world crashed into the technicolor Oz. She slowly opens the door to her Aunt Em's simple farmhouse and there is all of this color and all of this overwhelming scenery that doesn't look like Kansas! I feel that way about Oregon. The colors up here are incredible. The smell of fresh air makes me dizzy and giddy. The sites are beyond words. I love Texas, just as I'm sure Dorothy loved Kansas and the farm, but, what a dream to experience Oz.

So, James and I were hiking up a hill next to the beach and I noticed these little flowers about the size of your baby toe's toenail. They looked like paper lanterns for fairies. Adorable, they were. Well, then, of course, I could just imagine little fairies everywhere along the forested coast using these flowers as lanterns. Then, a flood of ideas for a children's book overtook my mind. I really like how ideas come so easy up here.

By the way, the Tooth Fairy visited Autry last week and left a tiny, handwritten note:

"Dear Autry,

Thank you for the tooth.

Welcome to Oregon.

I am an artist and use teeth for my sculptures.

I live in the big tree on the shortcut to the sidewalk down at the end of your street. Say hi, when you pass by.

-Toothfairy-"

If you don't believe in fairies, then you may not want to live Oregon.