Halloween Activities

I've never actually liked the holiday of Halloween that much. I think I cared too much what people thought of my costume and the fact that I really just never ate a lot of candy. I do look forward to the fall however. I love the cooler weather, the cider donuts, and the pumpkin patches. This year, we did our usual round of pumpkin patches with the kids.

Here is Woogy at Lee Farms, just outside Portland. Love their cider donuts.

Here is Nibbles doing her favorite thing in the whole world-- ride a horse (or a"moo" as she still says). Nibbles will absolutely throw a fit if she doesn't ride one when she sees it. Maybe we should just buy our own.

Saturday night, I took Woogy out to Fantasy Trails (about 45mins south of Portland). I found it pretty charming. Wasn't too scary and it was geared towards little kids. It also doubles as a X-mas village in Dec.

On Sunday we went to Leoipold Farms (half way to Mt.Hood). I spent my Saturday there with some foster kids, and decided that my own kids would like it too. Of course, they had horses that Nibbles had to ride. 5 bucks for less than a 5 min ride. Like I said, it might be cheaper to buy our own horse.

I remember when I had to push Woogy on these tricycles. Use to hurt my back. Now he can peddle himself.

Sept.'s Music

It would appear as if the economy has effected my music shopping habits. Only 4 new albums this month. Unlike the economy however, I'm optimistic that Oct will be pretty good with new albums from the Cure and Keane on the way. As if anyone cared, here is my albums of Sept:


Rilo Kiley Under the Blacklight Yes, the band that opened for Coldplay all those years ago put out this album last year, and I finally got around to listening to it. It's not too bad. Surprisingly, it has a real 70's disco vibe to it that works surprisingly well. Many of the band's core following didn't really care for this last effort, but I enjoyed it more than watching them play before Coldplay.

http://www.myspace.com/rilokiley

Camera Obscura Let's Get Out of This Country My big discovery this month was this band from Scotland often associated with Belle and Sebastian. The songs are amazingly tender ballads that can break your heart with the slightest twist or vocal harmony. Has a nice old "girl group" harmony going on here that brings you back to the 60's. Simply enchanting.

http://www.myspace.com/cameraobscuraband

Bell X-1 Flock Having been out several years in Ireland, it took this album another three years to hit the states. That's the problem with liking music from other parts of the world. Pretty good debut, but nothing earth shattering. I would draw comparisons to Snow Patrol (which isn't bad, it's just no Radiohead or Coldplay ) Supposedly they are one of the biggest bands to come out of Ireland in a while.

http://www.myspace.com/bellx1

Radio Dept. Pulling Our Weight EP My favorite new band lately is Radio Dept. coming also from Scotland. Not a true "shoegazer" band, but definitely influenced by the sound. Mixing light and airy vocals to shoegazer distortion turned down a few notches. The result is not as hard on the ears as a real shoegazer album. Radio Dept. only has released a couple of albums over a decade, but have put out a handful of EPs . Pulling Our Weight is a good mix of their pop sensibilities and their creativeness.
http://www.myspace.com/officialradiodept