Halloween fun

We all dressed up for Halloween this year. Matt was a mime, I was a witch, and Reed was a tiger. We decorated our car with the traditional Brown family ghosts for the Trunk or Treat. Then Matt and Reed went around to collect candy. Reed is very possessive of his candy - he's very proud of what he earned.

Local Wildlife

We've had some new visitors to our backyard recently. The possum kind of freaked me out - I never realized how slow they move. I really thought its back legs were injured or something. Also it is not one of my favorite animals - this animal is not cute and cuddly. Matt went to take a picture of it and it bared its teeth at him and hissed. In the other photo I took the opportunity to have my picture taken with the raccoon.

Feeding Ostriches

We ran into this small ostrich farm near Solvang, CA. We had fun feeding them, but I thought the ostriches were pretty aggressive. In the gift shop they sold ostrich and emu eggs. Emu eggs are all black and extremely beautiful. I wonder if there is a way to bleach a design into that black shell - like the opposite of dying a Ukrainian egg.

Funny photos of Reed

Echo Canyon

In early September, Dad, Elizabeth, Matt, and me took on a crazy adventure -- hiking through Echo Canyon in Zion's National Park. It was more of an slot canyon obstacle course than a hike. Once you reach the top of the mountain, you leave the path and trek over the slickrock to a place where you can drop down into the canyon itself and go through a series of rappels. There are about 6 to 8 rappels and each one drops into a pool of water so there were no good places to take pictures of people rappelling. We took this hike kind of on a whim, so we didn't bring helmets or harnesses (which I would recommend), but we did have the proper wetsuits for the cold temperatures of the canyon. Luckily, we found a few guys who were willing to show us the path off the trail to get into the canyon. They underestimated Elizabeth and were afraid she wouldn't make it, but Elizabeth did better on the rappels than I did! Elizabeth took some of the pictures I show here. For anyone who is taking this hike in the future, I would recommend a forty foot rope, helmets, gloves, wetsuits, harnesses, wet-dry bags, and a group of three to four people.

A visit to the waterpark

We took the family to visit Soak City next to Knott's Berry Farm back in September. It was wet. Ha. Yes, and it was also pretty fun. I liked the little slide that you can race down the best, while Matt liked the speed slides the best. Reed enjoyed shooting the water guns on the tower and playing in the splashy toddler zone. We had a coupon for the park the day we went, and I would recommend the waterpark to family members the next time they visit.

Trying to keep carnivorous plants alive

I recently received a few carnivorous plants for my birthday -- a sarracenia flava and a sarracenia rubra. Both have gone into dormancy and so they don't look so hot right now. When I first got them they looked fantastic with the light shining on through them and the veins standing out. This picture is of the rubra (I think.) They've both lured in ants.

Launch of new garden

I've started learning how to grow my own food, along with some exotic plants. My first seeds are just starting to come up and they have made me so happy! I'm trying to grow romanesco broccoli, which is a kind of fractal cauliflower, actually. It likes the cold, so it should be able to grow through the winter here. Best wishes little broccoli!