St. Martin's Lantern

We're not just gearing up for Halloween, but also for St. Martin's Day (a day traditionally celebrated in Germany by forcing children to wander through the streets and sing songs with lanterns). Here, Finlay has his own lantern.

Balls

Finlay at a childrens cafe last week in Friedrichshain. The haze in the photo is caused by the heavy concentration of Mutterglück (maternal happiness) in the air...

Not Smiling and Smiling

Finlay this past weekend at the table, with various toys and vegetables. We will be celebrating Halloween this year, which is growing in popularity (or at least marketing efforts) each year in Germany. We're considering going as pirates, and dressing him up as a parrot. Or maybe we'll have him in the baby carrier but made to look like he is bursting out of Christine's stomach. Wait a minute - maybe not. Too close to home. It's only been ten months.

It would be more fun to dress him up if we could actually go trick or treating here. However, we doubt that many of our neighbours would really understand that part of Halloween. And in any case, they could rescind any exchanges of candy the next day under German laws relating to "doorway transactions" (Haustürgeschäfte). We'll stay home, carve a pumpkin, put Finlay in the pumpkin, quickly blow out the candle in the pumpkin, take pictures of Finlay in the pumpkin, post them here, etc.

Sleeping Finlay

Cat in the Hagia Sophia

This is a street cat photographed on Sunday morning three weeks ago in the centre of the Hagia Sophia cathedral/mosque/museum in Istanbul. Finlay wasn't there. But we'll take him there someday, if only to show him a central node of European culture.

Mini Finlay in a Mini Cooper

Here are Finlay and Christine at Gallerie Lafayette on Saturday evening with Finlay behind the wheel of a small replica of an Austin Mini Cooper. He knows he resides in centralBerlin, and therefore has no need of a car, and his feet don't really reach the pedals - perhaps that accounts for his desultory expression.

Afterwards, Christine ate a deep-sea prawn and Finlay fell asleep. Then we all watched the Tim Burton version of Alice in Wonderland. Curioser and curiouser!

A place at the table

Several hours later... here are Finlay and Christine actually sitting at the table together. They're watching that video with Jimmy Kimmel and Ben Affleck. Yeah, you remember the one. That one. The plate in the picture was sent flying to the floor a few moments later and broke into several pieces. That had nothing to do with the video.