I’ve been surprised to miss Germany over the past couple weeks. My blog post from this time last year was about going to Lutherstadt’s annual celebration of Martin Luther and his 95 theses. This year was the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, and I’m sure the celebrations were great. It’s not quite the same to have attended the 499th anniversary last year versus the 500th year celebration.

Other little things keep reminding me of last autumn in Germany…walking through SF and noticing differences between the Bay Area and Berlin. I keep searching unsuccessfully for the perfect Turkish cafe with good coffee, excellent baklava, and fresh börek. My California neighborhood hasn’t sprouted a little Christmas market yet, so I haven’t gotten my fill of pannfkuchen and glühwein for the season. The autumn trees here are equally dramatic, but much less prevalent than in the Cottbus countryside.

On the other hand, my family is mostly all here in California — that’s a definite plus over the German experience. I drove up to Sonoma the other day. Got all the way through town without tears….then cue waterworks at the first “Welcome home” sign followed by this burnt out disaster zone.

This past week was Halloween. Aka my favorite holiday…which I say about pretty much every holiday.

Annelise from a couple weeks ago, splendid and aloof as usual. Something strange about the top of her head, though.