got a quarter?..go put it in an answering machine.

This morning I woke to the first sight of frost on our windows. Early fall has arrived to Berlin and the leaves are falling. There are some pumpkins around, but they can only be found in plastic trays on the sidewalk of Asian markets. We did, however, have an 'apfelkuchen' today, the closest thing around to an apple pie.
The afternoon weather has been beautiful and temperate, perhaps as a result of global warming/climate change, but who am I to complain? We have dedicated the last two afternoons to cruising the street with the beagle. Yesterday we walked along the Spree and visited a dog park. Wait, did he just say they took the beagle to an off-leash dog park? Well, we went to it, but didn't go in. Jenks had that look of crazy in her eyes and we decided that apologies in broken German might not cover the damage that she could do. We are going to ease into it. Walking the streets without issue was the first goal. We are pretty much there. Dog parks are next.
Today's big achievement: our new bilingual answering machine. How do you leave an out going message on an answering machine in a language you barely know? You google it to find out standard German machine greetings. When that doesn't work you hit the dictionary. A few minutes later Suzanne drafted a script. It was only a German script because she improvised the English one. She's good like that. It took two takes and it was in the can. She is also good like that. It was pretty standard stuff but it just sounds so great in German. And let's give it up for Suzanne. Who among you is able to record a good sounding answering machine greeting in two takes, let alone record a message in a foreign language in that many passes? For the real avid readers of this blog who are just dying to hear the acutal message live on the phone, feel free to email me and I will pass along our home number. A real German greeting only an international long distance call away.

This afternoon we also secured "tickets" for Sonic Youth. They are playing Berlin in December and we figured, "why not?" I say "tickets" because this slip here is our ticket. We bring this to the door on the night of the show and they let us in . It's that easy. No name or location or time or date on the slip, but it does say Sonic Youth on it so we're good. You may wonder, who are these idiots who payed 58euro for what looks like your everyday carbon receipt blank? Us. We are those idiots. In our defense, we know that this is the way it works because last March we saw the Liars and the ticketing/lack of ticketing system was the same. So Sonic Youth in December. December the something-th. Cat Power is also coming in November, but the Chan wants 40 euros each. We are torn and going broke, so we will probably skip the oppurtunity to see her have a public breakdown...Memphis-style.
JENKS UPDATE: We bought a proper tennis ball and rope-toy-thingy at a neighborhood pet store. She likes them. R.I.P. the sock.