It's an odd state. It feels kinda restless.
The oddity is compounded by our adopted nabe, which I've grown to love like I love my own at home, although it is overrun with BABIES. Babies here, babies there, babies everywhere. Any woman under forty-five seems to have about a fifty percent chance of being so pregnant that her poking-out belly button is showing through her distended t-shirt. I think I've mentioned before that Prenzlauer Berg is Baby Central--the highest birthrate in all of Germany. There are good schools here, it seems. Not to mention Something In The Air.
Now, I'd be a wee bit nervous if I hadn't aged out of the baby production thing a while back. Thank the Lord, I don't have a dog in this particular fight. But Heavens! Every morning, I wake up to someone pre-verbal ululating in one of the always-bustling cafes across the street. It's that ahhh-ahhh-ahhh thing that babies do the way birds greet the dawn with song. And I get up and look out my window to see the parade o' prams. We did the local flea markets today, and on the way home, a toddler in a stroller tragically lost her purple balloon (OK--I'll admit I liked hearing her complain about the "luft ballon" just like the old Nena song). Her young, uber-hip mom got her another one, which so angered the equally tiny son of a neighboring couple that he tried to stick her up for it. His folks, exhibiting what Young German Parents Do Right, averted the potential meltdown by picking him up and sweeping him away from temptation after he swatted the luft ballon owner. Hard. And then the tram came. Babies, babies, babies.
I asked my husband if he felt old today. He responded in the affirmative. Me, too.
Slate grey sky outside now. A wild, miniature rain storm (most of them over here seem to be miniature compared to American ones) swept over from just west of the TV tower as we were finishing our dinner out on the terrace. The temperature dropped about fifteen degrees in fifteen minutes (farenheit). And we finished the dead-ripe peaches we picked up at the green market yesterday inside.
Dinner tonight? O, we just had a little filet mignon...really. Got it at that same green market yesterday and it was expensive, but you don't need a lot of it. And there are these amazing wild mushrooms everywhere in Germany just now, so I threw them in the beurre noir that I made to go with the filets and cooked up some noodles with sage and brown butter and tossed a big salad full of local greens, cukes and tomatoes. The greens you can get at farmer's markets here are as good as having your own garden, no kiddin'. Proud to say that the sage came from our Berlin garden--a pot of sage and a pot of basil I bought and have been tending to on our terrace. However will I abandon it in two weeks?
On the other hand, I do miss the creek and Randoradio LOTS. Lots. And this place is just FULL of babies!
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