FOLLOW THAT OCTOPUS

If you don’t know about H. G. Cephalopod, the toy octopus who rides around on neighbor Kathryn Poe’s shoulder, you should. In fact, you should friend him on Facebook. Neighbors Kathryn and Stephen Poe, who Advocate columnist Patti Vinson wrote about in March, spend many of their nights and weekends at Renaissance faires and Steampunk events. Kathryn began wearing a toy octopus on her shoulder, similar to how a pirate would wear a parrot. H. G., who’s named for the famous English writer H. G. Wells, quickly became a crowd favorite. “People would come up to see him,” Kathryn says. “Kids would talk to him, and he’d talk to them. People would want to take pictures with him.” She set up a Facebook page for him so his fans can “friend” him on social media, but he also gets good old-fashioned fan mail. “It’s crazy,” Kathryn says. “He gets emails from all around the world.”