This year It would be wonderful, to have something to hope for. But honestly, I'm not counting on the Happy. In the time of Covid (and post-Trump mayhem), New will be good enough.

The colored fog today gives Mother Nature a new palette color--foggy red. Imagine an Impressionist artist like Claude Monet painting his iconic "Impression, Sunrise" in San Francisco today instead of Le Havre in 1872. Would the term Impressionism have been coined? What would this alternate version of the painting be called--"Sunrise, Smoky"?

When a virus infects a large percentage of a population, it is called an epidemic. If an outbreak spreads worldwide, it’s called a pandemic. They usually return for a 2nd and more lethal wave until immunity can be established by the affected community (“herd immunity”).

I have to post my Humpty Trumpty cartoon one more time and quickly now, before the election results are final.

The popular names for these world historical pandemics, like the Black Death (bubonic plague) evolve over time and "catch on." For example, the 1918 Spanish Flu (also Swine Flu) was called the French Flu by the Spanish who thought the virus had arrived in Spain via France. But despite its origins being still unclear, "Spanish Flu" has stood the test of time (My chart suggests a colorful alternative).

Bastille Day Cancelled in Berkeley: Usually, Berkeley, home to thousands of Francophile gastronomes, celebrates the French Revolution’s anniversary on July 14 with increased consumption of garlic. Most notably, and most extravagantly at the Chez Panisse Garlic Festival.

Despite my depression related to election/debate horrors, I still find myself looking for ways to manage via humor and art, even if only for my own amusement. My effort to exorcise Trumps repulsive MAGA hat symbolism has led me through a series of graphic and conceptual iterations.

What will happen to Chez Panisse? When I think about the aftermath of Covid and the effect on our local restaurant scene, I of course worry about our cradle of California cuisine. But if anyone can figure out how to survive, it's Alice Waters & Co.

New Rules: Living alone, there is no one yet in my “pod” or “bubble,” so when I go out to eat in a newly opened restaurant with a friend, I’ll need to sit 6 feet away from my dinning companion.