Holiday

We're off to San Francisco for a bit of opera and to catch up with some friends. We planned this months ago but it couldn't be more convenient: here on the flat of the Sacramento Valley floor, we are under an inversion layer of smoke for an unexampled ring of forest fires in the foothills and mountains that surround us on three sides--and we are only at the beginning of the fire season. We've mostly stayed hunkered down inside the air conditioning for the last couple of days. I did venture forth to the super market last night, where I saw a couple of people wearing breather masks. So, a good time to go gaze at the Pacific. Probably no more posting until Monday but meanwhile, you can follow the fires here. Thanks for the pointer to a somewhat ambivalent Yves Smith.