The green whiskers are the beginnings of California poppies which appear to be growing despite lack of rain and location atop steep dry stony hills where strong winds blow off the Bay.
The night of November 5, election day, I met Joe down in Fremont. He had just completed four fifths (or actually 13/14ths) of his bike ride around the San Francisco Bay on the Bay Trail. He got a room at the Motel 6 and we turned on our various devices to watch or not watch as the evening passed. Kind of a bomb shelter. But a perfectly nice clean place to sleep and use the internet. He went out and got a bottle of Chardonnay at the Lucky’s and I ordered a pizza from a nearby Indian food pizza place.
No news came in that night.
The next day Joe took off to bike north for his last day, 41 miles, and I went back to Coyote Hills and tried to walk off the tension.
Beautiful, dry landscape. We need our parks desperately. That’s the salt ponds in the distance, marsh reclamation. Drought. Usually at this time of year these hills are emerald green.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday the news drips in. I check the count about once an hour.
Saturday morning, the NYTimes calls Biden’s win in Pennsylvania which gives him the Electoral College. Then Arizona and Nevada. Dancing in the streets in Philadelphia and Berkeley. A celebration taking place down at the fountain near us.
Cars honking, kids out in the fountain circle, the toxic venom begins to drain away. Take a deep breath.
Joe goes to a count every vote demo in San Francisco. it turns into a celebration.
There was real live danvingh in the street around Lake Merritt. So much so that we drove over ther to see it and found ourselves in a traffic jam like nothing I’ve ever seen, but all honking, costumes, music everywhere.
And then things get back to normal. Biden won the presidency but the Democrats lost seats in the House and will have to fight in Georgia to win the Senate. On the other hand 74% of the Our Revolution candidates, all over the country (that’s Bernie’s organization) won their races. In the City of Detroit, Biden got 92% of the vote, which is kind of amazing to even hear about — that’s the margin by which he won Michigan. In other words, where the progressive left candidates ran on a clearly left basis, we won. Where the Democrats won on a soft, Obama-type basis, they lost.
So here in Berkeley we can go back to playing music in the sun for our neighbors.
How's that Working Out For You? 
Good to hear from you! Your parents would no doubt have had a lot to say about these events.