About a decade ago a group fitness instructor was telling us about taking her very young daughter to the July 4 fireworks at Valley College. The latter had ended up in tears with the overwhelming volume of the sheer spectacle. Later in the summer I felt like recommending going to see a function at Cal Plaza downtown, with the fun fountains lit by colored lights spurting in different patterns. My occasion was to see a free concert featuring guest saxophonist Chris Potter with the big band of the Mancini Institute. Since then the Institute hasn't vanished but there are not so big jewels in the display case.

This morning of November 14 I was driving to another fitness class and on Valley College's southwest corner bulletin board was an invitation to study in Paris. Something set in motion from before, and sitting at a red light I watched continuing versions of the ad rolling out, in modestly bright colors which reminded me of those of the fountains. This is on a down slope weather morning; last weekend I watched on a Doppler site as bright colors signaled precipitation upstate, but it was spotty getting down to us if at all. For the time being fountains are not good PR.

Today California has typical November haze in the Bay Area and Central Valley as we nestle down here in a Chamber of Commerce brag box. High pressure, ridge---it's here for now and I haven't looked at the forecast.

So what will we be talking about a year from now? Will the Nino have delivered? What color alerts will have been invoked, and their upshots?

Happy Saturday, maybe a little skewed humor here. I saw Chris Potter within the last year in a concert in which his drummer was Peter Erskine, who has given lessons to Rush's Neal Peart. I am fairly certain there are readers here so do any of you have "Fountainhead" jokes?