Whatever happened to ‘and the livin’ is easy’?

While bulletins from Charlottesville, Va., Pyongyang and Bedminster, N.J., horrify serenity-seeking Americans, let us ponder the last gasps of vacation and its possibilities:

“Given the situation with North Korea and the possibility of a larger conflict,” emails James Patterson, “I advise your readers thinking of a trip around the world to take it while it’s still there.”

Jeff Parrott can’t get our hard-driving president off his mind. He quotes the lyrics of Mose Allison: “Y’know if silence was golden/ You couldn’t raise a dime/ Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is/ working overtime.” Meanwhile, Vanity Fair’s Emily Jane Fox reports that President Trump’s vacation — interrupted by a day in D.C. — in Bedminster is not making a big splash. “If anything, people in town are flattered that the president chose our town, but they see it as a non-event,” Mayor Steven Parker told her. Parker left on his own vacation a day after Trump arrived.

And then there are the eclipse watchers who will be heading off for the celestial view: John Joss heard from his friend Christopher Springmann in Oregon, who emailed, “Salem, our local backwater version of the Sacramento state capitol, is girding for what looks like the end of the world as we know it.” (See above; this seems to be a theme today.)

“The OHP (pronounced Oh-Hip), the highway patrol, replete with Smokey the Bear gender-free campaign hats, is warning motorists, all 5 million of them, not to stop on Highway 5 to experience the eclipse. ‘There will be consequences.’ ”

P.S. As to vacationing in San Francisco, according to Stannous Flouride, historian and tour guide of the Haight-Ashbury, that neighborhood is the No. 2 tourist destination in San Francisco. No. 1 is Pier 39.

In additional vacation notes, Ed Rose, who was in Vancouver and Victoria, sent a photo outside a restaurant: “Vegans With Loose Morals Welcome.” And then there are overheards: “If you’re not in first class, you’re in the back of the plane.” Man in first class to seatmate, overheard aboard a flight leaving SFO by Roger Thornhill.

“The advantage to first class is you don’t have to deal with exit-row seats.” Passenger to passenger, overheard aboard flight from Portland, Ore., to SFO by Thornhill, a sharp-eared traveler.

“The plane we were considering was $12 million, but the advantage was that it could fly outside the country.” Woman to woman, overheard in Aspen, Colo., by Renee Goldhammer.

“Can you see me now? No, I am not dressed as a cow. I am a zebra.” Music lover dressed like zebra, on cell phone at Outside Lands, overheard by Liam Mayclem.

Fred Reiss suggests that Trump “wants North Korea to launch a nuclear attack on L.A. and San Francisco to ensure that he’ll get the popular vote in the next election.”

And Paul Brenner overheard the conversation between two men in the Peninsula Infiniti service waiting room: “Isis, North Korea and the Dodgers are all having good years,” said one to the other. Outdoor pianos, a concept in full crescendo, are a much more welcome addition to the outdoor scene than, oh, vaping smokers. PianFrancisco has one piano it has hauled around for outdoor concerts at a variety of locations — last was in early August, atop Bernal Heights. If you want to be on the mailing list for future performances, sign up online at www.pianfrancisco.com.

Meanwhile, Maureen Hanlon says that there was a piano in the lobby when she was a patient at the old Oakland Kaiser Hospital, “but when my kids came to visit they were a little surprised to find the song they heard was Eric Clapton’s ‘Tears in Heaven.’ ”

As to the names on equipment at Keefe Kaplan Maritime in Richmond and Sausalito — mentioned herein a few days ago — there are a few to add: Penny Harrison sent word of Herb Crane, in the Richmond boatyard. There’s also a Herb Crane Jr. at the company’s Sausalito branch, and a Patty Hoist (which works in conjunction with William Randolph Hoist) in Richmond.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley on Wednesday, Aug. 16, the Make-Out Room is hosting a live band playing Elvis songs, a choice of faux-but-loving Elvises singing, as well as a nutritional treat: peanut butter and banana bites served at midnight.

PUBLIC EAVESDROPPING “I hate him more than her.” Woman to man, overheard at Zuni by Ken Maley