December 31, 2013
Sun setting, year waning, hawk in the oaks. How did the year fly by so fast?
December 30, 2013
The puppy's beginning to think his name is "Oh Walter". (And yes, that's drywall dust on the floor.) (Again.)
December 29, 2013
The between week of the holidays is always busy here as both Angelenos and out-of-towners head west (well, south) for the beach. Traffic gets tricky, parking gets scarce, and very pale people in bathing suits brave the chilly surf.
Here's the Point Dume headlands this morning, sand and water churned by santana winds.
Even with little rain, the giant coreopsis are waking up, summer brown giving way to winter green, and soon enough, our yearly flood of gold.
I don't know why but the water off the headlands always has more layers of blue than other places:
All morning long, persistent, insistent, a clan of sea lions (males molting, females close to giving birth) bellowed.
And look -- that's the last remnant of last night's fog, shredded and shoved aside by these wild winter winds.
December 28, 2013
The Malibu Inn, the funky beachside cafe where Dave and I celebrated the close of escrow on our Paradise Cove trailer mobile home back in the day, has changed and changed and changed again over the years. And while a crew was hard at work this week for the new(est) lease holder, the wind did a bit of re-arranging on the sign offering up (r)etail space for rent.
December 27, 2013
I ran out of time to shoot a new photo today so...Walt. Any complaints?
December 26, 2013
Already 72 degrees here at sunrise, wind on the move, horizon scraped clean.
Downtown loomed:
A sailboat bobbed:
Sand blew:
Palm trees leaned:
And for a little minute, everything went pink.
December 25, 2013
xoxo from Malibu.
December 24, 2013
Tick tock...
December 23, 2013
Winter mode.
December 22, 2013
Here's the lake just two days ago, aka 'last fall':
And here's the lake this morning, on the first full day of winter.
Aka 'it's 34 degrees so go home put your jammies back on and get back in bed with the crossword'.
December 21, 2013
It's the winter solstice, at 9:11 a.m. to be precise.
Here's the (bird-filled) sunrise--
The sun moves fast and low across the sky today--
...delivers us into the longest night of the year.
Tomorrow's skies will be brighter for just a tiny bit longer.
Happy (true) New Year.
December 20, 2013
I'm pleased to report that somehow--
...a tree here in the now-brown mountains:
...didn't get the memo:
...re: done = dun.
December 19, 2013
Walt prescribes chicken soup. In a bowl on the floor.
December 18, 2013
My hair hurts.
December 17, 2013
I thought I could skip a day--
...and not post a photo.
I was wrong.
December 16, 2013
The white-tailed kite I've been watching for the last few years up at the bluff now has a mate.
Judging from how interested the crow are, she must be someone famous.
December 15, 2013
Maisie and Walt each had a Kodak moment on the walk this morning and because, well, just because, actually, I have decided to share.
Walt having a glamour moment:
And Maisie at that exact oooahhh moment.
Happy Sunday!
December 14, 2013
27 degrees, that is.
The morning that this happened:
This (frozen lake, ducks land, drake belly flops on the ice, skids to a stop) happened:
December 13, 2013
Bedroom number two of three went from bad:
To worse:
Can you tell he's standing on THE GROUND?
After which this actually looked great:
A few weeks ago I showed you this:
And now, with the jack-and-jill door to the bathroom gone (that's the door to the closet in the photo) the drywall up, the hardwood down, and the walls primed and ready for paint, it's this:
I hear angels singing.
December 12, 2013
Not quite feeling the holiday spirit? A nighttime visit to The Grove will take care of that.
Enormous tree?
Check.
Zillions of twinkly lights?
Yep.
Grinchy thoughts banished by the spectacle?
You bet.
December 11, 2013
If, as you look at the sky in the photo, you picture the frigid core of a calving iceberg, you'll get a sense of your shivering (22 degrees in the mountains when we took our walk, a bit warmer at the beach when we got this shot, but honestly? Not much...) photog.
And to anyone reading from a colder place, feel free to laugh out loud. It warms the air.
December 10, 2013
The little lake here in the mountains has been rimmed with ice the last few mornings. (I can't even think about what's been happening to the bougainvillea since the thermometer started taking its nightly dive into the 20s.)
December 9, 2013
About an hour after this walk in the woods, Walter George "Huck Finn" Clooney chewed up a roll of super-absorbent paper towels. Twelve hours later, symptoms (I'll spare you) ensued. We're now waiting for the vet to call back.
Oh Walt.
* Update Pupdate: The details continue to be disgusting but the gist is, Walt (unlike the bank account) is going to be OK.
December 8, 2013
One minute the fog was belly-to-the-ground, the next it lifted, shreds and spirals drifting into sky so bright you had to blink, blink again.
December 7, 2013
December 6, 2013
We knew it was cold when the heater, which is set to 55 degrees overnight, kicked on at 3 a.m. What wasn't quite clear until heading out with the dogs after sunrise was exactly how cold it had gotten in the Santa Monica Mountains last night.
How cold, you ask? This cold:
<
Makes that frost and snow advisory from the National Weather Service spring to life.
December 5, 2013
Brrrr.
December 4, 2013
I left my camera in the barn so for today, we'll just look at Walter's puppy face.
December 3, 2013
It's been a few weeks since we checked in on the chuckleheads dogs. They were racing around like maniacs the other evening and I don't think there's a single photo that's actually in focus.
First, they hear something. Deer, I think.
Then they catch the scent.
They're out there, Walt's sure of it.
You know who else is out there?
Maisie.
She's not putting up with any crap, though.
So Walt backs off and the pair of them patrol, keeping the woods safe for one more day.
And btw, Miss Maisie is celebrating her 8th birthday today.
She has expressed a birthday wish:
December 2, 2013
All of us, egrets included, are hoping for some rain.
December 1, 2013
I didn't think I caught a shot of the little alligator, and from the angle here, you can tell I very nearly didn't.
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