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.