I'm out of town and a little bit homesick (I'm missing out on the storm!) so here's a Zuma Beach repeat.

So the sign I really want to post isn't a reality yet but the news of its impending arrival is being greeted with cheers -- the LA City Council voted unanimously to rename a part of Elysian Park Avenue for our very own Vin Scully.

From Jesus Sanchez' great site, The Eastsider LA:

ECHO PARK -- The City Council voted unanimously today to rename Elysian Park Avenue in honor of Vin Scully as the legendary broadcaster prepares for what he says will most likely be his last season offering play-by-play of Dodger games after 66 years.

The council motion that was approved 12-0 directs the Bureau of Engineering to start the process of wiping Elysian Park Avenue off the map after more than a century and replacing it with Vin Scully Avenue. The two-block street runs between Sunset Boulevard and Stadium Way near one of the ballpark's main entrances.

And if you think that means I'm re-posting a photo of me and Vin taken the time I got to interview him in his studio booth before a game at Dodger Stadium, well, you know my methods, Watson.

He was as fascinating and classy and generous and kind as you would imagine.

Zuma sunset from PCH.

Yes, there's been a lot of red on the blog these past few days but El Nino is flirting with us so 'tis the season.

Along the very route where May Rindge outsmarted the robber barons of Southern Pacific and forced them to lay their tracks on the other side of the Santa Monica Mountains sits an old railroad car, now an atmospheric home office.

Throwback Thursday: Southern Pacific Railroad car, shot on Nov. 10, 2012

Red sky at morning, that's the adage (sailors take warning, is how it ends) and it's what we had here. Check out guest blogger Grace Peng's weather post on LA Observed's front page for details about the atmospheric river of rain (and wind and slides and terrible driving) headed our way.

The ferris wheel at the Santa Monica pier -- what a way to spend a few minutes.

The view to the north:

...and to the south:

..where a couple of guys (and a gull) got absorbed in a photo shoot with an impressively bendy woman:

As the sun rose:

...and the moon set:

...we watched some paddlers:

...and looked across to downtown LA:

Contrail, conspiracy theory; potato, potahto.

Never watched "Dexter" so until I googled, I had no idea what this eerie bumper sticker at the local grocery store was about.

I love our winter landscape, bright horizon through the a sycamore's bare limbs.

First a skunk sprayed my car, then Walter rolled in -- well, I don't want to ruin your day with specifics but he's at the dog wash right now. Meanwhile, I got to spend three hours at the Apple store chatting with customer service, which as anyone who owns an i-anything knows is the most ironic name for what happens when you interact with Apple. So for Throwback Thursday I'm re-posting this squirrel who, if he had a working knowledge of playground insults, would stick out his tongue and blow the universe a raspberry.

That is all.

Throwback Thursday: Squirrel in the Santa Monica Mountains, shot on April 13, 2012.

*This post has been edited for crankiness because my very proper French mother reads my blog. (Hi mom!)

Even the south-facing beaches are feeling the effects of a few days of of big waves and storm tides.

Slow colors, the inside of the house gone pink long before we headed outside.

Climbing Kanan today meant a climb into the clouds.

We're in a pattern of evening fog and morning dew, everything drenched and refracting light as the sun comes up. It's (blessedly) typical for winter, including the post-walk scent of wet dog.

At Vintage Grocers the other day:

Ever since the rains returned, coyotes sightings here at the little cottage have become scarce. We'll hear them at night, far away and in the hills, but the canid highway behind the house has gone quiet.

Instead the hawks are back, hunting, gliding and, when luck is with us, perched and patient as the mere humans on the ground aim cameras and rudely click-click-click away.

Up in the Santa Monica mountains last week, near one of the dogs' favorite trails:

...a hawk was back in the sycamore.

A couple of profile shots:

And, when the wind kicked up, a bit of protective floofing. (Yes, that's a technical term.)

Today the sun didn't rise so much as slide through fog banked on the horizon.

Yesterday morning, to get from here:

...to there:

...took two hours.

Nice view, though.

All of a sudden, pink.

Walter, ambassador of ever-present hope and joy, wants to welcome you to Monday. (And Tuesday and Wednesday and -- well, you get the picture.)

Remember that visit to sleepy Trancas creek?

Well look who woke up:

And in case you didn't know the Trancas shopping center sits on a wetland:

You know it's really winter when the plow trucks appear, clearing mud and rocks and the occasional boulder from our unpredictable coastal roads.

With a tethered kayak as reference point, you can see the sand ebb and flow with the storms and the seasons.

Oct. 27. Sinking.

Oct. 28. Washed clean.

Dec. 24. Going.

Dec. 29. Almost gone.

Jan. 7. Back again.

That December, a storm brought so much rain that Ramirez Creek flooded. By the time it was done residents had to park their cars and walk, using canyon bridges to get home.

Throwback Thursday: Ramirez Creek flooding on Dec. 19, 2010

The weather broke yesterday and, just before a lovely sunset:

...we saw a water spout, a rainbow, and this wet coyote:

Headed north on PCH through Ventura this morning, where streams of muddy water from burn areas rushed beneath hillside barricades. Seems like a matter of when, not if landslides close down that stretch of road.

Meanwhile, Trancas creek was stirring:

And a couple of dogs forced to wear raincoats mulled a call to PETA.

A bit of El Nino prep at the Paradise Cove pier...

Not quite the colors but definitely the shape of the sun and clouds at daybreak.

The lights and garlands of the little flower shop near Trancas, sweet counterpoint to the pre-dawn dark.

Happy New Year!