February 29, 2016
We could either delve into the arcana behind how and why we add a day to February every four years (thanks, Julius Caesar and Pope Gregory) or we could--
...use it as an excuse to look at leaping dogs.
February 28, 2016
Fog last night, fog all day, fog again right now. Air cool, canyon quiet, dogs running in wet from a walk.
Where are the storms? How, in the year of a monster El Nino, are we counting droplets of mist instead of weeks -- or months -- of rain?
February 27, 2016
The annual Cannabis Cup -- now that sounds intriguing.
February 26, 2016
Thermometer said 44 this morning as we headed down to the beach. Chilly and quiet and so very pretty as sunrise lit the sand and the sky.
February 25, 2016
I miss the barely controlled chaos of a promising reno as it barrels along.
It turned out pretty well, all things considered.
Throwback Thursday: Mobile home renovation, shot in November 2013.
February 24, 2016
I love so many places across the US, but each time I leave and return I learn again that California is the landscape of home.
February 23, 2016
Dear California,
See you soon.
xoxo
February 22, 2016
We would see him in the morning, the sunrise catching his shadow inside the tent. On our evening walks he was gone, the tent zippered, the bike missing, everything battened down.
He stayed for a few weeks and then, when a rainstorm turned open field into soggy wetland, he packed up and left. The dogs still scout his campsite and I wonder -- with their amazing sense of smell, what secrets do they know about the visitor?
February 21, 2016
The best part of this photo is the fire hydrant, which lets you see just how tall these sand hill cranes actually are.
February 20, 2016
She really does. Every morning she's in the water, slipping into one of those mono-fins, then zooming and gliding and diving and gone.
February 19, 2016
A moment of grace, for Allan.
February 18, 2016
Little Miss Patsy, who says whatever it is, she didn't do it.
Throwback Thursday: shot March 13, 2013
February 17, 2016
Already homesick.
February 16, 2016
If yes, a bit of visual solace.
February 15, 2016
The marine layer came yesterday, a solid mass coiled across the coast.
Sunrise set the atoms free and everywhere, fog.
Swirling, chilly, briny, and for a long, sweet hour, impenetrable.
\
Then the heat spiked and the winds kicked up and we're back to summer heat in winter. But it was lovely while it lasted.
February 14, 2016
How it looked and how it felt.
February 13, 2016
A car show rolled through last week and among the beauties on parade, a Chevy Chevelle Malibu.
Very pretty.
February 12, 2016
A burst of blossoms overnight, or at least that's how it seems.
I love the colors, blue and white, each making the other brighter:
Best of all is stuff you see close up because you slowed down:
Tufted gold at the stamen's base, purple anthers, tiny shadows.
February 11, 2016
Morning birds on the Paradise Cove pier.
Throwback Thursday: Shot on Feb. 6, 2012
February 10, 2016
Due to circumstances beyond my control, a new photo of the beach or the cove or the sunrise or a hawk or an oak or a coyote or a sailboat or, well, any of the staples of this love letter to Malibu blog was not possible.
Fortunately, Walt and Maisie are happy to fill the vacuum.
Video shot by Tiffany Woodring, dog sitter extraordaire.
February 9, 2016
First the talk was of December rain and we had a couple of decent storms. Then things went dry and the accepted wisdom was there would be a wet January. That was a bust and the talk turned to February. Now, with this heat wave, I'm beginning to wonder.
Where are you, El Niño storm track? The faithful are saying March and who knows, maybe even April. Here on the blog, though, it's record highs and hot canyon winds and a photo of rain storms past.
February 8, 2016
Between dusk and dawn the temperature here spiked, hot wind racing down the canyon, everyone wrested from sleep. Dogs prowling, owls hunting, car alarms coming from all directions all night long.
Right now the wind's relentless, trees bowed, the Pacific churned a deep denim blue. So here's a little video shot this morning, just wind and leaves, not too special, which is all that your sleep-starved blogger could manage while in a trance in the eucalyptus grove.
February 7, 2016
Coyotes have been scarce these last few months, pretty much since the rains returned. With mountain creeks running again, I think the wild things are freed from depending on dripping hoses and leaky sprinklers for their daily drink.
February 6, 2016
Another entry in the Malibu genre of vanity plates.
As much about the car as the roadway.
February 5, 2016
Looks like another bit of undeveloped Malibu is about to vanish.
February 4, 2016
A dinner invite in the sand.
Throwback Thursday: Point Dume headlands, shot on Feb. 8, 2009
February 3, 2016
Cool this morning and very still, no wind, no waves, no people.
The horizon brightened:
A gull flew by:
Maisie said, 'no photos please':
Please, no photos.
While Walt just smiled and smiled and then smiled some more.
February 2, 2016
Did you see the story in the New York Times last week about a German forest ranger who wrote about the social connections between trees?
"These trees are friends," he said, craning his neck to look at the leafless crowns, black against a gray sky. "You see how the thick branches point away from each other? That's so they don't block their buddy's light."
Before moving on to an elderly beech to show how trees, like people, wrinkle as they age, he added, "Sometimes, pairs like this are so interconnected at the roots that when one tree dies, the other one dies, too."
His book has apparently created a sensation.
I suspect it's akin to the ongoing debate about whether animals have emotions.
Some say no, and then there are those of us who wonder how it could ever come into question.
February 1, 2016
Window seat -- it never ever gets old.
(Crummy pix, but still.)
Adios, Florida:
Ola, dtla.
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