It's August 10 and Here in Malibu is one year old. Thank you to everyone (spam bots excepted) who has taken an interest in this little piece of pixilated real estate.

Here's the blog's first post. And below that - what else? - a Paradise Cove sunrise.

Everyone wants a piece of Malibu, including me. My buying power has proven modest – an aging mobile home on a bluff above the beach. We rent the land. The house sits on metal tripods that shimmy in the slightest earthquake, let the occasional raccoon or opossum rest in the cool darkness. Their smell moves through the air vents, a pungent musk that can’t be anything but wild animal.

When the sun goes down, coyotes light up the canyon with yips and howls, bloodthirsty arias that alter your dreams. The cats in the house wake up then, drift to an open window to watch and listen long into the night. At dawn, a membrane of mist hangs above the water. Often there’s a pod of dolphins gliding by, gray fins piercing gray water backed by gray sky. more...