The Malibu Pier last night, diners strolling in, day trippers headed home, anglers making one last cast, and the marine layer edging closer.

I shot the video, uploaded it, had a snack, watered some plants and as I'm writing this they're still at it, Walter so sweet and gentle with the shark-toothed puppy.

The kinetic edition.

Maybe the best thing about the Pepperdine lawn, other than the scope and the sweep and the colors and the quiet and the view, is the fact that it's maintained entirely with recycled water.

Now if only the chimes of the clock tower were working again. I miss those.

Clearing the northern tip of the Santa Monica bay. You can just imagine the breeze, the views, the endless curve of the western horizon.

Throwback Thursday: Shot on May 18, 2013

Flying puppy ears!

Not too hot here for a change, in the 70s at the beach, high 80s across the mountains. Slight breeze, dove calling, summer stillness, still summer.

An odd sight, ducklings this late in summer. Scooting along so fast to keep pace with their mom, they're a blur on the water.

This old-school motel on the land side of PCH got an update so it's just a matter of time before the sign (not fabulous, I'll admit, but enduring) gets replaced.

An afternoon in the sun for the local turtle population, ectotherms who love a chance to warm up.

At the garden center the other day, this came in for a landing.

Unless it's getting water somehow, everything everywhere is dry.

Little Daisy, listening to the flock of wild parrots overhead and drinking in the wonder of it all.

In front of one of the houses on Carbon Beach, one of Malibu's priciest stretches of sand (and that's saying a lot) is a statue of a kneeling workman, perpetually stooped, trapped in an endless task.

Here it is, the original Malibu plate. Makes me wonder if there's a plain old 'Bu" plate out there somewhere...

We're in shock here at Casa de LOUD!, where things moved quickly and today Walter and I find ourselves living with a puppy. This comes just two weeks after Maisie's passing, but considering the sorrow the Tiny Labrador's death caused, it also comes just in time.

The puppy's name is Blue, True Blue, actually, but the little kids next door have taken to calling her Daisy. She's 12 weeks old and has a sweet, calm temperament. She adores Walter. He's a bit reserved in return. But he's fascinated. Camps out by her kennel when she's napping, follows her as she explores, corrects her sternly but appropriately when her puppy-ness crosses his boundaries. You can see the bond beginning to form.

It's unsettling, this mix of grief and delight. What helps is the little kids here. They still talk about Maisie all the time, ask me every day what she's thinking, and when they refer to her, they call her 'Little Shooting Star'.

The 6-year-old boy started it. Out of the blue one morning he asked "What does Little Shooting Star say?" and when I asked him who that was, he pointed to the sky and said it was Maisie.

Here's the puppy when we first met her:

And here she is discovering the delights of the Pepperdine lawn in the company of her hero, Walter.

The words 'fire season' have lost all meaning here in the West, where it begins earlier and earlier each year.

This is from 2007, as flames moved through Corral Canyon.

Throwback Thursday: View from Paradise Cove on November 24, 2007 at 2:58 pm.

A couple of times a week a different lovely young woman in the same whimsical red dress climbs a tree on the Pepperdine lawn.

It's always the same photog and always the same crew, who have created a thriving business shooting engaged couples against this striking backdrop.

The first night we spent here at Casa de LOUD! we learned we had downstairs neighbors. Considering this is a one-story bungalow with no basement, the news came as a bit of a shock.

It was at 3 am that Walter lost his mind and went full-on crazy-dog. He barked and raced in weird zigzags across the entire house as his ears and nose tracked the residents below.

Raccoons, it turned out. The landlord shoved a sandbag (love you, Malibu) into a broken air vent the following morning and the raccoon family moved.

Next door.

Walter got his summer haircut (the first of several -- the season is long and his fur grows fast) a few days ago:

...and he's so plush and squeezable, people can't keep their hands off of him.

Thirty-one seconds of creek and parrots.

The name plate/license plate edition.

Louise asks that you state your business, please.

Early light at Little Dume.

Throwback Thursday: Shot on Aug. 12, 2012 at 6:20 am.

The sad news here is that the Tiny Labrador left us this morning. She had been really sick and today it was time to let her go. It was very peaceful.

I choose to believe her beloved Jake was waiting for her, and that with the completion of her earthly duties there was great joy.

Rest in peace, little Maisie, and thank you. You were such a wonderful girl.