This is the post-storm view from Bluffs Park, our go-to spot these days, just clouds and surf and the last of the sunset.

After a long and slow approach, the storm arrived here last night. It poured, torrents of rain that overran the gutters, soaked the plants, flooded the courtyard and finally, finally, made it feel like winter.

Walt has a raincoat (which he actually likes) but the wild puppy goes out au naturel. Her learning curve about rain and puddles and dripping eaves, which make her bark and leap and run in crazed circles, is kind of hilarious. The chilly wet wears her out in half the time, and no one is complaining about that.

Next week the puppy gets her 16-week vaccinations, which ends this challenging period of house arrest. Walks! Hikes! Doggie daycare! Walt and I are counting the days, but the kids here are kind of sad, and see Teddy's entry into the wider world as the end of a delightful era.

Meanwhile, here's the Malibu pier this morning, a moment of sun between storm cells.

That photo yesterday of Teddy wriggling her way into Walt's affections reminded me of Walt's own journey with Maisie. She was an easier mark than Walt has been, and I wish it was possible for him to remember what a goofball he was, and how very kindly an older Labrador treated him.

For Walt, every day is Puppy Wednesday. The baby Labrador tears around the house, a study in chaos as she earns her place and learns her manners. Walt has been a saint, correcting her appropriately, strict but always gentle, and Teddy has been very brave, valiant, even, as she made the unimaginable adjustment from living with her mom and 10 siblings, to a new home, suddenly alone with a bunch of non-canine strangers.

Here she is, titrating herself into Walt's environment, and god bless the handsome border collie, he's beginning to give her his heart.

OK, technically this was a few miles east of the city limits but it snowed in Malibu Canyon on Saturday and needless to say, it brought traffic to a crawl.

Almost the end of January and other than that one storm, still no rain, so we settle for a light haze and call it weather.

Four long (long) years ago today:

Throwback Thursday: The Women's March in dtla on Jan. 20, 2017

As of noon today, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The tiny Labrador takes a break from perpetual motion to fight hard against sleep.

This is just south of Mugu Rock, nothing but mountains and ocean and a winding ribbon of road.

This was actually last week, but I'm only now finding time to download the jpegs and post. The Wild Puppy goes to her first obedience class on Tuesday and to say I'm counting down the seconds is a major understatement.

I want to say it was the wild puppy who woke us all at 5 am but it was the anxious and restless human, unable to fall much deeper asleep than a fretful doze all night long. We headed outside for a quick walk around the property and it was shockingly warm, already 76 degrees. Less than an hour later, it was 85.

It's been a long, hot day, the wind so strong that, when I stole away with Walt to Bluffs Park as the puppy napped and the kids here zoom-schooled, you could barely stay on your feet. Then a weird lull at noon, a sudden cool breeze and the thermometer reading 72 degrees. And now the heat again, 90 in the shade, the dogs both passed out on the cool dining room tile, the blankets in the bedrooms looking absurd.

It was 88 degrees at Leo Carrillo State Beach today, with hot, dry winds howling down from the canyons, so I'm reaching into the past to take refuge in a rainy winter's day.

Throwback Thursday: Shot in Ramirez Canyon on January 21, 2010

The puppy is really settling in, feeling at home. She's inherited her half-sister Daisy's toys, and it's been pretty funny. She loves the same ducks that Daisy loved. Everyone here does a double-take to see a miniature (but very, very different) version of Daisy trotting around with a blue or yellow or green duck in her puppy mouth, the toy as large as her body. And she's fallen in love with a toy that Daisy mostly (and blessedly, as it turns out) ignored, a squeaky dachshund. It has, as you will understand if you manage to make it through the entire video, since been de-squeaked.

Also, yes, this continues to be be more Teddy-bu than Malibu and I'm sorry. Between the pandemic and a puppy who's still three weeks away from enough immunity to venture into public, life takes place within the borders of Casa de Loud! and the occasional this-is-a-car-Teddy ride.

Everything everywhere is so awful right now that this photo, where I hit the shutter before things were actually in focus, feels somehow soothing.

I was one of the lucky ones who got to go on solstice hikes with Tom LaBonge, receive a gift of pumpkin bread baked by nuns, and just generally bask in this lovely man's joy at being from Los Angeles. David Zahniser and Dakota Smith at the LA Times write about his untimely death, and big-hearted life:

Former Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge adored Los Angeles.

The 39-year veteran of City Hall regularly asked Angelenos to name their favorite L.A. buildings. He gave away calendars of his own photographs of the city and handed out loaves of pumpkin bread baked by local nuns. He loved hikes in Griffith Park and on at least one occasion, went to San Pedro for the Polar Bear Swim, charging into the chilly water on New Year's Day.

When voters considered breaking the city up into two or three pieces, LaBonge made clear he was passionately opposed.

If secession passed, "the sun would rise and all the other things would happen," LaBonge told The Times in 2002. "But it would personally hurt me."

LaBonge, who served on the City Council from 2001 to 2015, died Thursday. His wife, Brigid, said she had been unable to wake him up after he had been resting on the couch. Paramedics were called to their Silver Lake home. He was 67.

There's more, and it's worth reading, so please do click the link.

Photo by Jean-Michel Destang; Bordeaux Fête le Vin on Flickr.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to weigh in on where and how to move this little blog. I'm happy to know I'm not alone in my aversion to the fb/insta universe. The majority of you are in agreement that Wordpress deserves a serious look, so I'm checking it out. More news tk.

Meanwhile, the winter landscape here:

Someone brought a Christmas wreath to Bluffs Park and fastened it to a bush on one of the hiking trails:

In other news, change is in the wind. Here in Malibu's host, LA Observed, is completing its glide to a gentle but permanent landing. That means it's time to start thinking about a new home for this little blog. Maybe move to Instagram? Easy, so it's tempting, but it's hard to reconcile being part of the Facebook universe. Or maybe activate my url www.hereinmalibu.com, which lies fallow. Let me know if you have any thoughts. Meanwhile, I'll keep posting here, as often as the new puppy''s busy schedule allows.

So far, so good. :)