West Ender Malibuites
exchanged sweats, Ugg boots, and hoodies for shorts, bikinis and sun hats today
as the thermometer climbed towards the 80-degree marker. Finally, a break. More
than a break: the best of a summer’s day!

It seems like So Cal has been
trapped in an arctic chill since Thanksgiving with consistent daytime temperatures
hovering 50-something degrees, nights touching the 30’s, and paired with a wind
chill blowing off the ocean, slapping at our backs. Sniffles, sore throats and
the flu make for uncooperative socializing, let alone lots of missed school
days. But today, January 19, the vibe at Little Dume is “chill” and one of
relief.  You can almost hear a big sigh,
like an exhale of a pranayama yoga breath.

 At eleven this morning, with barely
a breeze nor swell, barebacked boarders glide across the glassy bay.  Solo, or in pods, they rhythmically dip and
pull, dip and pull—alternating from arm to arm, maintaining a straight line,
heading East or West. 

The tide line eases from a
6.5 to a -1.4, more than enough to expose the shoreline’s underwater cacophony
of vivid organic colors: the potent green of kelp and algae; the breathing
purples and orange backs of the starfish; the chocolate and umber spikes of the
urchin. This winter’s receding tide cycle is providing a major moonscape of
sediment that angles and juts out of wet and dry sand. Off leash (don’t
snitch!) local dogs and residents take their time meandering thru the
sculptural forms, pausing now and then for—well, just to pause. And maybe take
a photo for the spectacularity of it all. 

We had the honor to photograph
a woman with her daughter and an exchange student from Italy. “Bon giorno!” I
exclaimed, meaning it and feeling a little silly, and not. After all, everyone
knows the greeting, but how often do you get to say it on a Malibu beach?  Moreover, how often does a young person from a
foreign country much, much older than ours, with some of the greatest pieces of
art and treasures the world has ever known, get to experience a place called
“Malibu”?  I bet she felt she “landed”
her own kind of treasure today: different from Rome, or the Amalfi Coast, or
Tuscany. But special.

 My Malibu exists beyond mere celebrity groove and tops out at 
one of the “grooviest” environments
(micro climates and all), on this planet. What a place to come home to! This
exchange student and her new family seemed to feel this way too, as they smiled
from ear to ear for their photo op on a warm beach in January!

 Such a gift for this person,
and anyone for that matter, who is lucky enough to dip their toes in the
Pacific, alongside the indigenous water fowl, the ashes of seaweed, and the
astoundingly beautiful asterias vulgaris creatures of the sea.