Malibu

Beach boy/Surfin' USA/California Dreamin' and many other "ing" words without their "n"s.

Woke up in a tent with Callum. Had expected to drive home but the 21 families from Callum's school made us too welcome, sharing all their gear for our tent fished out from the back of the car where it's sat since camping in our friend's garden this summer. When I'd looked at the list of recommended things yesterday morning and week I'd had, it just didn't seem possible. But the long drive there and the meandering and vertiginous mountain drive just made me yearn to stay. Callum had a ball seeing his friends again, chasing each other with their flashlights and looking for bats.

I swear I must have slept for just a few minutes in total as I was (1) scared of bugs (2) scared of the strange animal noises (3) freezing cold (4) and feeling every little stone in my back. That said, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Fantastic weekend finished off this morning with a dip in the ocean and a drive along the Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu.

Later after dropping Callum home and getting cleaned up, I headed to the famous Forest Lawn Museum to photograph an extraordinarily beautiful exhibition of paintings by Ian Hornak which will go into permanent record at the museum. Cool being the only one present allowed to use a camera ;-)

PS The boys always wear thick UV suits on the beach and in the pool. Just this once, I made a quick exception...