Ponce de Leon and Osceola

 First Citizens Bank on the Tamiami Trail in Naples has a large statue of Ponce de Leon in the front.  Juan Ponce de León was a Spanish explorer and conquistador known for leading the first official European expedition to Florida in 1513.  He is usually associated with a search for the Fountain of Youth.

  Ponce de León returned to Southwest Florida in 1521 with the first large-scale attempt to establish a Spanish colony. However, the native Calusa people fiercely resisted the incursion, and Ponce de Léon was seriously wounded in a skirmish. The colonization attempt was abandoned, and he died from his wounds.

Osceola was a prominent leader of the Seminoles in the first third of the 19th century.  His statue hides out in the parking lot behind the bank.  I am surprised that I haven't read anything about native Americans protesting the rather offensive placement of the statue. 

Animal Tracks

 Animal tracks in the snow behind my Ridgefield house.

Deer tracks are the ones I usually see back there.  These look different, but perhaps that is because the snow is much deeper than in past winters.

Back to Florida tomorrow.

Hacienda Don Manuel

 

For the younger granddaughter's ninth birthday, we had dinner at Hacienda Don Manuel, which has some wonderful murals, including this one.

The dinner concluded with a mariachi band putting a sombrero on her head and singing Happy Birthday to her.  Very special.

Linked to Monday Murals.

White

 The March theme for City Daily Photo is "white."  So hard!  Not because I can't think of any, but because I can think of so many.

I visited China two years ago.  It seemed right to convert some of the images to black-and-white.  

This young woman in traditional dress and her non-traditional iPhone worked beautifully that way.

This is Sequoia, one of Susie's weimaraners.  Sequoia was a wonderful dog that passed over the rainbow bridge three years ago.  Her longtime companion Lola is 14 and still with us.

White ibises are as plentiful in Southwest Florida as squirrels in New England.

Here are other photographers' choices.

Snow White

 I have been in Ridgefield over the weekend for a granddaughter's birthday.  I haven't seen so much snow since the Blizzard of 1978!  White buildings on Main Street really stood out against the high snowbanks.

Lounsbury House was built in 1896 by a former Connecticut governor.  These days it is an event space.  I have shown it from the front several times.  This is the right side.

The Christian Science church has a small structure near the sidewalk to distribute literature.  It is designed to match the church building.

Keeler Tavern dates back to pre-Revolutionary days.  

This is a very nice Italianate residence across from Keeler's Tavern.  Today it is the home of Ridgefield's first selectman (equivalent to mayor in Connecticut cities with a different government structure).

Art Deco

The Edison Theater in Fort Myers no longer shows movies.  It now houses a couple of law firms.

Naples Pier Again

 A month ago I posted about the start of the work to demolish the Naples Pier in preparation for replacing it with a substantially bigger, stronger and more resilient pier.

I visited again a week ago.  The pilings and supports are still there, but most of the decking is now gone.