The Story of Southwest Florida in Three Panels

One

Two

Three

Hiding

I just liked the little statue and its green surroundings.

Bernice

Bernice is from Pennsylvania.  She has traveled all over Europe and lived

in London and Paris.  She has also lived in Canada.  Italy is one of Bernice's loves.

A Foggy Friday

Where does it begin?  Where does it end?  What's up?  What's down?

An iPhone photo for Weekend Reflections.

Spring Training

In March the Boston Red Sox have "spring training"

(i.e., pre-season practice and games) in Fort Myers.

Xander Bogaerts (above) and Will Middlebrooks hit back-to-back home runs for the Sox.

My seats were in deep left field, so I was 300 feet from the batters.

The images of action on the field were shot at 300mm and then cropped further.

Even though not as sharp as most photos I post, I was happy with them.

An usher led the singing of "Sweet Caroline," a Red Sox tradition 

between the halves of the eighth inning since 2002.

EVERYONE wears Red Sox garb.

These two sons will remember going to a Red Sox game with their dad.

(The people shots are all dark because the bleachers were in the shade; sorry.)

Palm Cottage

Palm Cottage was built in 1895.  It is the oldest remaining house in Naples.
(Europeans can laugh here about an 1895 house being old.)  

In the 1960s it was going to be torn down to make way for parking for the Naples Pier.

Members of the Naples Historical Society raised the money to buy the

cottage and avoid demolition.  Today it houses the Society and is open for tours.

Bone's Rest

Some of the old cottages in Naples survive.

Some are modest, some are grand.  Bone's Rest is one of the grand cottages, 

two blocks from the beach and one block from restaurants and shopping.

You can have it for only $4 million.

From time to time I will show some of the prettiest cottages.

This post is linked to Ruby Tuesday.

Naples Pier

Naples Pier juts 1,000 feet into the Gulf of Mexico.
It was built in 1888 and rebuilt multiple times after a 1922 fire and three later hurricanes.  

Rails once ran down the pier to move luggage and passengers from ships to shore.

These days the pier is visited by tourists, beachgoers and fishermen.

Another Naples Art Festival

Artist Debbie Marconi is outgoing and funny.

Debbie's paintings are -- surprise! -- colorful and funny.

Sculptor Peter Rujuwa is from Zimbabwe, now living in Indianapolis.

He carves both abstract forms and animals

from serpentine stone.

Lynn Hardesty makes colorful 

cloissone enamel jewelry.

Anastasia Khabirova Musick is from Russia but currently lives

in Mississippi.  Many of the paintings she showed were

on an orange-brown spectrum.

Vermont-based artist Edward Loedding displayed

paintings from his white portfolio.

Mary Ann from Tampa

One thing I have learned while doing this blog is that

I can sometimes walk up to a well-dressed complete stranger and say,

"You have a wonderful classic face; may I take a photograph of you?"

and Mary Ann from Tampa will courteously say, "Yes, you may."

Early morning at the 17th Hole

The sun was rising in the East as I was on my way to the clubhouse for an early tee time.

No colorful sunrise, but still beautiful and with a nice reflection.

An iPhone photo for Weekend Reflections.

Naples Botanical Garden VI - Fruit, Flowers and Plants

A bunch of Bananas.

Flowers from a Double Buttercup Tree.

Bougainvillea.

A purple flower with a bee.
(OK, I forgot to take notes.)

A seed pod?

Ben teak.

And something else that I don't remember but was pretty cool.

Purrr-fect!

Chris is from Pittsburgh.  For much of his working life, he managed landscaping crews.
These days he is retired and devotes a lot of his time to caring for his elderly
mother-in-law while his wife manages a furniture store.

A Walk on Sanibel Beach

A mermaid sand sculpture made by

Eva, Mom and Eva's brother Jon.

A sandman.

A sandboy.

All this beach walking and picture-taking works up an appetite.

So, of course, a visit to Grandma Dot's is required.

Jane's Restaurant

Jane's Restaurant is in a courtyard on a side street

just steps from 3rd Street South in Naples.

It is a good place for an al fresco lunch.

Especially if you are wearing orange, salmon or red.

Don't forget to have key lime pie for dessert.  Hey!  You deserve it.

Laarni

Laarni is a West Virginia University graduate.  She works for Collier County as

a supervising nurse, helping pregnant teens, drug abusers and other

at risk mothers.  We talked about photography and she showed

me some lovely flower photos on her computer.

Laarni is indeed a Superwoman.

Naples Botanical Garden V - Hummingbird and Flower

This LEGO brick sculpture by Sean Kenney

sits in the Florida Garden

at Naples Botanical Garden.

It is made from 31,365 LEGO bricks.

Naples Botanical Garden IV - Mike

Mike is a retired high school principal.  For the past four years he has spent

 five days a week leading tours of

Naples Botanical Garden.

Do you like reflections?  Click here for Weekend Reflections.

Naples Botanical Garden III- LEGO Garden Worker

This Garden Worker is at the Children's Garden

at Naples Botanical Garden.

This sculpture was made from 37,497 LEGO bricks.

Naples Botanical Garden II - LEGO Butterfly

Yesterday you saw the real butterflies at Naples Botanical Garden.

Here is a large Eastern tiger butterfly made from 37,481 LEGO bricks.

Through mid-May, the Naples Botanical Garden is exhibiting 15 large

LEGO brick sculptures designed and constructed by

Sean Kenney, a LEGO certified professional.