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Wouldn't you like to be a kid again?

My Naples community is home to many retirees and few kids.
I am going to miss having a parade of candy seekers
ringing my doorbell tonight.  

Guest Photograph: Photo Club

My friend Mike was walking on Barefoot Beach at dusk.  He came across a

bunch of guys from a photography club and their models.

Great iPhone photo, isn't it?

Concert

The Philharmonic Orchestra of the performance-hall-that-cannot-be-named-because-photography-is-not-permitted opened its season last weekend under a new music director.  

Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien opened and Brahms' Symphony No. 1 in C Minor concluded, but the

highlight was the less well known Symphonie Espagnole by Edouard Lala.  The violin

soloist was Robert McDuffie, whose brilliant playing

had the audience leaping to its feet.

These Genes Run True

Daughter Holly and Granddaughter Amber flank Loretta.
I ran into these lovely Michiganders at Naples Pier.
Loretta moved here seven years ago
and the others followed.

36 Hours in Naples

It is very hard for a simple blogger to compete with the New York Times.

 The Sunday Times had a feature on Naples yesterday in their weekly column, "36 Hours in . . . 

You have seen some of these places before (like the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and sunset on the beach), and I have been to others without showing photos (like "bha! bha!," the Persian restaurant).

Which places do you want to see in future posts?

Matt

Matt was originally an architect, but the photo printing business his wife Marilu started was

growing and needed help, so he joined her.  This year the business is celebrating its tenth year.

Their showroom has several enlargements of panoramic photographs printed on

polished aluminum.  Wonderful!  The aluminum surface offers great clarity and luminance.
The most amazing thing is that they were all taken with iPhones!!

(Matt is holding an iPhone panorama Marilu took; their two kids are those little figures on the left.)

Marilu

Marilu came here from Venezuela in 2000.  She and her husband operate a  photo enlargement and printing business in Naples.  They serve artists, photographers, businesses . . . and Jack.

Last spring a friend showed me some enlargements that Marilu printed for him.  They blew my mind, so I raced over there with a favorite leopard photo.  That enlargement came out fabulously.
So, this week I went over with more files for her to enlarge and print.
When framed, they will liven up a guest bedroom and hallway.

Do you print and frame any of your photos?  Which ones?

The Seventeenth Hole

This is looking from the fairway of the seventeenth hole to the fairway of the eighteenth.

You don't have to hit a ball from here to there.  The course designer was cruel, but not that cruel.

The Clock

Yesterday I showed you a new market and restaurant, fresh, clean, modern and full of optimism.
Today's story is sadder.

Clock Family Restaurant closed suddenly last week after 38 years in business.

It was one of those old-fashioned, 24/7 family restaurants that most cities have.

Unfortunately, the Clock's customers, staff and owners and the facility all aged.

Time passed it by.

DeRomo's Gourmet Market and Restaurant

On overcast days, I look for indoor things to photograph.  DeRomo's Gourmet Market and Restaurant

is ten minutes up the road.  Today will be its sixth day in business.   From the number of

customers strolling around and checking it out, I predict a winner.

Francis Cuomo is the owner.  He has had five previous food stores and restaurants in Florida and

New York.  This very large upscale market and Italian restaurant is in the Promenade,

a once busy shopping center that suffered badly during the 2008 recession. 

The Promenade sits at the entrance to one of the biggest

communities in southwest Florida,

so it draws upon a large

local clientele.

Good luck, Francis.  I think the Promenade is coming back.

Mt. Etna from Taormina

I am now (mostly) unpacked from my semi-annual move between Hartford and Naples,

but before I begin posting Florida photos, there is one more thing
from Italy that I wanted to show you.

This is Thomas Cole's breathtaking, huge 1843 painting of Mt. Etna from Taormina in Sicily.

It hangs in Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum.  I had it with me on my recent trip,
and planned to show my own modest photograph of a similar scene.

But, I think the painting is a montage, not a faithful representation.

Here is my own similar photo of the ruins (which I also posted on October 9.)

And here is a photo from Taormina of Etna in the distance.

I never came across a vantage point from which one could get the ruins and
a prominent view of Etna into a single scene.

OK, I will try posting new material from Naples (Florida) tomorrow.

Shawn's Pianos

I'm back in Florida but it is going to take a day or two for me to get fresh photos from Naples.
So, why don't you visit my Hartford friend Shawn's studio instead?

Shawn buys, sells, repairs and refurbishes fine pianos.  I like visiting his showroom and workrooms to see which beauties are there.  But, it is frustratingly difficult to photograph them.

They are packed so closely together.

This old Steinway grand piano was in a featured spot.
It has wonderful hand-carved and gilded details.

Savannah!

I stopped in Savannah for the second night on the way to Florida.

There was going to be a "Light the Night" walk when it got dark.
A group from a dentist's office gathered before the walk.

I decided to get a meal at a nearby pub before the walk started.

Karen and I were walking in the same direction.  She is a retired ballerina and her sister is a photographer, so she was happy to pose for me near a blank wall with a nice iron grill.

A student at Savannah College of Art and Design was doing some intense computer work.

I can't keep my eyes (or camera) off the beautiful wrought iron railings.

Finally, it was dark enough for the walk, a fund-raiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Capturing photographs of moving people carrying lighted torches in the dark is 

WAY beyond my skill level, but I gave it a try. 

I will be in Naples tomorrow night!

Heading South

I left Hartford early on Thursday, in light rain.  (This is a windshield shot in western Connecticut . . .
shhhh!)  The sun came out in Pennsylvania but rainclouds resumed in Virginia,
where I stopped for the night.

I always intended to show these nice Hartford women from the summer, but there was never a time.

Claire is a graffiti artist who demonstrated her work at the
Pump House Gallery in Hartford's Bushnell Park.

Mary is a graduate student at University of St. Joseph in West Hartford.  She is the graduate assistant for Women of Wellness, a group of student leaders that develops programs to create awareness and promote physical and mental wellness.  Photographed in -- where else? -- Elizabeth Park.

And Rondelynn is co-owner of Niro, a boutique on Pearl Street.

An October Barn in New England

The scene in Avon, Connecticut, speaks for itself.

I started the drive south to Florida yesterday after two days in Hartford to do laundry and re-pack.
New material from along the way will be posted if I have the chance to find something.
If not, you will see some Hartford pix from the summer.

Streets of Napoli

The hiking trip and the small ship cruise are over.  Back in Napoli for the night 

before catching flights back to the US of A.  This time the hotel is in central Napoli, 

where graffiti covers everything, trash removal seems non-existent,
but crowds roam the streets and the vitality and people watching are superb.

Cefalu

Cefalu is a popular tourist destination on the northern coast of Sicily, mainly for

other Sicilians and Italians.  The old town and a sandy beach hug the shore.  

A huge stone promontory hovers above.

Bridesmaids rush to get to the church on time.

Clouds gathered a few hours later, so I aimed in the opposite direction -- into the sun --

and got a nice sunburst-and-Biblical-cloud effect.

Agrigento

The Valley of the Temples is in Agrigento, an old town on the southwestern coast of Sicily. 

The Temple of Concordia is the most complete temple.  It was built in the fifth century B.C.

and was converted to a Christian church in the sixth century A.D.  That kept it intact.

A 2011 statue of Icharus by Igor Mitoraj now lies to the side of the temple.

The Temple of Juno (Hera) was also built by the Greeks in the fifth century B.C. and

destroyed by the Carthaginians a hundred years later.

Saint John's Cathedral in Valletta, Malta

The exterior of the Knights of Malta's cathedral in Valletta, Saint John's Cathedral, is fairly plain.

Then you go inside.

Wow.

Siracusa in the Daytime

This is the lovely Duomo in Siracusa.  It was built over a 5th century B.C. doric temple.

And the Teatro Greco (Greek theater).

Siracusa at night!

Siracusa is a BEAUTIFUL old city on the southeastern coast of Sicily.

This is the Church of Santa Lucia alla Badio.

The Duomo is on another side of this peaceful piazza.

Old Print Shop

Among the many souvenir shops, bars and restaurants, Taormina

has some lovely antiques stores, including this shop selling old prints.

You might recognize a familiar man wearing one of his signature straw hats.

Weekend Reflections.

Taormina

Taormina is a beautiful town on a cliff above the Ionian Sea on the northeastern side of Sicily.  In addition to many old churches, bars and restaurants, souvenir shops and retail stores, and antique shops, it has an ancient Greek theater overlooking Mount Etna. The white cloud comes from particles being emitted from Etna, but the volcano itself is obscured.

Lipari and Volcano

Lipari is the biggest of the volcanic islands off the northern coast of Sicily.

Lying just south of Lipari is the smaller island of Volcano (at the top left), 

which is still active, and which gave its name to mountains that erupt.
Puffs of sulfuric emissions show as wisps of white smoke or clouds.

More Pompeii

This is the House of the Vettii, a grand private home in Pompeii.

The Capitolium, formerly the Temple of Jove, is at the end of the Forum, with the

ominpresent Mount Vesuvius behind.  The Forum was the center of Pompeii's

religious, civic and economic life.