Brown Pelicans in Chokoloskee

Chokoloskee is a small unincorporated village of about 350 residents, south of Everglades City.

When I visited, about twenty brown pelicans were roosting on piers at a marina.

Pelicans are the goofiest things, bar none.

City Daily Photo bloggers post photographs on a theme on the first day of each month.  On 
February 1, they will address this intriguing question:  If you had to leave forever the city 
from which you usually post, what would you miss most?  

A Great Egret at an Ibis Convention

As dusk approaches, ibises gather to tell tall tales and gossip.

A great egret hired to provide the security eavesdrops.

Weekend Reflections.

U.S. Post Office at Ochopee

You are looking at the smallest post office in the United States.  It was a shed on a tomato farm

until 1953, when the Ochopee general store/post office was destroyed in a fire.

This shed was quickly commissioned as a post office and
has been  in service ever since.

Ochopee is on the Tamiami Trail near the entrance to the Everglades National Park.

City Daily Photo bloggers post photographs on a theme on the first day of each month.  On 
February 1, they will address this intriguing question:  If you had to leave forever the city 
from which you usually post, what would you miss most?  

Country Churches

There are a few very small towns to the southeast of Naples, on the way to the Everglades.

(Goodland, which you saw yesterday, is one of them.)  Each small town has at least one church.

Everglades City was the staging area for the construction of the Tamiami Trail -- the main road from Tampa to Miami -- through the Everglades in the 1920s.  Everglades City lies south of the 

Tamiami Trail, at the eastern edge of the Ten Thousand Islands.  

Today it has only 400 residents but three churches.  This is the community church.

Copeland is north of the Tamiami Trail, with the Big Cypress National Preserve to the east and the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve Park to the west.  Copeland is home to 275 people and a Baptist Church.

City Daily Photo bloggers post photographs on a theme on the first day of each month.  On 
February 1, they will address this intriguing question:  If you had to leave forever the city 
from which you usually post, what would you miss most?  

Goodland's Mullet Festival

Thousands squeezed into the little fishing village of Goodland for the annual Mullet Festival.

She was the queen of the festival.

Or maybe she just bought the shirt.

He wore a badge claiming to be the Buzzard Queen Inspector and the ladies raced to have their photos taken with him.  I'm not going to discuss the coconuts.

Yes.  Alcohol was involved.  A lot of alcohol.

A bunch of fun-loving ladies from Decatur, Illinois, posed for the cameraman.

I always forget to wear my crab hat.

But I am planning to wear my hat for the follicle-challenged wherever I go from now on.

City Daily Photo bloggers post photographs on a theme on the first day of each month.  On 

February 1, they will address this intriguing question:  If you had to leave forever the city 

from which you usually post, what would you miss most?   

Everglades Cafe

A mural on the side of Everglades Cafe in Naples highlights the Florida panther,

a critically endangered cat found in swampy marshlands like the Everglades

and Big Cypress National Preserve.  Only 100 - 200 survive.

Today's post is linked to Monday Mural.

City Daily Photo bloggers post photographs on a theme on the first day of each month.  On 
February 1, they will address this intriguing question:  If you had to leave forever the city 
from which you usually post, what would you miss most?  

Empty Bowls

"Empty Bowls" is a very successful fundraiser for the Harry Chapin Food Bank.

Local artists contribute pottery bowls that patrons buy for $15 and

local restaurants serve soup and bread to fill the bowls.

Last year the fundraiser raised $60,000 in three hours.

This year it seemed even more crowded.

Charity Navigator ranks the Harry Chapin Food Bank as #1 out of 141 Florida charities in its effectiveness and #11 out of 3,326 charities nationwide.

Terrific organization!

Lizard

And he didn't think I saw him!

Sunrise on the 16th Fairway (Again)

Some of you liked the foggy early morning shot on the 16th fairway that 

I included in my January 2 collection of favorite 2014 photographs.

Here is the same view at a recent sunrise, minus fog but with some clouds.

You have previously seen a fiery orange sunrise on the 16th fairway two years ago and a pinkish yellow sunrise last year.  Did I mention that I live on the 16th fairway?

For more images of reflections, please visit James' blog, Weekend Reflections.

City Daily Photo bloggers post photographs on a theme on the first day of each month.  On 
February 1, they will address this intriguing question:  If you had to leave forever the city 
from which you usually post, what would you miss most?  

Dede

Dede Sweet has a huge Naples art gallery, Sweet Art Gallery, displaying works by 50 artists.

Dede is a former runway model, so posing is as easy for her as breathing.

City Daily Photo bloggers post photographs on a theme on the first day of each month.  On 
February 1, they will address this intriguing question:  If you had to leave forever the city 
from which you usually post, what would you miss most?  

Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Game

Last weekend the Wounded Warrior Amputee softball team played the county sheriff's office in an

exhibition game in Bonita Springs. 

Amputee players fielded their positions smoothly despite wearing prostheses.

This one-armed player got a hit every time.  In the field, he caught the ball,
tossed his glove and ball into the air, caught the ball and fired it in. 

The positive attitudes, competitive fire and athletic ability of the Wounded Warriors

were impressive.  Well done, gentlemen.
Thank you for your service.

City Daily Photo bloggers post photographs on a theme on the first day of each month.  On 
February 1, they will address this intriguing question:  If you had to leave forever the city 
from which you usually post, what would you miss most?  

Fusion Art at the Bonita Springs Art Show

And, here is the last post from the Bonita Springs Art Show.  Texas husband and wife
artists Liv and Ron Colbert team up to create "fusion art," which they call 

"a marriage of photography and painting."

Liv photographs and prints scenes on large canvases, Ron assembles those canvasses into

five-panel structures and then paints complementary scenes on two background panels

that connect the three foreground photographic panels.

I found the idea intriguing and the execution excellent,
but I didn't go home with one.

City Daily Photo bloggers post photographs on a theme on the first day of each month.  On 
February 1, they will address this intriguing question:  If you had to leave forever the city 
from which you usually post, what would you miss most?  

Women of the Bonita Springs Art Show

Female artists were also well represented at the Bonita Springs Art Show.

Britta Jepson Loos is a Bavarian-born painter who works in abstract expressionism.

She now lives in Key Largo, Florida.

Colorado artist Teresa Hansen sculpts life-size-plus children in bronze.

South Africa-born sculptress Estella Fransbergen creates bronze female torsos

and adorns them with string skirts of precious stones and

other materials.

Pauline Fawcett is a Florida artist who specializes in colorful flower paintings.

City Daily Photo bloggers post photographs on a theme on the first day of each month.  On 
February 1, they will address this intriguing question:  If you had to leave forever the city 
from which you usually post, what would you miss most?  

Men of the Bonita Springs Art Show - Photographers

Robert Heier is a photographer who offers heavily manipulated art photographs.

Tom Clements sells photographs, both large and small,
usually in earth tones and quiet in their feeling.

Patrick Whalen's photography featured scenes of decay, printed on glossy aluminum.

City Daily Photo bloggers post photographs on a theme on the first day of each month.  On 
February 1, they will address this intriguing question:  If you had to leave forever the city 
from which you usually post, what would you miss most?  

Men of the Bonita Springs Art Show - Sculptors

This is the time of year when there is a big outdoor art show just about every weekend.

William Kidd is a clay artist from Florida, who creates fanciful organic forms.

Ronnie Hughes creates lifelike glass wildflower sculptures in North Carolina.

Chris Seeman is a sculptor from Cincinnati who creates abstract metal shapes.

John Krieger creates whimsical clay fish (and wears a goofy shirt with pictures of fish).

And, Georgia wood turner Matthew Hatala creates beautiful, Asian-inspired,
polished wooden vessels.

City Daily Photo bloggers post photographs on a theme on the first day of each month.  On 
February 1, they will address this intriguing question:  If you had to leave forever the city 
from which you usually post, what would you miss most?  

Audrey's IV - Hats

Audrey's has many cool women's vintage hats.

(Not that this is a field in which I specialize . . . . )

Weekend Reflections.

Audrey's III - Ashley

Ashley is another sales assistant at Audrey's.  She showed me some of the jewelry.

Audrey's II - Quenby

Quenby is English, a sales assistant at Audrey's.  She showed me around.

Audrey's

I stumbled across Audrey's last week.  

It is a photographer's feast, a wildly colorful vintage clothing and jewelry store for women. 

Ladies, you are welcome.