St. Katherine Greek Orthodox Church

It is Sunday, so it is time for another church.

A popular Greek Festival is held every year at St. Katherine.  It is coming up in two or three weeks.


The theme for City Daily Photo bloggers on February 1 is
"A Scene from a Cafe or Coffee House."

Caloosahatchee Manuscripts

It has been three years since I showed the lighted cylinders on First Street in Fort Myers,

the Calahoosahatchee Manuscripts by sculptor Jim Sanborn.  Click here for more information.

I hope to be forgiven for repeating myself.  The pierced and lighted cylinders always
captivate me when I am in Ft. Myers at night.  

I was there recently for a play at Florida Repertory Theatre.

The theme for City Daily Photo bloggers on February 1 is

"A Scene from a Cafe or Coffee House."

Garden of Hope and Courage

The Garden of Hope and Courage is on a pond on the campus of Naples Community Hospital.

The garden was conceived by Jan Emfield, a breast cancer patient, and financed in large part by her family and friends after her death.  It is a place for cancer patients to relax, reflect and restore. 

The entrance to the garden features a three part sculpture by Naples artist Kathy Spalding.

On each side is a 1,500 pound featherlike bronze sculpture, with

the 500 pound figure of "Bloom" between them.


The theme for City Daily Photo bloggers on February 1 is
"A Scene from a Cafe or Coffee House."

Sundown at Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park

Thousands and thousands of sea stars were thrown onto the beach in a recent storm.
They couldn't get off the beach, so their bodies are everywhere.

Sue led a dozen women at a 5 o'clock sunset beach yoga class.

The sun set at 6 o'clock.  A family stood at water's edge.  The young father tossed his child up in the air repeatedly, but the grandmother took photographs with her iPhone and blocked my shot.

Preserving the family's memories are more important than my shot, don't you think?

So, I waited a bit longer and took a different photo.


The theme for City Daily Photo bloggers on February 1 is
"A Scene from a Cafe or Coffee House."

Annabelle Johnson's Pottery and Ceramics Studio

Annabelle Johnson has had a pottery and ceramics studio in Naples for decades.

These days Annabelle hosts several other potters and ceramicists in her studio "in season," when the snowbirds visit, then in summer she gets down to serious production of her own art.

Ceramicist Alexandra McCurdy was honored last year by induction into the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts.  Collectors know her best for her intricate ceramic boxes and bowls.
Floridians like her shorebird plaques (they help pay the bills).

Judy Ladd is a Notre Dame graduate who taught art education in an Indiana high school for years and taught art at a local college.  She features porcelain jewelry.

Suzanne Andersen is a Michigan ceramics artist who traveled to China in 2008.  She was captivated by the terra cotta soldiers and now like to make her own (much smaller) figures.

The theme for City Daily Photo bloggers on February 1 is
"A Scene from a Cafe or Coffee House."

Gallery 206

Rachel Ramm is mainly a portrait painter.  Don't
you love the expression she immortalized for that young boy?

Maggie DeMarco is from Rhode Island.  She was painting and exhibiting abstracts 

the day I visited the studio.

Paula Brody's summer home is on Cape Cod, where she exhibits in several studios.

She created the works behind her by painting paper then tearing it and gluing it to a canvas.

And Liz Handlan paints large and colorful flowers.

The theme for City Daily Photo bloggers on February 1 is
"A Scene from a Cafe or Coffee House."

A Busy Day in Olde Naples

"Empty Bowls" is a hugely popular fundraiser.  Students and local potters donated 2500 bowls and local restaurants donated soups.  The entire $15 paid by each event attendee 

went to the Harry Chapin Food Bank.

The annual chalk art event on Fifth Avenue South stretched many blocks.

A Corvette club showed off their vehicles.

The main drag was closed to vehicles.  People were everywhere.

The theme for City Daily Photo bloggers on February 1 is
"A Scene from a Cafe or Coffee House."

St. William Catholic Church

When a new church building for St. William opened in 1980, there were 900 member families.

By 2012, there were 3200 member families and the church was bursting its seams.

So, two thirds of the 1980 building was demolished and a new $11 million church was built to replace it, with 40 percent more seats.  The new church was designed to look like the one it replaced.

With most of the building's mass located to the rear of the property, 

the front of the church masks the real size of the church.

The theme for City Daily Photo bloggers on February 1 is
"A Scene from a Cafe or Coffee House."

Arts on Fire Studio and Gallery

Last weekend I visited some open art studios in Naples.  

Here are three of the artists I saw in one studio, the Arts on Fire Studio and Gallery.

Michaela Castaldi paints vividly colored portraits, landscapes, still lifes and and abstracts.

Reba George paints in a variety of styles.  She particularly likes these koi paintings.

Donna Hope is a self-taught artist who has painted about two decades.

She likes big floral paintings and scenes from Venice. 

FedEx Ground

Weekend Reflections.

Another Park Shore Low-Rise Building

If my friends don't buy a condo in the low-rise building I showed yesterday,

but do want a low-rise, I hope they pick this one.  Great sunrises from here, too.

Park Shore

I have friends who currently spend the winter in California but are looking for a condo in Naples.

If they decide on a low-rise building, I hope they pick this one so I can visit for breakfast.
The sunrises from this complex are pretty amazing.

Casanova Art Gallery

Keith and Marina already operate a Venetian glass and fine arts gallery and a clothing boutique in
the shops of the Village on Venetian Bay.  This year they have also opened another gallery 

with some Venetian works and other photographs and paintings by American artists.

This wonderful hanging female torso is built from venetian mask forms.  Love it!

Behind are works by Stephen Harlan, a North Carolina photographer.

Chip is the host at the gallery.  He has been an arts agent for most of his career, originally
for musical artists, then photographers and later for all kinds of visual artists.

Happily Ever After

You bet.

Thanks to those who asked about the recent storms.  There was wind and rain and lightning
where I live, but no tornadoes.  Just a lot of palm trees that had their fronds pruned.
The worst storm damage was north and east of me.
Pretty weird for winter weather in Florida.

Naples UCC

Naples has some big churches of all denominations.  I might start a series of churches on Sundays.

Naples United Church of Christ is on Seagate Drive.  It looks like a New England protestant church (if you ignore the palm trees) and its congregation includes many New England snowbirds. 

Beyond its religious services, Naples UCC funds a variety of missions, including 

Baby Basics (diapers, food, clothing, etc.), Precious Cargo Academy (onsite pre-school), 

Meals of Hope (providing 150,000 meals) and a Guatemala Medical Clinic.  

It has funded just short of $1 million of mission service in the past five years.

More Turkles

Here are two more of the painted turtles around Naples.  These two are in front of stores in the Shops of Venetian Village.  I haven't decided if these turtles interest me.  Are any of you interested in seeing more of them?

Naples Grande Beach Resort

The hotel mentioned in yesterday's post sits on a bay leading to 

the Gulf of Mexico, five miles north of Olde Naples.

Weekend Reflections.

Mer Princess

A former CPA turned artist devoted 200 hours to gluing seashells all over one of the 50 fiberglass loggerhead turtles in Naples' "Turtles on the Town" fundraising benefit.

Ginny Dickinson's project, "Mer Princess," is in the lobby of the Naples Grande Beach Resort.