Lots of Life on the Golf Course

Fortunately, my golfing partner was tolerant of a few extra minutes 

for me to photograph some of the life on the golf course.

A roseate spoonbill.

An anhinga.

A small heron.  I'm guessing it is a snowy egret.

A gator.

A great white egret.



A wood stork.

Baker Museum

Back In Naples.

The Baker Museum at Artis Naples just opened after a lengthy post-Irma rebuild. 

Though open to visitors, exterior cladding work continues.

There are currently three exhibition themes. 

The first floor shows iconic works from the permanent collection. 

The second floor has a loaned exhibition from the Dixon Galleries and Gardens in Memphis.
It features impressionists and post-impressionists like Monet, Rodin, several Renoirs,
Matisse and a Berthe Morisot. 

The third floor has exhibitions on the theme of letters and words.  The two on the right are by Robert Indiana.  The ones on the left are from a feminist series by Barbara Kruger, 

We Will No Longer Be Seen and Not Heard.

A December Elizabeth Park Portrait Session

In the spring, summer and fall, people have their pictures taken in Elizabeth Park every day,
all day long.  This family was preparing to pose for a photographer in the rose garden
 this week, despite the cold and gray and the absence of roses.

Back in Naples today.  I need time to watch the New England Patriots this afternoon and
 to unpack before finding new material in southwest Florida.

A House on Prospect Avenue

I like the holiday decor of this simple house.

Flying back to Naples today.

A Gray, Gloomy, Wintry Day

Back in West Hartford.  The early winter day was gray and unappealing.

Did the summery flowers on a Little Free Library brighten my day.  Nope.  Not really.

How about a friendly pair of Santas, one of which was emulating Hannibal on an elephant?  Nope.

How about the lady who dressed her scarecrow for the season?  That was a bit better.

It was still a cold, gray, cloudy, wintry day.

Main Street at Night

Ridgefield's Main Street shopping district is only about three blocks long, with many additional stores and restaurants behind the front line.  The town lights Main Street nicely for the Christmas season.

Merry Christmas

If you celebrate it . . .

Johnsmas

John was born on December 24.  We celebrated Johnsmas, to separate it from Christmas.

Willa and Susie hung a wreath for John's birthday.

Christmas Party

The hostess has held this Christmas party for 44 years in a row.  I have gone for the last 35 or so.  

Good company, good food, good conversation, good Christmas carol singing, lots of fun.

(I always modify photos from this party to preserve friends' privacy.)

Farewell

 

While I was away, my neighbor had a huge, dying maple tree on the property line taken down.

It was five feet in diameter.  My house is from 1925.  The tree was probably planted soon after.  

It had to come down before it fell on someone or something.

Mozzicato's

Back in Connecticut.

In this season I always visit Mozzicato's, an Italian bakery on Franklin Avenue in Hartford.

The cases always hold the most delicious (and colorful) cookies, cakes and sweets.

Hitchhiking

An anhinga hitched a ride on the back of a Canada goose decoy.

Weekend Reflections.

Tree and Heron

Coconut Jack's Waterfront Grille has a Christmas tree in the bay off the deck.

A great blue heron likes to perch on the top of the tree.

Click here for more reflection photos on Weekend Reflections.

Naples Train Museum

The Naples Train Museum is in a back room of the Naples Depot Museum.  It is a 20-year old train layout criss-crossed by a dozen trains.  The museum is operated by volunteers and is open 

only on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Frances and Mary

Frances and Mary work at Valerie's Place.  I met them at a coffee shop.  We started talking and they invited me to see the facility with them.  Communities are fortunate that committed people like Frances and Mary choose to devote their careers to valuable social services like this.

Frances.

Mary.

Valerie's Place

Valerie's Place is remarkable.  Founded by a woman whose mother died when she was young, Valerie's Place is a nonprofit that offers a facility for children who have lost parents or siblings to grieve their losses.  The first venue is in Fort Myers, another is in Punta Gorda.

The one I visited opened in September in adjoining rented houses in Naples.  

Local designers and artists volunteered their time to paint the walls with welcoming murals.  

This is a room for the youngest children.

The idea is to group children by ages, so they can share their feelings and experiences with peers who are going through the same grieving processes.  Each room has age-appropriate rules posted.

The Gathering Room is a place for older children, often teens, to talk about their feelings.

Valerie's Place is a very special organization.

Kunjani

I'm back in Naples for a few days before returning north for Christmas.

A mother and daughter team from Zimbabwe own Kunjani, a coffee shop based in their art gallery specializing in African art.  It is across Seagate from the Waterside Shops.  Kunjani is highlighting  lifelike pencil and graphite animal drawings by Zimbabwe artist Fraser MacKay. MacKay is an avid conservationist who devotes much of his time to anti-poaching causes.

Red Barn

A red barn on North Salem Road in Ridgefield stood out as the storm front approached.

Back to Naples tonight for a few days.

Fresh Snow

I like this simple Ridgefield house, especially after it has been 

decorated for the holidays and received an overnight snow.

West Lane Inn

Back in Ridgefield taking care of the granddaughters.

West Lane Inn is an 18-room inn built in 1849 as a mansion.  A family converted it to an inn in 1978.  The last family member wanted to retire, so this summer she put it on the market with the
condition that it continue to be operated as an inn.  The town is delighted (and relieved)
that two local women bought it and committed to running it as an inn.

Two Circles

Nice juxtaposition of a pair of circular works.  On the left, one by Chinese dissident artist, Al Wei-Wei, constructed from once common kitchen stools.  On the right, a colorful and absorbing painting from Frank Stella's "Protractor" series, carefully designed with a protractor and compass.

Wadsworth Atheneum

Detail from a big Egyptian-influenced art deco vase or umbrella stand.



The museum showed a substantial exhibition of African American art.

This one brought a happy smile.  Back in the 1990s, I was on the board of directors of the Greater Hartford Arts Council.  We created "Neighborhood Studios," a summer program that paid urban high school students to work with a variety of arts organizations under the tutelage of an artist.  (Summer money for kids and struggling artists.)  I persuaded my company to provide the initial funding to get the project off the ground.  The Atheneum paid Dawoud Bey to lead 14 students in arts and photography.  This eight-panel photographic work was done by Bey during
 that program, which is still going 25 years later.

Festival of Trees

I was in West Hartford over the weekend before heading back to Ridgefield to take care of the granddaughters for a second week.  So, I visited the Wadsworth Atheneum for the Festival of Trees.

More than 100 trees, decorated by local nonprofits or by individual supporters, were placed
around the museum.  Some, like this whimsical flamingo tree, were inspired by
the works of art near which they were placed.

Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

The Aldrich is in a modern building set behind rows of stately mansions on Ridgefield's Main Street.
It is Connecticut's only museum dedicated exclusively to contemporary art.

It has no permanent collection, simply temporary exhibitions.  When I visited last week,

many (but not all) were organized around themes of weather, atmosphere and global warming.

Eva LeWitt's site-specific installation was one of the exceptions.  She hung columns of brightly colored mesh fabric in a room.  Each mesh column had perhaps 10 mesh pieces of differing
colors and mesh sizes.  As one walked through the room, the interaction of 

the layers of mesh fabric played visual tricks on the eyes.

For someone as grounded in reality as me, much of the weather-themed art went over my head.

But this one was different.  Artist Ellen Harvey painted the 100 miles from Miami Beach 

through the Everglades to the Gulf of Mexico based on satellite photos.  

This is an environment most vulnerable to sea-level rise.