Baker Museum I: Rodin

 Baker Museum at Artis-Naples is open now with limited timed admissions.

A superb exhibition of 22 sculptures by Auguste Rodin from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation collection is exhibited on the first floor.

The exhibition includes several studies for Rodin's signature work, The Burghers of Calais.

Rodin's father was a strong supporter of Auguste's decision to pursue a career in art.

This is an early sculpture of Rodin's father.

Rodin was commissioned to make a sculpture of the French novelist and playwright, Honore de Balzac. 

 It was a challenging commission because Balzac had a huge belly and short legs.  

Rodin made 50 studies for the monument, including portraying Balzac in three different forms.

On to Christmas!

Thanksgiving?  Check.  Black Friday?  Check.  On to Christmas!

The Village Shops on Venetian Bay

 These are the back sides of one wing of the Village Shops on Venetian Bay, an upscale shopping center

 in the Park Shore neighborhood in Naples.

An Elegant Home

 

At one time the family of the developer of the Park Shore neighborhood and the nearby shopping center (the Village Shops on Venetian Bay) lived in this Italian-looking building on Doctors Bay.

I don't know if they still do.

Happy Thanksgiving

 It is different this year.  Make the best of it.

Marsh

 I'll confess.  I don't know if this really fits the definition of a marsh.

But it is pretty.  As are the sky and the reflections.

Do Si Do

Anyone square dance?  The move in which partners advance past each other and then return, while continuing to face in the original direction, is called "do si do."

I can remember things from my childhood better than I can remember what I had for breakfast today. 

A Wood Stork

 Good looking fellow.

Rectangles

 

He Doesn't Play Golf

 

So he excused himself and left.

Aldo Castillo Gallery

A wonderful contemporary art gallery opened on Naples' 5th Avenue South two months ago.

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The Aldo Castillo Gallery started in Chicago and relocated to Southwest Florida eight years ago.  It was in the Miromar Design Center in Estero (between Fort Myers and Naples) before the new gallery was opened on Naples' leading shopping street.  I photographed through the front window.  Still slow to enter places . . .

The central figure above is the creation of Metis Atash.   It is made from thousands and thousands of Swarovski Crystals. 

Buddies

 A roseate spoonbill and a wood stork were dining together.

The Naples Players

 The Sugden Theatre on Fifth Avenue South in Naples is suffering like other live performance venues.

It is offering some socially distanced events for youth, but that's all.

Barb

A woman with pink, white and blue dyed hair, a brightly colored top and a sparkly mask walked past.

  

So, of course I stopped her.  At first she was hesitant but then Barb gamely posed for me.

Sue

 Sue was killing time on a bench outside a gift shop on Fifth Avenue South while her friends shopped inside.  She has a camera similar to mine, so we talked about finding subjects to photograph during the pandemic.  We are both shooting birds more than usual.  So much fun to do a portrait again.

Look Up

 

I don't know.  I just thought the gnarled limbs were interesting.

Kind of like fingers with arthritis.

Four Ibises

 I liked the way they positioned themselves on a limb in the late afternoon -- at the golden hour -- together but separate, each doing its own thing.

Bonita Springs City Hall

Bonita Springs is the city immediately north of Naples.  The City Hall has a colorful and whimsical sculpture in front of it, but I don't know who the artist is.

Great Horned Owl

 

Fortunately, owls make a distinctive sound, so I heard him and tracked the sound until I saw him.

It was worth it.

Ducks

A pair of ducks.

"Not You Again!"

Maybe she is tired of me, but I'm not tired of her. 

Mockingbird

 

It is always hard photographing LBJs (little brown jobs) because they flit around so fast, but this mockingbird gave me a chance.

Lifestyle Center

 

My Naples community has a new fitness center above and restaurant below.

Gator

 

Don't worry.  He's not especially big.  A big zoom lens and a bit of cropping make him look more fierce than he is.  Though I still did not get close . . . 

Yellow Dragonfly

While I was (im)patiently waiting for yesterday's great blue heron to do something interesting, several dragonflies swirled nearby.  I was able to catch this yellow dragonfly as it paused on a stick, but the black and red dragonflies were too quick for me.  There is always another day . . .

Great Blue Herons Have Tongues

 I watched for an hour but the darned bird never went fishing or did anything interesting.

But I did learn that great blue herons yawn.  And they pant.  And they have long, sharp, pointed tongues.

Back in Florida

Four ducks surrounded an osprey.  

He got uncomfortable and flew away. 

VOTE!

Someone on Peaceable Hill Road in Ridgefield has an accurate but disturbing message.

But I am optimistic that American voters will end our four year Trumpian nightmare and elect Joe Biden.

Savannah

 

At the end of my second day driving south, I ended up in Savannah, Georgia, on Halloween.

Savannah is always interesting and colorful.