Happy Halloween!

 

Doug's is a simple restaurant in a Bonita Springs strip mall.  It offers basic but delicious New England-style seafood like clam chowder, lobster rolls and fish and chips. 

DOGTOR6

A veterinarian's car.   Small animals (dogs and cats).  And maybe turtles.

 

Moorhen

 A moorhen.  Also called a gallinule.  And its reflection.

And another.

Linked to Weekend Reflections.

Cousins

 

A pileated woodpecker on the left and a red-bellied woodpecker on the right.

Right Turn

 A great blue heron banks for a right turn.

North Naples Country Club

"Employee Shortage is So Bad That Long Haired Freaky People Can Now Apply."

Taking Off!

An osprey departs its perch in a dead tree.

Here he goes!

Roseate Spoonbill

 I love it when a rosie shakes all over.

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly

 Nope.  It is not a monarch.  It is a Gulf Fritillary butterfly.

Someone who knows much more than I writes that it is common in Florida and the rest of the South.

Art Galleries at Night

Walking Fifth Avenue South in the evening with an iPhone. 

Shaw Gallery

Another window at Shaw Gallery

Native Visions Gallery

An interesting painting with colored stones at Creason's Art Gallery

Golf Course

Maybe if I concentrated more on my putting and less on the clouds, my golf game would be better.

Taking time to photograph an alligator near the 8th tee also distracted me.

Good thing that for me golf is an excuse to spend four hours outside with some buddies.

Wood Stork

 My first wood stork of the season.  Last year I saw many in the fall and then they went elsewhere.

This bird is the equivalent of a teenager.  It has a mostly bald head, like adults, but some remaining wispy hairs, like a youth.  I hope this is the first of many wood storks in the community, and I hope they stay around longer this year.

Imperial River Boat Launch

The puffy white clouds looked amazing against the rich blue skies and water.  I pulled into a boat launch to get some images.  Two guys on jet skis shot past to add some interest.

Rosie

So far I have seen four or five roseate spoonbills.  Their necks are very flexible and they keep moving their heads.  Sometimes that produces goofy looks.

Butterfly Garden

A pollinator garden was installed over the summer.  

Monarch butterflies swarm a big field of milkweed.

Thursday Night on Fifth

I walked Fifth Avenue South with my iPhone on Thursday evening.  

 There was lots of music and dancing.  

Sunset

 I liked the reflection.

Linked to Weekend Reflections. 

Baker Museum

 

Baker Museum closed in 2017 after incurring serious damage from Hurricane Irma.  It has reopened after an extensive restoration program followed by an 18,000 square foot expansion.  This is the rear of the expanded complex.  I plan to visit next week.

The expanded space has lots of lines and curves.

This walking man sculpture by Ernest Trova used to be in front of the complex,  

I like less seeing it in its current location at the back of the museum.   

The End of My Street

I miss New England's fall foliage, and I miss my family, but there are compensations.

Back in Southwest Florida

Nothing very remarkable to show for my first day back.  I think a lot of the wildlife is still back wherever they spend their summers. 

So Long for Now, Ridgefield!

 Time to go south.  Until Thanksgiving (and the daughter's birthday).

See you next month, neighbor.

The Cass Gilbert Fountain, Ridgefield's symbol, is looking good with yellow chrysanthemums ringing it.

When I return, it will be encased in its winter glass dome.

Punkin Season

 

They're everywhere.

A Country Road

 

A bit of fall color.  Maybe I'm rushing things.

An Architectural Mystery

 I have no idea of the architectural style of this most interesting house in the Waccabuc borough of South Salem, New York.  It is hidden behind trees on a secondary road.  I almost missed it.

Rings

 

Practice, practice, practice.

Summer is Over

Rainy.  Gloomy.  Few blooms remaining.  Even those are damaged.

Final Pumpkin Blaze Photos

A graveyard for members of the Van Cortlandt family.

Sunflowers.

 Maybe the pumpkin displays that most surprised and impressed me were the ones in which the pumpkin surfaces were scratched but not carved all the way through.  That permits pretty sophisticated images.

At one location there were eight large displays of famous artwork.  Two were The Scream by Edvard Munch and Frida Kahlo's self portrait.