Some Close-ups

 A juvenile wood stork.

A professorial white ibis.

A black-crowned night heron.

And a roseate spoonbill.

The Eagle Again

 Same eagle.  Same location.  Different day.  Different light.

Nice Light

 It was dark.  One shaft of light hit the right spot.

Rosies

 On Sunday, there were nineteen roseate spoonbills in this one location.  The next day?  None.

Atlantic Coast Line Depot

 

The old train depot in Everglades City had been turned into a restaurant.  It looks like it closed abruptly.  There are still tables and chairs on the deck, but time has not been kind to it.

Bobo's Cafe

 

A simple-appearing painting on the windows of Bobo's Cafe has some nice little surprises.  A little golden retriever.  A skunk.  Dragonflies and butterflies.   A bee, a bluebird, a chick and a bunny. 

Monday Murals.

Four People in Everglades City

 I felt like getting out of Naples yesterday, so I drove east an hour to Everglades City, an old Florida town at the edge of the Everglades.  It was the base for workers who built the Tamiami Trail (now U.S.Route 41) from Tampa, down to Naples, and then across Florida to Miami.

There was a small celebration going on at the Museum of the Everglades, commemorating the 94th anniversary of the Tamiami Trail and the 24th anniversary of the Museum of the Everglades.  Ted lives in Everglades City.  He was OK with a photo but not much else.

Paula and Rhonda have been best friends since they were twelve.

Marie is a songwriter and musician.  I wanted to hear her perform, but the guy with a guitar who had the mic didn't look like he wanted to surrender it anytime soon.

Fakahatchee Strand

 Fakahatchee Strand Preserve is a big, beautiful marsh and forest east of Naples, northwest of Everglades City.  It is part of a big natural system including Big Cypress National Preserve, leading to the Everglades.

Whaaaat?

 Two osprey chicks wonder what is going on.

How about some birds?

A mourning dove in an elegant pose.

A great egret in its breeding plumage.

A snowy egret and its reflection.

And a young roseate spoonbill.

Rent Me

 

First time I have seen a Lamborghini for rent!

The Elephant in the Room

This sign and this painting face me when I enter a bathroom at my local coffee shop.

Never fails to get a smile from me.

Judy

 

Judy is a retired teacher who sometimes visits a coffee shop near me.  She is from Tennessee and taught English in high schools and community colleges for decades.  Judy is one of the women who stopped coloring her hair during the pandemic.  Doesn't she look great with gray hair?

Sixth Street South

 

Whenever I walk down this sidewalk on my way to Olde Naples' main street (Fifth Avenue South), I marvel at the gnarled structure of these trees and the wisdom of whoever planted them.  Beautiful.

Easter

 

Happy Easter.

Peach Tree Home

"Housework can't kill you, but why take a chance?"  Phyllis Diller. 

Fifth Avenue South

In the last decade the Hoffman family has gone on a buying and building binge on Fifth Avenue South.  The signature style is fairly modern in white, but with some nice architectural features.  

I rather like each one, if evaluated on its own.  

But, the whole shopping district is losing the quaint little one-story stand-alone locally owned stores, art galleries and restaurants.  They are being replaced with a rather attractive white sameness.

Better?   Worse?  Progress?  I don't know.

White House/Black Market

White House/Black Market is a women's clothing store that occupies another newer building constructed and owned by the Hoffman family on Fifth Avenue South in Naples. 

WHBM is a national chain owned and operated by the Fort Myers-based company that also owns Chico's and Soma.  WHBM's website says it sells polished black and white women's clothing with pops of color.

The Englishman

This fine art gallery offers paintings and sculpture in a shop next to The French, which I showed yesterday.

The French

The French is a fine restaurant on Fifth Avenue South in Naples.  It occupies a building constructed in the past decade by the wealthy Hoffman family. 

"Really?"

Another Jim Rennert sculpture from his "Suits" series, loaned by the Hoffman family 

and standing in front of one of their older buildings.

"WTF"

Another Jim Rennert statue on Fifth Avenue South from his "Suits" series, in front of the high end restaurant Sails, in one of the newer buildings owned by the Hoffman family.  

"It Happens"

 Jim Rennert's whimsical sculpture attracts many looks, and many visitors pose for a photo.

Juggling

"Things are Looking Up" by Jim Rennert is on the wall of an Olde Naples office building . 

The building is owned by the Hoffman family, which has bought or built numerous buildings in Naples.

They are also art collectors who have stationed works by Rennert near their buildings.  Rennert was an entrepreneur for more than a decade before turning to sculpture.  

His series "Suits" depicts businessmen in a variety of postures.

International Dancers, Last Dance

 

The headdresses should have won a prize.

The leader announced that it was one of the dancers' birthday.  

She led the crowd in singing Happy Birthday to her.

This is the birthday girl.  She took the microphone and announced that she was going to teach the samba to the crowd.  I was near the front and I am very tall and conspicuous.  

She looked at me.  Time to leave!

Books on the Common

Back in Connecticut.  I stopped in at Books on the Common, on Main Street in Ridgefield.

I needed some books and I always admire the colorful plantings on Main Street.

International Dancers, Part Three

Maybe Spanish?

OK, these dancers are from Albania.  The dancing felt Greek, but I looked up the red flag with a black double-headed eagle on it, and Albania is next door to Greece.  The crowd loved it and joined in.

Maybe some kind of Latin dance.  I don't know, but she was having fun.