Scot

 I was showing Scot how iPhone's "Portrait" mode works.

Historic Punta Gorda Army Air Field

Back to Punta Gorda for another mural.

This is a 2021 mural "HISTORIC PUNTA GORDA ARMY AIR FIELD" by Keith Goodson.

Linked to Monday Mural.

LOVE YOU

 At a small local shop in Bonita Springs.

For Sale!

 A sign in the window:  $14,500.

I think there will be a long wait.

The Mother Load

 Sometime I have to go inside here.

Welcome to the World

 Two chicks in the osprey nest.

They Gotta Eat

 And sometimes they want to show off their prowess.

Habitat for Humanity

I spent some time Friday morning volunteering at a Habitat for Humanity site with a group from Greater Naples Leadership.  This development will have 120 townhouse homes by next year.  50 are completed so far and 60 are under construction.  

Habitat for Humanity of Naples is one of the four oldest in the country, celebrating 45 years this year.  Out of 1,000 Habitat chapters, it has been the top producing chapter the last two years, building 90 - 100 homes a year and more than 2300 since it started.

I was a caulker like this man.  Getting down is easy.  Getting up again on 76 year old knees is not.

The Naples Habitat chapter has shifted to townhouses from single family homes in order to make the best use of expensive land in Collier County.  The Naples chapter has a $27 million annual budget with $13 million coming from philanthropy.  The balance is from homeowners paying back their mortgages.

Affordable workforce housing is a huge need in Southwest Florida.  22 families apply for every family that can be chosen.

First City Council

Punta Gorda is a waterfront city on the Gulf of Mexico between Fort Myers and Sarasota.  It was incorporated in 1887.  Punta Gorda is a city of murals.  This one is at the City Hall Annex.  The mural depicts the first members of the City Council and is taken from an old photograph.

 This mural was first painted in 2001 by Charles Peck.  After the wall suffered significant deterioration over the years, it was torn down and rebuilt.  Peck came back and repainted the mural in 2016.  

Linked to Monday Mural.

Chris

 Chris is a carpenter.  He is originally from Glasgow but moved around Scotland a lot, spending most of his time in the Central Highlands.

He is also a photographer.  He showed me some excellent images on his phone of the Naples Pier being battered in Hurricane Ian.

Birds Again

Great egret.

 

Snowy egret.

A juvenile pelican.

An anhinga and fish.

A line-up.  Mostly white ibises.

A bald eagle being pestered by crows.

Tricolored heron coming in for a landing.

Swallow-tailed kite.  A reverse snowbird that is away in the winter and back for spring.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

It's a great day to be Irish.

I took a DNA test and it came back 94 percent Irish or other British Isles.

Faces in the Crowd

 

The wearing of the green at the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

 The Naples St. Patrick's Parade is a big one.  Politicians.  School marching bands.  Retired police, fire, state troopers, etc. Bagpipers and fife and drum corps.

New York City firefighters' display for the 343 colleagues who lost their lives on 9/11/2001.

Retired Notre Dame Football Coach Lou Holtz was the grand marshal.

Carole Feuerman

 While at Peace River Botanical and Sculpture Garden, I admired once again Carole Feuerman's hyper realistic sculptures of women.  I know I showed different images of the same works a year ago, but the sculptures warrant a repeat showing.

Marion Avenue Cattle Drive

So long as I was in Punta Gorda to see "Caribbean Colors" at Peace River Botanical and Sculpture Gardens, I drove around the waterfront area to see some of the city's noted murals.

 "Marion Avenue Cattle Drive" is a 2007 mural by Michael Vires, covering one complete side of a law firm's commercial building.

The mural honors "cracker cattle," a breed of cattle brought to Florida by the Spanish 500 years ago and still a dominant strain of cattle raised in Florida cattle ranches.

Linked to Monday Mural.

Leoma Lovegrove

 Leoma Lovegrove is a popular artist in Southwest Florida.  She is a colorful individual and paints with loose strokes in bright, happy colors.  Peace River Botanical and Sculpture Gardens is exhibiting some of her works and has many more in its gift shop.

Leoma Lovegrove's manatee and octopus were placed in the gardens.

Lovegrove often features flamingos in her paintings.

The flamingoes spread around the gardens are not by Lovegrove, but they complement her paintings very nicely.  The Gardens' current exhibition is called "Caribbean Colors."