Bored

 

After lunch, a young man had to wait, and wait, and wait, while his parents chatted with their friends. 

More from Joanie's Blue Crab Cafe

 

Before going inside, let's appreciate some of the character on the porch.

This is where I should admit that, even though I am a pretty conventional guy, part of me loves to come across funky places.  Joanie's is that.

Joanie's fills the eyes.  

"If you want fast food, Keep traveling.  42 miles west or 66 miles east.  Happy trails, ya'll."  Should I point out that contracting "you all" results in "y'all," not "ya'll"?  But, heck, I am a New Englander, not exactly the right person to correct Florida crackers.

And, BTW, the food was good.  I had a fried shrimp basket and my friend had a chicken salad. 

Joanie's Blue Crab Cafe

I was coming from Naples and my friend was coming from Miami.  We needed a place for lunch midway between.  The problem is that only the Everglades are there.  I did some research and found that there is one restaurant out there, namely Joanie's Blue Crab Cafe in Ochopee. 

The reviews are very good.  So, why not give it a try?

It sure has character.

 

As it turned out, Joanie's is surprisingly good.

Water Symposium

Water is hugely important to everyone's health and wellbeing.  But it feels even more central down here in Southwest Florida.  Restoring the Everglades.  Hurricanes.  Droughts.  Red Tides.  Algae blooms.  Fishing.  Beaches and tourism.  Providing fresh water to a rapidly growing population.  It goes on and on.

I attended a symposium about water.  One of the more interesting presenters was Dr. Barry Rosen, a scholar and professor at Florida Gulf Coast University. 

Dr. Rosen is a phycologist, i.e., one who studies algae.  Last year he published a scholarly book about identifying freshwater algae, featuring numerous color microphotographs to aid in classification, including those of harmful algal blooms.

 

Dr. Rosen says "I'm all about algae, photo documenting common and rare forms in high resolution, full color images to assist the next generation of phycologists with better tools for their identification. Harmful algal bloom research too."

Fort Myers Art Show

  The recent Fort Myers Art Show was very crowded and I had been doing several other things that day. So I rushed through it.  These colorful birdhouses were near the exit.  I liked them.

This artist did very intricate pencil drawings.

Very odd, very unusual.

Jennie

 Jennie is a Dominican.  She grew up in central Florida, where her family chased storms, doing hurricane repair work.  Her mother remarried and moved to Michigan and Jennie followed her.

In Michigan and now in Naples, Jennie sells real estate and fixes up deteriorated properties and flips them.

Chalk Art

Fort Myers held an art show last weekend.  Off to the side, high school kids worked on chalk art. 

Bad Bunny!  It was just a few days before the Super Bowl.  About a quarter of the Lee County population is Hispanic or Latino, so this was not surprising.

I should have stopped to ask these students what the orange birds symbolize.

Riverdale High School is at the far eastern edge of Fort Myers and Lehigh is even further into the agricultural and rural inland part of the county.  Citrus has been the economic heart of this part of Southwest Florida for decades.  No doubt some of these kids come from farmworker families.

Birds featured prominently.  If I were smarter or better attuned to today's youth or perhaps Hispanic culture, I might have been able to decode some of the meanings.

Valentine's Day

I visited Iceland's northern city of Akureyri a few years ago.  The heart sculpture in the center of town usually has someone posing and someone else photographing.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Medical Applications and Innovations in AI

 I attended a most informative talk about new hospital technologies that incorporate artificial intelligence. 

The principal speaker was Dr. Bryan Murphey, President of the NCH Medical group.  (NCH is Naples Comprehensive Health, the new name for Naples Community Health, the biggest hospital system in Collier County.)  

Dr. Murphey explained a dozen to 15 new AI-based devices in regular use at NCH.  He also talked about the difficulty of recovering the costs of these processes, since government funding and insurance funding don't yet have codes medical personnel can bill when using these systems.

Dr. Ronald Riner is head of a major cardiology practice that relies on many new AI-based technologies.  

Dr. Riner introduced Dr. Murphey, addressed several of the new systems, and added additional insights to complement Dr. Murphey's talk.

Abraham Lincoln

I like to honor President Abraham Lincoln on February 12, his birthday.

Last September I visited New Milford, Connecticut.  New Milford has a beautiful town green.  The town's history museum is at the north end.  A memorial to President Lincoln, erected in 1912, stands in front.  It is the gift of a local businessman who proudly served in the Union Army during the Civil War.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is inscribed on a bronze plaque on the front of the 12 foot high, 18 ton column of Vermont granite.

The bust's sculptor is Paul Winters Morris.

And I shouldn't overlook the study for the Lincoln Memorial, which I saw in 2024 at Chesterwood, the home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, of the work's sculptor, Daniel Chester French.

Happy Birthday, Abraham Lincoln.  We sure miss you these days.

Up Close

 Grills and headlights at the Edison and Ford Winter Estates' vintage Ford show.

Vintage Fords

Henry Ford built a home along the Caloosatchee River in Fort Myers alongside the winter home of Thomas Edison and his wife Mina.  Every February there is an event displaying vintage Ford automobiles.

 

It is a bit disconcerting seeing cars from your youth at a vintage car event.  When I was in high school, my mother had a similar 1956 Ford, which I drove to school occasionally.

Manatees

 Southwest Florida just ended a two week cold streak.  Manatees need warm water to survive. When water temperatures drop below 68° F (20° C), manatees leave their usual feeding grounds for warmer waters.  So, Manatee Park in Fort Myers has been full of manatees.

Why is the water here warm enough for manatees?  

When the water temperature in the Gulf of Mexico drops below 68 degrees, manatees move to the Florida Power & Light Company discharge canal at the Fort Myers Power Plant.  The warm water discharged during the power generation process creates a refuge for manatees during the winter months from November - April.