Fort Myers Beach

 

The 7-Eleven store in Fort Myers Beach has bold murals on two sides.  The murals were painted this in April 2026 by local artist Martha Cantu.

Linked to Monday Murals.

Town Hall

 

The Town Hall of Fort Myers Beach is colorful, with low value first floor intended to let flood waters from tropical storms flow through without damaging the high value operations up above.

Colorful

 

Up in Fort Myers Beach, builders are rushing to complete new buildings to replace structures destroyed four years ago by Hurricane Ian.  This builder seems to believe that pastel colors will help him sell them.

Before and After

Hickory Boulevard is a long road running along the Gulf of Mexico on a skinny peninsula in Bonita Springs on the way to Fort Myers Beach.  Hurricane Ian really slammed it in 2022.  Many properties were badly damaged or destroyed.  Yesterday I decided to see how it is doing now.

I was surprised to see that some of the small older buildings have been repaired, but even more have been replaced by tall new multi-story buildings.. 

All of the new buildings have garages or tear-away structures on the first floor, so when future hurricanes land, the raging ocean will pass through lower levels designed to take the hits.  Living areas are up above.

And, given the high cost of acquiring waterfront land, tearing down the old structures and building new ones strong enough to withstand hurricanes and comply with ever-tightening building codes, the new ones are much bigger and more expensive than the ones they replaced.

Halloween

 

It seems like the Halloween skeletons get bigger every year.

Fall Foliage

I left Connecticut for Florida before peak foliage.  My daughter tells me that this is the best year for fall color in Connecticut in a long time.  Pictures from Naples start tomorrow.

 

Scarecrows

 In Connecticut for just a few days before heading south.  

Ridgefield always has a scarecrow contest in October.  This year's contest was very good, as usual.

Ridgefield Pride sponsored a Dolly Parton scarecrow.

An electrical company had a good female electrician.

The Ridgefield Thrift Shop put a used tux on a scarecrow.

I don't know who did this one, but I like it.

A Cub Scout pack scored with this one.

The Statue of Liberty was an appropriate subject for the Chamber of Commerce.

Many of the Main Street merchants urge folks to Buy Local, and farmers want us to Pick Local.

The school at a local Methodist Church put together an excellent scarecrow.