Ice Skating

I am back in Connecticut for the holidays.  

Hartford's Bushnell Park has an ice skating rink that opens at Thanksgiving and closes in January..  

Many skaters rent skates (the blue ones) and are skating for the first time

Wood Storks and Their Friends

A small pond near my Naples home is covered with algae and duckweed.  Great bird food.

Wood storks have a threatened status.

But they are plentiful around here.

They share the food with egrets.

And roseate spoonbills, ibis and ducks.

And herons.

Doug and Juetta

Looking in the window of a women's clothing store, I saw a handsome white-haired man in a white shirt and black slacks and a thin, attractive woman in a white blouse and black slacks.

The walls were white and many clothes were black or gray.

Perfect for some black and white shots, I thought.

Before opening the store with his wife, Doug was an orthopedic surgeon.

(Well, what other background should the owner of a women's clothing store have?)

And Juetta is a former four-time state baton twirling champion, NFL cheerleader, and runway model for international designers such as Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Bob Mackie and many more.

The Gardenia

Naples artists Marcus Zotter and Bryan DeProspero decorated an apartment building on Bayshore Drive, a neighborhood that is beginning to brand itself as the Bayshore Arts District.

Monday Mural.

Barbara

I arrived at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary right after Barbara Gurry Rowell.  She was there to pick up her lovely watercolor paintings and sculptures of birds, which had been exhibited at the visitor center.

Her paintings are delicate and Audubon-like.  I tried to find a position to photograph

Barbara without the reflected overhead lights but couldn't find one.  Sorry, Barbara.

UPDATE:  Blogger friend John of "By Stargoose and Hanglands" took the offending reflections out.
Aren't blogger friends wonderful?

Sandy

Sandy is a volunteer naturalist at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  She was greeting visitors.

The next guided tour was in 45 minutes, so I went out on my own.
(I like to go at my own pace anyways.)  

On the way back, I ran into Sandy again.

Egret

 

I followed a beautiful great white egret for a while at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary as he moved ever so slowly through the swamp and then along a log.  Occasionally he would spot some food
in the water and dart his head so fast that I never caught him in action.