Mike and the Fam

Yes, despite the heavy clothes, this is Florida.  It has been cool lately, though "cool" is relative.  Yesterday it was 60 degrees (15 degrees C.) when I ran into my good friend and golf buddy Mike.

  
Mike was riding bikes with his daughter Kricket, her husband of six months, Matt, and Matt's mother Michelle.  (They ran out of bikes, so Mike's wife Amy and Michelle's husband Brendan stayed behind.)  I dragged them off their bikes and insisted on a photograph.

Nice to meet you, Kricket, Matt and Michelle.

Kati

Kati couldn't decide how she wanted to pose.  She is one of the Brown Bag Group.  Kati was born

 in Hungary before World War II and immigrated to the United States as a child.
A very sweet woman.

The Brown Bag Group

The Brown Bag Group was meeting at my Starbucks.  They have been meeting every two weeks

 for twenty years.  Most of them became friends through the American Association of

University Women.  Over the years some friends of group members joined them.

Iberiabank

The cloud reflections made me reach for my camera.

Weekend Reflections.

Gaetano

Gaetano and I struck up a conversation when I noticed his JDRF tee shirt.  The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation does important work seeking a cure for Type 1 diabetes,

an illness that afflicts my son.

Gaetano was born near the foot of Montecassino in Italy, scene of one of the most brutal battles in World War II.  As a child his family moved to Windsor, Ontario, across the border from Detroit.

These days Gaetano lives part of the year in Naples and part of the year in Canada.

Prosperity Florida

Esmaria was posing for a photographer.  She is an aspiring model.  Prosperity in Florida is certainly among her most fervent wishes.  I hitchhiked on her photographer's poses, 

then, when he was finished, Esmaria posed on the steps for me.

Casa Art Studio

Cynthia and Steve Adams are artists who exhibit their contemporary mixed media and abstract paintings in a stylish Naples studio.  A grand piano shares studio space with them
 (Cynthia is the pianist) but is moving soon to their home.