Abraham Lincoln

 I'm going to sneak back to Connecticut to honor Abraham Lincoln on his birthday.

(I haven't yet come across any statues or paintings of Lincoln down here in SWFL.)

This is a portrait in the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut.  It is by Calvin Curtis, a Waterbury farmer who studied painting with Daniel Huntington, a prominent New York painter who was also a Vice President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Happy birthday, Abe.

Tuscan

 

I walked along Gulfshore Boulevard and noticed this handsome house.  A decade ago, all the finest residences in Southwest Florida were Tuscan in style, like this.  Today, it stands out in contrast to the white and black modern houses being built.  I'm old-fashioned.  My Naples house is Tuscan and I like it.  

Ulrika

When Ulrika was a teen, she came to Connecticut from Sweden and lived with us to take care of our children.  Today Ulrika visited in Naples.  

We placed a video call to Susie and her daughters, who are the same age today that Susie was when Ulrika was her au pair.  So good to see her.  Ulrika was sweet and beautiful at 19 and is now sweet and beautiful at . . . a different age.

Pelican

 

Here's looking at you, kid.

Art Fair

While Cars on Fifth was drawing thousands of gawkers, a small outdoor art festival took place in Cambier Park, a block south of the car show.  There were far fewer artist tents and far fewer visitors.  

Cars 1, art 0. 

Cars on Fifth

 One of the big annual events on Naples' Fifth Avenue South is Cars on Fifth.  Oodles of collectible cars are displayed by private owners and dealers.  

It is unfathomably crowded and one in a thousand visitors is masked.  

(I was one even though double vaxxed and boosted.)

Oh to be young again

 (and probably drunk.)