Fifth Ave South, downtown Naples
Dear Santa,
This year I wish for World Peace, a Cure for all Disease, the End of Global Hunger, and - since I've been a very good girl - a little red sports car (preferably a hybrid)!
Merry Christmas!
Isabella
What's on your wish list?
Holiday visitors arrive in Naples and the first order of business is to test the waters...
Yep, it's warm enough to swim.
“A real friend is someone who takes a winter vacation on a sun-drenched beach and does not send a card.”
~Farmer’s Almanac
photo taken through the screen of the lanai
Finally! Thank you Olga!
Woke up Sunday morning to the sound of the rain - a rare occurrence here in the wintertime but very welcome! Like most of the South this year, Florida is suffering from extreme drought. I will expand on it in a later post.
I love rain...In the rain, no one can tell that you are crying...
Brown deck, brown leaves, brown lizard. Boring and dull...but safe.
We are all trying to fit in, not to stir the waters. Have the days of hippies, counterculturists and nonconformists gone the way of disco?
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind, don't matter, and those who matter, don't mind.” ~ Dr. Seuss
Just an ordinary afternoon in my community...or is it?
If you lived in one of those houses, would you be worried?
No? Well, obviously you have not seen the following:
Truffles and hibiscus
Well, guess who kept me company during this morning's walk - Al, the alligator!
Some of you've asked if I fear Al. Not really. If left alone, an alligator would much rather stay away from humans than attack them. In the State of Florida it is illegal to feed a wild alligator, as doing so tends to make the animal associate humans with food and it loses its natural fear of man.
However, attacks on humans do occur, and there have been several fatal alligator attacks in Florida. Many of these involve small children or swimmers, however most of them can be attributed to human error. One of the most important rules is, should you see an alligator in the wild...Leave It Alone.
Coconut Point Mall, Estero
It's the weekend, people - I need my Grape!
The Grape is a wine bar, where you can taste over 120 unique wines by the bottle or a glass, all the while munching on some gourmet treats.
It is also a wine merchant, so if you find your perfect wine, you can bring a case home ;-)
La Florida - "the land of flowers" in Spanish - is also the land of mighty strange looking pods, like this one
and this one.
Don't ask me what they are - I have no idea! But if it seems like I've been replaced by an alien being, you'll know how it happened...
Don't get me wrong - Southwest Florida has plenty of impressive bridges, linking the mainland with our famous islands like Sanibel, Captiva or Marco.
But truthfully, we cannot compete with the Golden Gate, Sydney Harbor, Le pont de Normandie or Tsing ma.
So I will keep it humble - this is a footbridge over a small lake in my community. Most of my nature photos - flowers, plants, birds, alligators, turtles - were taken from this spot.
It's my private Giverny ;-)
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