TREVOR PEACOCK From the film “Quartet.”
Posted in Florida connection, Florida connection on Blogfinger, Photographs Sanibel and Captiva Islands Florida, Photography by Eileen Goldfinger, tagged Roseate Spoonbills on May 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Florida connection, tagged Slumming in Naples on May 7, 2023| 1 Comment »
By Paul Goldfinger, roving Editor. Winter.
We’re reporting live from the west coast of Florida. There are quite a few Grovers who hang out down here in the winter, but we won’t give them away. We are in the southwest area—Fort Myers, where we have an immobile home. We wander around among Minnesotans and Canadians, searching for a one-liner and a good bagel. But the weather is fabulous.
One of the places we like to visit, for comic relief, is one of the ritziest towns in the world: Naples, Florida, about one hour south of us, down the Tamiami Trail (Route 41.)
Naples is a very classy and beautiful place with a zoo, a museum, golf courses, botanical gardens, country clubs, and a symphony orchestra. Oh, and they also have the Gulf of Mexico.
There’s lots of money, celebrities, expensive cars like Bentleys, and beautiful houses, but it is fun to walk around and soak up some of the international flavor. You can hear multiple languages spoken as you go window shopping along 5th Avenue or 3rd Street. But sometimes that international thing isn’t so alluring. We were eating lunch outside when a European couple stopped in front of us and proceeded to smear suntan lotion on each other.
The stores are fancy-shmancy—you feel like you are on Fifth Avenue in NYC. It’s fun to window shop. You can also walk around and look for a condo; we peered through a metal barrier fence to view one. There was a brochure—it was about $2 million. We passed on that bargain.
There are quite a few good restaurants. We had lunch at a crowded Cafe Luna at 467 Fifth Avenue. You can sit outside (or in) and people watch. We had salads. Mine was with Norwegian smoked salmon (actually, it’s just lox) and garnished with apple slices, strawberries, and asparagus. Eileen had a simple small Italian salad. The prices were reasonable.
I saw a few silver-haired guys with young blonds, but what’s wrong with that? Actually I was with a blond with a retro-hat made of bark cloth. Two people asked her about it.
Then we found a sidewalk cafe where the coffee was great and you get a cranberry/orange muffin and a chocolate scone, both for the price of one. Eileen ate nothing. She has will power. I ate half the muffin. I have will power, but it is limited.
Our favorite store there is Tommy Bahama. He has a men’s shop and a women’s shop separated by a restaurant. I treated myself to a pair of shorts made of ultra-soft-thin cotton that fit just right, and that’s not a simple thing to find. Eileen bought nothing, so I got off easy.
SOUNDTRACK: It’s Maude Maggart singing Irving Berlin. I don’t think Irving would feel at home in Naples, but I could be wrong. After all, he wrote “Easter Parade.”
Posted in Florida connection, tagged A familiar face at the Farmer's Market on April 13, 2023| 1 Comment »
Near Naples, Fla, is a large agricultural area called Immokalee. The word means “my home” in the Seminole language. The reason the Seminole language did not survive is that it had too many M’s and not enough U’s. Many immigrants and migrant workers live there now, and that is where the produce originates that we buy at the Lakes Park Farmers’ Market in Fort Myers. The produce there is amazing, usually picked that morning. Those big radishes that Eileen is clutching snap when you bite them and they have just a hint of spice. She likes to go there because she is thinner than all of those women. Note that she is carrying her environmentally friendly Wegman bag.
The Immokalee farmers provide much of the fresh produce that is distributed across the US in winter, including 80% of the tomatoes. Before the Seminoles were the Calusa Indians. They evidently ate a lot of seafood but they became extinct, possibly due to the failure of their high tech invention–the shell mound, the only extant sign of their existence. Scientists don’t know what the shell mounds were for, but some think that they were the precursor of the iPad. —-Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net.
From the Fantasticks—Hugh Thomas:
Posted in Florida connection, Florida connection on Blogfinger, Photograph by Paul Goldfinger, Photography: Florida, tagged Ft. Myers Florida, Thomas Edison winter estate in Florida on February 7, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877. His winter estate in Ft. Myers is located next door to Henry Ford’s. Both homes are open to the public now.
They are situated on the Caloosahatchee River.
There were a number of inventors working on the phonograph, and some called it a gramophone. The Grammy award looks like the device above.
A Grammy was awarded to a collection of music recorded in the Great Auditorium using wax cylinders. Here is a link:
Early recordings in the Great Auditorium
DAVE STEWART and THE SECRET SISTERS:
Posted in Florida connection, tagged Bunche Beach, Fla, Quiet nights with Blossom Dearie on January 12, 2023| 1 Comment »
Posted in Florida connection, tagged Mission in Boca Grande on December 28, 2022| 4 Comments »
Katherine Hepburn liked to rent a beach house on this island. Maybe she sat on the porch fretting about Bogie and Bacall.
Ave Maria (after J.S. Bach) incredible–with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir:
Posted in Florida connection, Photography by Paul Goldfinger, Photography from Florida, tagged MUSIC. Sleepy Time Down South on November 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »
KERMIT RUFFINS:
Posted in Florida connection, Photography by Paul Goldfinger, Photography--Boca Grande/Gasparilla series, tagged Baby sees the dolphins, You stepped out of a dream on November 19, 2022| Leave a Comment »
NAT KING COLE. From a 1941 musical “A Ziegfield Girl.” It became Lana Turner’s theme song.
Posted in Florida connection, tagged Boardwalk in Hollywood on November 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Faces at the Farmers' Market, Florida connection, tagged Sonny and Cher at Blogfinger on September 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Photograph by Paul Goldfinger. 2013. Farmers market in Ft. Myers, Florida.
Her ice pop still hasn’t melted, and that is sometimes one of the great magical things about life and photography.
This city of Ft. Myers has been hit hard by Hurricane Ian on 9/28/22. We await reports of damage.
This song “I Got You Babe” is about being thankful when things go wrong:
“I got flowers in the spring, I got you to wear my ring
And when I’m sad, you’re a clown
And if I get scared, you’re always around
So let them say your hair’s too long
Cause I don’t care, with you I can’t go wrong
Then put your little hand in mine.
There ain’t no hill or mountain we can’t climb”
SONNY AND CHER:
Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Florida connection, Photographic Gallery, Black and White, tagged Dreaming at the beach on July 7, 2022| 1 Comment »
Posted in Florida connection, Music, tagged Elvis for Valentine's Day on April 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »