You've Got Friends in Fort Myers

Jeff, Janet, Christy and Wayne in Fort Myers, FL

We spent the better part of today with our friends Janet and Jeff Hathaway.  They moved to Fort Myers last July from Onset.  A big life change for them that they are delighted with.  Their home is in a large gated community with a town center that includes a theater, outdoor performance area, gymnasium and soon to arrive grocery store.  Wayne is now thinking of the gated community life for our future.  

Janet served us lunch on the lanai next to the pool.  After lunch we went downtown to the Arts Festival.  We remembered attending last year, too.  It is very large and stretches all along the marina and into the side streets.  We had an early dinner at Pinchers.  The drive is over 2 hours to Fort Myers and is always a few degrees warmer than the Sarasota area.  But, I like the Sarasota area better.  The Sarasota historic district is more charming, offers more diversity in restaurants and shops, has a beautiful library and the opera house.  Fort Myers seems to have a zillion law offices in the historic district and only a few restaurants.

Bradenton Art Walk

Pigs Do Fly! Christy at the Bradenton Art Walk

Bradenton is 8 miles east of Anna Maria, just over the bridge.  It is a vibrant community with a Riverwalk, the Pittsburgh Pirates winter home and the Village of the Arts.  Oleg, Martha, Wayne and I went to the First Friday Artwalk today in the Village.  The walkable neighborhood is comprised of art galleries, studios, restaurants and speciality shops housed in colorfully restored 1920's bungalows.  I felt like I was transported to 1967 Haight Asbury.  Touted as Florida's largest artist community I question the validity.  Most of the art was pathetic and appeared to be made by quacks that took up art while in detention somewhere.  There was the occasional professional gallery.   We ate at Ortygia Restaurant, Sicilian style cooking.  It was so noisy that we were literally screaming to be heard over our very loud waitress and an adjacent table full of chatty women.  The food was okay but I would never return.

Back in the AM, Back in the AM, Back in the AMI Life

Sunset, Gulf of Mexico

We are back in the land of glorious sunsets.  Upon our return from Costa Rica, we spent the night in Miami and ate again at the Cuban restaurant.  Next day we drove across the Everglades and stopped at Clyde Butcher's Gallery.  We spent the next night in Fort Myers and explored historic downtown.  Thinking we would eat at a Greek Restaurant and reminisce about our time there, we drove to Opa, which was closed.  Our next best option was a local BBQ place.  It was nothing to rival previous bbq joints.  There are more attorney's offices in that area than I have ever seen in once place.  Our speculation is there are few regulations in Florida and much litigation to counter that.  Today we stopped in Naples for lunch at our usual place, Vergina.  The day was lovely and encouraged us to walk main street.  As we came into Bradenton, we remembered all our shopping spots and stopped at Fresh Market to stock our pantry and ABC to buy our wine.  We arrived for our 3pm check-in and waiting with the rush of people for our keys.  The house has changed little (our charcoal grill is still here!).  We spent the afternoon unpacking and are happily settled in.  

Tortuguero National Park

We awoke at 5 am in order to see the early rising fauna. Our boat captain, Ronnie navigated us through natural and man-made channels brimming with birds and flowers. We have 2 birders in our group, Nancy and Steve from Colorado, who are great at spotting and naming some of the birds. Steve has an excellent camera with which he get very high definition closeup shots.
Ronnie is amazing in his ability to spot critters. There were 2 types of lizards, ,so well camouflaged that I almost never found them. But Ronnie spotted them immediately.
Iguanas and monkeys were abundant, too. After lunch we toured the grounds of the lodge viewing more bird species and orchids. On our way back to the room we could hear a howler monkey, followed his call and enjoyed finding him. In the early evening another guide, Jeffery, took us out on the channels again. We were in a lot of black water with wonderful mirror like reflections. More monkeys, more birds and boa constrictors entertained us.

Christy and Wayne

Sarapiqui Day 2

We took a 6am bird walk into the botanical gardens across the highway from our lodge. The birds are too numerous and diverse to begin to name. Nacho is very adept at spotting and identifying them. We returned for breakfast and prepared to take a white water raft ride. There were 5 of us and our guide, Walter in the raft: Shirley, Vern, Carol, Wayne and I. I felt as if I had been transported back in time to The Little Missouri River. The Rapids were category 2 with occasional spots of 3 new were safe at all times. Lunch was again spent with the birds. There is a feeding station adjacent to the dining room. All the walls are open and you can sit with a view of the feeding birds.


Christy and Wayne

Sarapiqui

This morning we boated back through the canals to pick up our land transportation to Sarapiqui. Sarapiqui is still on the Caribbean lowlands, but not wet lands. The tree are somewhat different. The lodge is on a private preserve teeming with birds and plants. After a orientation to the grounds and safety (don't walk off the path!!!!) we checked into our room, which again is like an attached cabin only raised about 15 feet above ground. Nacho led us on a forest walk where we had to cross a very long and very high suspension bridge. Yowza! Our destination was a tree remaining from the primal forest. Beginning in the 80's almost 90% of the primary forest were cut. Now some secondary forests have been introduced. We found the grand daddy tree. Over 400 years old, it sores into the sky. The circumference is about 30' and the interior hollow. The path was quite muddy. Happy to have my waterproof sneakers. This evening our lecturer, Willy, explained the efforts to create bio corridors to assist wildlife and plants with migration and reproduction. Today large pineapple plantations are inhibiting that to a degree.

Christy and Wayne

Tortuguero

We started the day with a five hour very bumpy bus ride. Along the way we stopped for lunch on some private grounds where the gate guard was excited to show us a poison red dart frog, all of about 1/2 inch, which he keeps in a hollow bamboo section. He also pointed out 2 3-toed sloths. On the grounds is a kook tree which is called the big belly tree by locals because of the enormity of the trunk and root system. It is also the tallest tree in the low lands. As re approached Tortuguero and the waterways we left the bus for a water taxi. It was an hour and half ride to the lodge. A beautiful ride in a warm humid climate.
Our lodge is actually composed of many small cabins some with multiple rooms, some single. We are in a complex with Romie, Vern and Shirley. After settling in, Nacho took us by boat to the turtle conservancy. There is really nothing to see except a video about the efforts to protect the nesting grounds and tag the nesting females. We walked down the black sand beach to the town of Tortuga, a single long street of small one person craft shops. Most things were crude coconut carvings or she'll jewelry. About 500 people live here totally dependent upon tourism.
After dinner we attended a lecture by a local gentleman whose father was one of the first settlers of Tortuguero. He gave the history of the settlers, the expansion of the lumber companies and finally the appearance of Archie Carr, an American who came to save the turtles. As a result of his efforts President ... took position of 25 miles of coast line, declared it protected. Carr also spent much time and energy convicting the locals to save their land. Now they are very vigilant in doing so.


Christy and Wayne

Biodiversity with Java

This morning we met with our very likable group of 14, including us. They are all about our age and with similar interests. We met our guide Ignacio or Nacho as he likes to be called. He is young, handsome, like able and charmingly attentive and knowledgeable. He introduced us to our first lecturer, Luis, an ecologist. Highly educated he presented us with a through lecture on the climate, geology, and fauna and flora diversity. Costa Rica has the highest diversity of plants and animals in the world. After the lecture we took a bus ride to the Daka Coffee plantation. The tour covered planting, growing, picking, sorting, drying, and then drinking coffee. There was also s wonderful mariposa garden. (That's Spanish for butterfly) We had lunch in the plantation cafeteria and then left for the BioPark, a privately owned 400 hectare park which strived to preserve, educate and research the biological systems of Costa Rica. As we walked through the forests we saw sloths, beautiful birds, butterflies and plants galore.
Dinner was with our group at the hotel. Nacho provided more insight into the history and language of CR. Tomorrow's day begins at 6am with a bus and boat ride to Tortuguero on the Carribean Sea.


Christy

Bienvenido San Jose

Landing in San Jose

Our flight to San Jose was a mere 2.5 hours. The country is mountainous and green. It was 78 degrees and we are all smiles. Our driver, Jose, from Road Scholar met us which made the transition to the hotel very easy. We are in a Radisson with beautiful grounds. No one else from the tour has checked in. So we ate lunch and walked the grounds. The waitress was very funny trying to speak English. But her most difficult time was with tagliatelle, on the menu. Tonight we went to the lounge to eat. I had chifrijo and Wayne had chicken fajitas. Meetings begin tomorrow. 

Miami Bound

This morning we were greeted with sunshine and warm temperatures. St Augustine was in her glory as we drove off through the old city. Miami was less than 250 miles but still took all day. There was a long stand still at one point and heavy traffic in Miami. It was around 6pm when we checked in. We switched out our bags for Costa Rica and stuffed everything else into the car trunk. The hotel will keep the car for 12 days. We ate at a Cuban restaurant across the highway. Wake up call is for 6:45am. Good night

Saint Augustine Bound

It was another miserable day of driving through rain. I suppose that was better than ice, but we were hoping for sun by the time we reached the Carolinas. A high point was the South Carolina Artisans' Craft Center. We saw a sign on the highway and went for it. Our first encounter elicited groans of, "oh, no. What is this?" The place appeared dilapidated and belonging to a wacko. But we drove by a second time and thought, "What the hell? Let's look". The parking lot was as you see above. The inside was an artist's paradise with fabulous works. Our favorites were the carved duck decoys and the pottery. I bought a small pottery piece to use as a salt cellar.

It was dark when we pulled into St Augustine, well past when we planned to arrive. Thus, we opted to walk next door to our hotel to eat at Harry's Seafood restaurant. It was a New Orleans themed restaurant and good. No one was out in old town, so we just went back to the room.

Florence, SC, Not Italy

We left DC this morning in freezing rain. On the way out we passed a beautiful monument to the Airforce the 3 monoliths suggest the soaring of jets. Our drive was long and difficult with areas of ice. We are listening to Ken Follet's trilogy, Century, which helps pass the time. Tonight we are in Florence, SC for no other reason than it was the proper distance from DC. It did have the advantage of a BBQ joint (what Carolina town doesn't?), Wholly Smokin'. The ribs were very tender and moist but lacked a smokey flavor. There was a salt rub that I found much too salty. The stuffed potatoe salad was worth the drive.

Washington DC

Wayne in the National Portrait Gallery

With the entire day ahead of us, we walked to the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  We arrived at 10:30; it opened at 11:30.  We briskly walked down to the Mall and the National Art Gallery, braving a wind chill of 27 degrees.  Our time there was spent in the Italian Medieval and Florence Renaissance rooms.  We saw many paintings that we've studied for our Florence trip:  Fra Anglico and Filippo Lippi Adoration of the Magi, Lippi's Madonna and Child,  Castagno's David with the Head of Goliath

National Gallery of Art

At the 11:30 opening time we walked through the sculpture garden where we stopped to admire Roxy Paine's steel tree.  We have seen another of her trees at the Crystal Bridges Museum.

Wayne with Roxy Paine Sculpture

At the American Art Museum I wanted to see an exhibit on birds in art and Wayne was interested in the Grant and Lee exhibit.  The Singing and the Silence:  Birds in Contemporary Art held a large variety of mediums.  The use of the materials intrigued me as much as the depiction of the birds.  Petah Coyne had two large pieces.  I don't really like her work at all.  It always looks dirty, dusty and ugly to me.  Other works were amazing in their detail and interpretation of our treatment of birds.  Particularly nice were the photographs of birds held by bird banders.  

A walk through the Modern and Contemporary Gallery gave us a look at a beautiful David Hockney piece that was painted on the floor and wall of a black gallery and changed with different colored lights projected upon it.  

David Hockney, American Art Museum

The Grant and Lee exhibit had wonderful death masks of both men.  Tonight is dinner at the Woodward Table around the corner on H street.  

Florida Bound

On a dreary and cold New England day, we started out south to Miami where we will eventually fly to Costa Rica for 12 days.  On our return to Miami we will drive to Anna Maria Island and settle in for 6 weeks.  Today we drove as far as Washington DC where we planned have dinner with Adam and family, do a bit of sight seeing tomorrow and head out on Wednesday.  Adam emailed while we were on the road that he has the flu. Against my advice he intends to meet us tomorrow night to pick up his Moxie.  I'm not convinced he really wants to see us, just get his Moxie.  If we get the flu from him and miss our Costa Rica trip, he is definitely disinherited.  So this evening we ate a mediocre dinner in the hotel and kicked back in the room.  Wayne had a long, hard 10 hour drive in the rain.  

Millinium Park & Second City

Selfie at the Bean

We spent a good part of the day in Millennium Park, an expansive green space along Lake Michigan created under the leadership of Mayor Daley. Here their are large open gallery spaces, the famous Anish Kapoor Bean, Pritzker Pavilion designed by Frank Geary,  and Juame Plensa's Crown Fountain.  A great serpentine walkway, also designed by Geary, led us to the bicentennial park where we watched skaters of all ages enjoy an ice track with hills and turns.  In one of the open gallery spaces Plensa also has a temporary exhibit of gargantuan heads.

Juane Plensa

We had lunch in a tavern down Michigan Avenue, and watch the Patriots route Miami. They now have clinched the AFC East.
Tonight we went to Second City where we laughed and laughed for 3 hours. They were very good.

Chicago from the Serpentine Bridge

Pritzker Pavilion

Serpentine Bridge

The Field Museum andS the CSO

Skating Park, Grant Park

This morning we walked down Michigan Avenue to the Field Museum, which is located in Grant Park. Grant Park was built on all the rubble from the great Chicago Fire. Nothing is allowed to be built their now. Along the way we passed a skating park filled with skaters. And the walk into Grant Park is a wide, winding pedestrian/biker road.
The Field Museum has the most complete skeleton of a T-Rex. They have named her Sue after the woman who discovered the fossil. We listened to the history of the discovery and the biological evidence of the fossil. We also looked at the gems, birds, mammals, and Pacific culture artifacts.

Wayne with Sue

Tonight we walked 2 blocks to the Chicago Symphony to first hear a lecture on the evenings performance, and then the performance of Hadyn's 93rd Symphony, Richard Strauss' Don Juan and Beethovan's 9th. The conductor was Pittsburgh's Manfred Honeck, a most expressive conductor.
We had a very late dinner at Miller's Pub just around the corner from the Palmer House.

Art Institute of Chicago and Steppenwolf Theater

Selfie with AIC Lions

Our hotel is 2 blocks from the Art Institute of Chicago. The magnificent lions at the entrance were wearing their seasonal garb. This museum is so magnificent. We started with the Buckingham Japanese print collection. At present they are showing prints of demons which complement the James Ensor exhibit. While in the Japanese section we came across the Ando Room; the same architect who designed the new Clark addition. His design represents interior spaces of Japanese homes.  

Wayne in the Ando Gallery

After a quick look at Roman and Greek works in order to briefly relive our recent trip, we went to the Ensor exhibit, Temptation: The Demons of James Ensor. The centerpiece of this exhibit explores the making and meaning of The Temptation of Saint Anthony. Ensor created many works about St Anthony's temptation following the death of his father. Many of these works were inspired by others: Flaubert, Odilion Redon. The culmination was a nearly 6', 51 piece drawing. The AIC has a free online catalogue on the piece.

We spent the entire day at the Museum,  and could go back for another day. Also of note were a huge Napolitan Crèche, Chagall's Amercan Windows, a room of Manets.

Marc Chagall, American Windows, Detail

A pleasant surprise was a choral performance on the grand staircase.

This evening we saw Airline Highway at The Steppenwolf Theater. It is a new play about a group who live in a rundown motel on Airline Highway in New Orleans and are celebrating the funeral of Miss Ruby before she dies. Lastly, there was a late night dinner at Miller's Pub on State St

The Windy City

We took a flight out of Providence today for Chicago. When we arrived at PVD we were told our flight was cancelled and re-routed through DC. There was a beautiful view of the Chesapeake Bay as we flew into DC.  We quickly got our connection, and two hours later we were at O'Hare. 

O'Hare Concorse

The O'Hare concourse was beautifully decorated. Immediately we were in the holiday spirit.  

We took the airport train into the city, and walked a block to our hotel, the Palmer House, a landmark since 1871. The hotel is beautiful and filled to the brim with guests.  The lobby is a bustling arena of holiday shoppers, holiday parties and more.  After a drink and the famous Palmer Brownie in the hotel pub, we walked around the area soaking in the Christmas spirit and the always cheerful, friendly Chicagoans.

A completely inadequate look at the Palmer House lobby.

Hancock Village

Hancock Shaker Village's own Ophelia

Today we took a drive to Pittsfield with the intention of visiting the Berkshire Museum.  It was such a beautiful day that we just kept driving to Hancock and the Shaker Village.  The gardens were beautiful and full of the most unusual herbs.  Some of them are over 6 feet tall and completely unknown to me.  I love the animals the best.  We had the good fortune to be in the wood working house while a demonstration was ongoing.  Both Wayne and I were invited to try the lathe.  All the equipment is run using the power of water and hydraulics.  Those Shakers!  What innovative and creative people.  If only they had a little more libido.  Pics at flickr.

The Unknown Hopper

Edward Hopper's early illustrative work is currently exhibited at the Norman Rockwell Museum.  I was not aware of Hopper's career in illustration.  The earliest of the works were surprising to me.  Had I been presented with them and the challenge to identify the artist, I would have never been able to do so.  The latest of the illustrations (right before totally devoting himself to painting) are more indicative of his solitary, contemplative scenes.  Here is more Information.