Plein Air at Pine Island

Tuesday means plein air painting in Pine Island. We went to a property just next to the chap who made life sized sculptures [last week].

It was a lovely property, and the owners even provided a very good salad lunch. The next picture is a reflection on the small canal that is often behind properties on little side-streets.

The property we visited was very filled with plants and it was difficult to select something to photograph, let alone paint, so Charlie and I went to the local marina to see what we could find.

This fishing pier charged $8 /person / day, whether you fished or not. This picture was made from outside the gate where the charges were made.

This is the scene from the parking lot.

Next is a picture of Charlie, painting from the parking lot, to the sounds of soft Jazz.

Walking further down the street, I was still looking for the postcard from Florida; this does come close...

This is a local turkey vulture just soaring overhead. I would have preferred an Osprey returning with a big fish...  maybe next time.

Manatee Park Ft Myers

Jan, and her son-in-law Steve, drove up from Venice for a visit and to see the Manatees at the Electric Generation Plant just north of Ft Myers. It turns out that their visit could not have been more timely.

The weather has been colder than usual the last few days, and the Gulf water temperature dropped a few degrees. The manatees prefer warmer waters, so the local Manatees go to the electric plant generation station spill waters, created to dilute the excess heat from the generating plant, This water is fast flowing and considerably warmer that the river it flows into. The river itself is warmer than the gulf so it is quite a sight to see these large slow moving Mammals arriving to warm themselves.

This next picture shows the back third of one of these giants; you can see the outline of the spade-like tail on the left.

Next is a better look at the tail itself, essentially a flat spade-like fin.

The right side of the next picture shows the head with the nostrils just breaking above the water.

The babies stay by their Moms for more than a year, and I suspect that this is a mother and older child surfacing for a quick breath of air at the same time.

In a small lagune further away from the water outlet, the water was considerably shallower and you can see these giants under the water a little better.  Note the large spade-like tail on the left.

And lastly, you can see the many injuries that this Manatee suffered over the years: they appear as lighter yellowish scars where the manatee was struck by a fast boat or worse, a propeller. 

Manatees are protected and are slowly losing their battle with boats big and small. Large seagoing ships can strike them because they are quite slow moving. Faster moving speed boats also do a lot of damage since the manatees usually swim just below the surface, within striking distance of many propellers.

Interestingly enough, in past years we have seen manatees in heavy boating areas, and even in large marinas between moored boats. 

Nearing lunch time, we drove back to Ft Myers to an old favourite fish place called the Skip One: the fish is all fresh caught, mostly by local fishermen. The lunch menu is reasonable in price and in size so we all ate well and returned to our place for a bit. We drove to an area where you can enjoy a pleasant walk with relocated store-bought orchids tied to the swamp trees on either side of the boardwalk. Joan counted the orchids a few days back and we feel that there are at least an extra 30 or so plants more than last year. With all the spikes in evidence, it should be quite a show before we leave at the end of March. 

Of course, supper was at 'Blu Sushi' where everyone ordered Zulu Shrimp during Happy Hour and we all left quite happy indeed. We had taken two vehicles, and were extremely lucky to eventually find two parking spots, so after loving hugs, Jan and Steve drove back to Venice, and we headed home to unbox a puzzle...

What fun!

Iguana on Sanibel

Joan and I went to Sanibel yesterday to play some Bridge with dear friends from Ohio. Since there is only one causeway to reach Sanibel, we left early to avoid the traffic, and it really worked: there was no lineup anywhere so we were much too early. Time for a serendipitous adventure.

So we turned right off the main drive: Periwinkle and kept snooping where we had never been before. I was looking for a pond  where I had been in past years but couldn't find it. I parked in the right lot, but we walked in the wrong direction.

The muddy path was quite dark and very quiet until something splashed in the ditch beside us, and Joan saw something quickly climb a tree on the other side of the 20' ditch.

This path might just as well be in the jungle for the underbrush: it was difficult to get a clear view for binoculars or camera to spot anything in the ditch or the shore.  These shots are from about 100' away or more, through branches et all.

Joan had spotted this lovely Iguana. We found out later that Iguanas can change into very bright colours when frightened, as this one did. I'm not sure that we changed colours when the unseen splash brought thoughts of hungry alligators to both of us, maybe we were whiter? At any rate, we never did find whatever caused the splash, but Joan did spot the Iguana that seemed scared also...

Remember that you can see all pictures larger by clicking on one of them.

This Iguana is a more than a meter in length, and quite agile at quickly climbing the bushes. If you compare the next picture to the last, you will notice that his/her dewlap is extended [that semi-circle under the chin]. I have seen this in smaller lizards often and it can be quite showy, as is the case here.

This last photo shows the dewlap relaxed again, this all happened in a second or three.

I am not sure if the extended spikes on the back of the head, back, and chin are also caused by fright to give this guy/gal a fiercer appearance or not, but its fierceness was very obvious.

I would have been quite upset to see this in my flashlight on a dark and scary night, but I digress...

If you want more information click here for the Wikipedia page.

Matlacha Florida

Tuesday mornings are for the Pine Island plein air painters group to get out and paint. The location this week was at Matlacha, a fisherman's village that unabashedly welcomes tourists. The group's destination was the Yucatan Bar and Grill. 

Over the top colours reign supreme in Matlacha [pronounced: Matlashey], so prepare yourself for crazy colours.

At the end of a parking area, these old pier poles protected the building from aggressive parkers...

The main door to this bar and grill.

One of the painters wore an appropriate hat to the event. I noticed that most painters were working with a sketchbook, some with watercolour pens, others with pen and ink, and some with acrylics.
Their sketches were about 5X7" or slightly larger.

This is the view from the Bar and Grill. We ate there at lunch and the food was quite good.

As I mentioned, the colours can be quite exciting.  ...or should I say excited?

Here is Charlie working on the undercoats of paint required to get the effects he wanted.

These pictures are shown to you in the order that they were made, and the Osprey below should really be closer to Charlie.  It turns out that Charlie set up to paint very near to this Osprey's nest. It would seem that Mom was on the nest, minding the eggs, and calling for hubby to bring home the bacon. It seems he might have been ignoring her as she kept calling, and calling....

This is a picture of the bacon hunter. Note that he has a broken tail feather and is quite easy to spot when flying. He seems to be growing a new feather to fill the void. I hope he gets better soon since feeding the young ones will keep both parents quite busy for many weeks.

You will be pleased to know that this was a very successful hunter and Mom appreciated his arrival with yet more noise and calling. By the end of the two or so hours of painting, I think Charlie would have been willing to have her shipped to Ontario...

Here are a few details of the restaurant's decorations.

Next is Charlie's palette, which I almost always find fascinating. Maybe I should challenge myself to do the palette, then the painting and see if anyone can match them up...

While the painters painted, I walked up the road to see the many small stores and shops of Matlacha.

Here are a fairly loud welcoming door, sign on a house, and a vignette of little Matlacha shops.

They even had a tree climbing cow, undoubtedly trained by Mr Potato.

Wednesday is time to visit the Ding Darling Reserve when the docents set up their telescopes and help visitors find and see the many varieties of birds that feed in this National Refuge.

Sometimes they have bird races: this Blue Winged Teal was running a close second.

High tide was just receding and these Roseate Spoonbills and their friend a small Heron were enjoying breakfast.

Almost at our feet, this Spotted Sandpiper was just dancing his way along the shore.

Earlier this morning, we went looking to find last year's Eagle and hopefully, their new nest. Driving around to the backstreet, we found  their well camouflaged new nest, with one Eagle on the nest, and another adult nearby. It looks like they will be in business again this year, unfortunately, they will be almost impossible to photograph since they are well hidden, quite far away, and in the dark. We will see what develops.

This week in Paradise

Settling in to a new routine has its own set of mundane tasks, like grocery shopping, finding reasonably used pots to use, cleaning and rearranging stuff. There are also fun things to do like spend time with friends from past years. 

Of course, the pool next to us is still kept at 90ºF, and local temperatures have been warmer than usual, so far. 

Flowers are blooming everywhere, and it would seem the birds have returned to this area after last year's red tide. We have been busy: that is my excuse for not updating this blog often, and I am sticking to it.

This year looks like it is going to be just right, and we are looking forward to much fun and laughter with friends.

As some of you know, I often go with Charlie when he goes out painting in Plein Air. Charlie has been painting outside for decades, and was instrumental in setting up a Plein Air group in Manotick. Two years ago, I was invited to one Plein Air gathering on a Thursday morning, followed by a friendly lunch with ten or so painters. I was hooked: I got to learn how painters see and execute their vision, and I had a few hours in a new place every week with a camera in my hand.

Sanibel has an active art club with a Thursday morning Plein Air gathering. As back home, the sites change every week. This particular place belongs to a sculptor who fabricates life sized statues that surround his small property on the side of a small canal.

This was the first statue that caught my eye. Note the switch box on the right.

The artist has a sense of humour, and this 'activates' our performer...

Here's a young fellow overlooking the scene below, or is he also a statue?

I loved the name of this little punt. The kid's teeshirt reads 'eat more mullet'

If course, by now you have realized that all the people in the previous pictures are just statues. The scene below is what Charlie chose to paint. The guy in the first picture is right beside the staircase upstairs on the left. Can you tell if the real people outnumber the 'fake' ones? ...or is it the other way around?

While the painters did what they do best, I wandered on to the seaside and tried to duplicate "get away" post cards of seaside resorts.

Of course that is a private pier since there is no shortage of money in these parts...

The local marinas often provide interesting views: here is an Osprey just starting lunch: fresh fish caught seconds earlier. I guess he eats his big meal of the day at lunch time.

Likely his wife calling him...

Many large raptors build their nests with fairly large sticks. Sometimes, bringing sticks home is like gift giving, or relationship building.

This snowy egret has just started wearing its breeding plumage. It must be a male, note the laissez-faire look...

Here is yet another skinny postcard...

This Yellow Crowned Night Heron just caught a small crab snack.

Everyone around Sanibel has seafood for lunch...

Here is an Anhinga doing a little drying off and preening. They are not usually found on the ground since their tail is too long to clear the ground so they prefer posts, fences, and branches where their tails have free rein.

This seems to be a popular roosting site for Pelicans, note how they decorated the tree...

As in many travel destinations with beaches, the better resorts coddle their patrons from wind, sun, and blowing sand. And here I thought that the beach experience would be incomplete without wind, sun, and blowing sand... This black bird seems to think this is a good perch with a view.

Charlie at this week's Plein Air sortie.

The leader's place is always at the top for a good reason...

Hammocks are welcome stations for those that want to snooze.

Today we all went to a monthly veranda art sale where we enjoyed ourselves before heading to the beach.

The locals restrict beach access by supplying very little [or very expensive] parking. It was suggested that we go to this particular restaurant to park, enjoy lunch, then walk to the beach. 

It was definitely of the 'expensive parking' variety, but we had a very enjoyable meal surrounded by wonderful scenery, and access to the beach; just what we deserve...  Please look for an opportunity to  do the same.