Alive and well in Naples

Yes, I am alive and well. For those who wondered where I've been, all I can say is changes are in play which are a fair logistic challenge and making my head spin. We have bought a house in Naples, a mile away from our condo, in the community that we have come to love, and are in that fun process of mountains of paperwork, inspections, etc. towards closing. In addition, I'm sprucing up the condo to get it ready to put on the market for sale, so I'm not sure if I'm coming or going at the moment. We are very excited about the house and can't wait to move in (early March). In the end, condo life is not really for us. I want privacy and more space, and Mark wants his pool and grilling. Yeah, I know, no surprise on that grilling thing. And no worry, Star Mountain is still in the picture as we plan to always have that. Naples is lovely, but our heart and soul are in those mountains...

So here I am, at least for the next few weeks, not doing all those things I love. Beach, writing, photography, watercolor painting... Tis okay, there's a wonderful goal to reach at the end.

Namba

We have made it out to some of our favorite restaurants and trying some new. You have to pay attention here, there are new restaurants that open every couple of weeks. We popped into a new ramen/asian place (Namba) nearby that's getting a lot of hype. The chef trained under Morimoto, the famous Iron Chef on Food network. Tiny little place but excellent ramen with the magical 17 hour broth. We'll be back of course.

The weather is lovely here, and along with the in season masses, are tropical birds of every type. They know when the fish are schooling as they should since its their food for survival, and lots of diving, splashing, honking, and squawking. Our lake is always a fun place to watch the activity. We are losing the water view by moving but drinks on the patio by the pool are a good substitute.

And finally fairly regular sightings of alligators. It's something to watch out for here. Mostly they stay away from people and don't actually eat that often, but nothing can be counted on. After all we can't have a conversation with them to find out what the heck is in their mind.
I'll try to get back to a better posting schedule. Just imagine me with a paintbrush (the wall kind) in one hand and a checkbook and pen in the other.

Naples in season, company, and brrr cold temps

Back to Naples to a completely different environment. White sand, not white snow. Traffic much increased and restaurants needing advance planning to get into. The massive cold that swept the country also trickled down to our tropics. No snow, but near freezing temps. My brother was in town for a visit and they were certainly troopers in the unexpected cold. It returned to normal warm temps on their last day - of course.

Gloves!

Great shelling maybe because of the weather and low tide

Brrrr

Some fine eating happening. Sushi Thai, Brio,  and a new experience: 21 Spices. Fabulous Indian food. We will go back for sure.

Sushi Thai

21 Spices

Naples Botanical Gardens visit - a must around here. It's a pretty amazing place with many distinct gardens dedicated to plants from many tropical climates. 170 acres and beautifully designed. Never get tired of it. They did have hurricane damage which doesn't show due to enormous restoration work. And yes preventative work had been done for the cold snap: all the orchids had been brought inside, and frost blankets were on some of the more sensitive plants. Still wonderful.

Saw a lot including a large alligator. He wasn't bothered by the people walking by in the least. And he was quite far away, no worries, just my long lens...

Fun reminder of a legendary Naples restaurant, sadly closed

Ending with their sweet covered butterfly garden. Monarchs in profusion and a lot of other species as well. I am a big butterfly fan.

Star Mt Christmas part 2

Back to post a few more pics from the holiday. It already seems like a month ago. We have made it back to Naples in time for the unusual chilliness in Florida and we're lucky as north of us has cities shut down over very unusual snow. We are fine but citrus farmers are sweating it out over near freezing temps.

Heather made it in and her nieces were thrilled along with the rest of us. Now Christmas seemed complete.

Now there's a modern dad for you...

Secret Stash of course, with bigass margaritas for some. Lisa joined us for a few days driving over from Santa Fe, and fun was had by all. Great visit!

Ice fishing at Blue Mesa - daring or crazy, not sure which

Some winter activities a happening. Drove by Blue Mesa on the way to Montrose to pick up Heather and a mob of ice fisherman were there. Brave people... Mark and Chris went skiing one day as well but no pics. Sledding on our driveway was the best way to give Penny and Jules a thrill. We made it up to the mountain to show the little girls around. They couldn't believe the ice sculptures.

Visited a great kid's museum up on the mountain. Lots of hands on activities to do inside when others are skiing.

Third Bowl 

No we couldn't miss Third Bowl even though it's winter. Hey, ice cream is good anytime...

Lots of pink sunrises in winter here

Saw very few animals while we were there but on our last day we were stopped by these - llamas on the loose. Not much we could do not knowing who they belonged to, so I snapped photos. Good thing this road is not heavily traveled. Bye, bye Star Mt. until May. It was fun.