At last, civilization: I am now visiting Naples, Florida. Traffic is adequate but not stifling, weather is peaceful and calm, New York Times is available in the 7-11, the beach is almost empty for a morning walk and parking is illegal or costly everywhere. Naples reminds me of midtown Manhattan (the NYT and parking only). I once again am staying with good friends, this time they are from Croton-on-Hudson, NY. I arrived mid-afternoon yesterday, spent an hour and a half on the beach about a mile from downtown Naples and after a wonderful dinner of fresh fish chowder headed off to the Universal Unitarian Church for the initial session of a weekly evening lecture series. The topic this week was the present state of politics in Iran, or the end of the Islamic Revolution given by an Iranian college professor teaching out of an Illinois university. He was interesting and there were over one hundred people in attendance. Bottom line: the current Iranian government is on the way out and almost powerless, religious influence on the state is in flux and decentralized through many minor ayatollahs, the drive toward modernization out trumps nationalism and Iran is not interested in nuclear weapons. These are the speaker's opinions. For me, "To shah or not to shah, that is the question."
I listened to the State of the Union address after the lecture. I had a very big issue or lack of one: I am retired and do not want a job. What is the federal government going to do for me? Perhaps I ought to think about starting a small business? It will be interesting to see if the trickle up economic model is any more successful than the trickle down economy was. As far as trickle down goes, I know Maxwell House coffee is good to the last drop, but I do not think I got any drop of the trickle down spoils.
This morning I was on the North Gulf Shore beach of Naples by seven o'clock. The sun was not quite up and the air was fresh and cool. I walked the beach for an hour and one-half. I collected about a dozen sand dollars and successfully exfoliated the bottoms of my feet. I am now five ounces lighter. After a shower and breakfast, my host and I headed to downtown Naples to walk out the fishing pier. Along the way we stopped at the old Naples train station and visited with an enthusiastic collection of Lionel model train buffs. They had an impressive display of model trains in the old station (see pictures below). This was truly childhood revisited for me.
After lunch we went to the Naples Nature Conservatory for a meaningful commune. We took an electric boat ride through the mangrove swamp and then watch the three o'clock feeding of a five month old loggerhead turtle. Talk about excitement! My heart rate was up to 58 beats per minute. Now it is time for pure relaxation at the pool at the edge of the local golf course. My Myers Rum and Coke is tasting mighty fine. By the way, how was the snow in New York this morning?
Here are a few pictures of the latest days of my Florida visit:
Home of the Lionel Train Club of Naples.
Part of the layout of the model trains at the Naples Train Depot.
Notice the motor cycles at the model train layout.
The Naples City Fishing Pier.
Mangrove trees in the swamp behind the Naples Nature Conservatory.
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