A New Camera

I have a very nice Nikon D50 and like it very much. But A friend gave be a pocket camera that takes spectacular closeups. While it is a point and shoot, it does have a large range of shooting modes in a neat portable package. It's one of the Canon's point-and-shoot Digital ELPH Cameras.

The Smart Car Comes To Florida

Now I hope that some smart drivers come to Florida.

Primary Vote in Florida

Today we went to the polls to pick our parties candidate (one Democrat and one Republic). It was not possible to take a picture inside. I ask one of my friends that's a poll worker to come outside and pose with the Poll Deputy. We vote in the social hall of the Congregational Church.

An Old Oak Tree - Well Not So Old

We had a visitor last week who came to see the garden. He was absolutely in love with our oak. Now I'm sharing it with everyone. The tree is not as old as I am, but it's a lot healthier then me.

French Village Garden?

One of the big ones. It's unusual for a home not to be partially covered with trees and shrubs. I guess they what to flaunt the raw beauty of the house.

WOC 19 Comes to a Finish

The World Orchid Conference 19 is winding up. We have hosted an English orchid grower and a German wholesale orchid producer for the last week. Tonight we will have also have a couple from South Africa for a formal dinner. Today's picture is a close up of a new hybrid orchid. Click here to see the entire flower.

Home on the Coral Gables Waterway

This home has a rare luxury, they can get to the ocean in there boat. The real rarity is that their house is on high ground.

Colonnade #2

The first floor is all retail in this parking garage. Two of the sides have colonnades.

WOC

The 19th World Orchid Conference is opening today at the Sheraton Miami Mart Hotel & Exhibition Center. The conference is held in a different city every three years. This is the second time that the conference has been in Miami. Singapore is the only other city to have the honor of holding the WOC twice. The orchid above is from my garden. See you at the show. Click to here to see more about the WOC.

My Kitchen

This store has the most fancy appliances and gadgets that one could buy for their kitchen. The other day I was talking to a contractor about the cutting edge appliances that so many people are buying. He said that the larger the kitchen and the more expensive the appliances, the more likely that it will not be used. We have a small kitchen and replace something when it stops working. We don't worry about walking from one side of the room to the other. The kitchen doesn't make the cook. Oh! and my wife has never wanted to replace me.

A Good Place to Meet Friends

The green market is a good place to make a new friend or two. The place seems to attract dogs. When we had puppies we took them to the market because it was a perfect place to socialize your dog. Now I usually talk to more dogs then people. The green market runs from January through March, the time that the area produces vegetables. It's also the best time to take a stroll.

The Green Market

Every Saturday morning in January through March a green market is opened in front city hall. This vendor has too large a variety to be the farmer. Some of the vegetables don't grow in our area. But it is fresh.

North Side of the Colonnade in Coral Gables

This is the north side of the Colonnade in Coral Gables. Notice that the columns are square. The original columns on the south side are round (see Jan 15 and 16). When adding to a historic building in Coral Gables it must be in harmony with the original but it can not mimic it totally. This way we have a building that looks like one building and if you look closely you will realize what's historic.

Flowers in Winter

Much of the USA is very cold today, but not here. This orchid is happy to sit in the garden while yesterdays flower is carefully tended to in the house.

Winter Narcissus Competing With Snow

A Christmas gift that gives us the light of spring. Ah! but this plant is blooming in a warm climate and outside the flowers are still beautiful.


The single bulb came with its own ceramic pot and fertile growing media. The one bulb produced three stems of flowers. Many years ago people grew the bulbs in a bowl of marbles and water. Without the fertilize those bulbs seldom looked very good.

Colonnade in Coral Gables

The Colonnade in Coral Gables is now part of a Westin hotel group. If you Google the Westin Colonnade you can see more pictures of the property. My favorite picture is the rotunda. The rotunda was the main room of the major bank in Coral Gables. The tellers were behind iron bars and it looked like a jail to me (all be it a beautiful one). This building is now connected to a very large building.

Coral Gables Colonnade

We have many colonnades on our buildings, specially the new high rises. But this is the daddy of them all. The entrance opens to a beautiful rotunda, but you will get to see that later. Wednesday I will post the colonnade by its self.

City Beautiful

Yesterday, early in the morning, I went down town to get some pictures without a lot of traffic. I was amazed that the garbage collectors were working on Sunday. Each truck has two men with carts that collect the garbage and they take it to a spot were the truck can pick it up. I see this in the residential area all the time. This is the first time that I saw it done in middle of town. Our city logo is 'Coral Gables City Beautiful'. But lets realize we all have to clean up.

Tropical Waterlilies

Last week the temperature went down to 40f and some of the plants were damaged. The waterlilies stopped blooming for a day or two and now they are back to normal.

The Shimmer of a DVD

I have seen many spider webs that glisten with dew drops. Today it was totally different. The web was perfect with no damage and it was dry. When I spotted the web at first I saw only the dancing rainbow. The colors changing constantly. I just happened to capture the orange color.

Another Dutch Village House

All of my life I looked at the curly walls but I never saw the screw shaped chimney until I took these pictures. Almost all of the Dutch village houses have this style of chimney.

Dutch Village

Every home in this village is painted white, not any white but the identical white. Ever since I was a youngster I wondered why those houses had the curly things at the top of the walls. When I was told that it was the Dutch village the shapes made sense - well maybe.

A Project Finished

Last night the DeSoto fountain was rededicated. This fountain was one of our signatures. I grew up with it and thought of it as being mine. In the early 40's the lights were removed and the steel was given to the war effort. It took 20 years to replace them. At the dedication a friend of mine, Connie Crowther took these pictures. Connie is a well known photographer and now my first visiting photographer

About 8 years ago the fountain was turned off. The city had a very difficult time getting someone who would repair the fountain. But now the water flows stronger then ever.
The city officials presiding at the DeSoto Fountain rededication. On April 21 07 I uploaded a picture of the fountain when they were starting the work.

Coral Gables Waterway Looking West

This picture and yesterdays makes our city look like we have some elevation. The city is flat. Around here a 10 foot raise is a hill.

Coral Gables Waterway

This canal meanders through Coral Gables. It's next to the Cartagena Plaza. This must be the highest land in the city. Our house is 11 feet above the water line and this must be twice as high.

Cartagena Circle

The circle became a roundabout when Cartagena in Colombia sent us the a replica of the statue 'My Old Shoes' by Tito Lambrano in the mid 80's. The original sculpture remains in Cartagena.


The Cartagena Plaza or Cartagena Circle is named in honor of the city of Cartagena, our first sister city. It was originally called the Cocoplum Circle, and LeJeune Rd, (the north south road) had the right of way.

French Village Garden

This narrow garden is only 20 feet across. You can see all the way to the back of the house. It looks more sophisticated then the average garden.

B. Little Stars Blooming in the Cold

This orchid is growing on an avocado tree and it has been blooming since October. The individual flower lasts for about three weeks. As some wilt other fresh flowers open. In the evenings they are very fragrant and the entire garden is filled with their fragrance. One of the parents has the common name of 'Lady of the Night'. The ladies have been standing by our front door for 3 months.

What I Did Yesterday

This young breadfruit (the one with the big green leaves) was growing very well in my garden. The temperature was in the low 80's three days ago and in the 70's two days ago. Yesterday it was in the 50's and 60's. The breadfruit is a super tropical tree and will be damaged in the 40's if it lasts for a day.


The orchard ladder was placed over the young tree and butcher string placed around the leaves and knotted to the ladder. Thus the leaves were inside the the ladder frame.


Then horticultural fleece cloth covered the tree in the afternoon. This morning I started watering the tree with well water that is always 68F. I will let you know how it turns out.

Fog

If we get fog twice a year, that's a lot. Just 2 miles west of us they have fog regularly. Six years ago I captured same type of a picture. It was a better picture taken with a P&S camera and a small file. Click here to see the better picture.

Theme Day: Photo of The Year 20007

This picture of a jade vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys) was posted on March 9, 2007. It was the first picture that I posted on CDP and is still my favorite. It would be impossible to post my favorite of the entire group. After looking through each bloggers pictures, I would have found hundreds of favorites.

There are 118 Daily City Photo bloggers participating in today's Theme. Visit them, you'll see fabulous photographs from around the world.

Paris, France - London, England - Hyde, UK - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Grenoble, France - Stockholm, Sweden - Riga, Latvia - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Manila, Philippines - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Weston (FL), USA - Prague, Czech Republic - New Orleans (LA), USA - Wichita (KS), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - San Francisco (CA), USA - Hobart (Tasmania), Australia - Greenville (SC), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Mainz, Germany - Melbourne, Australia - Portland (OR), USA - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Toulouse, France - Naples (FL), USA - Jakarta, Indonesia - Brussels, Belgium - Stayton (OR), USA - Selma (AL), USA - Mexico City, Mexico - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Toruń, Poland - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - Budapest, Hungary - Baziège, France - Nashville (TN), USA - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Chicago (IL), USA - Prescott (AZ), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Nottingham, UK - Moscow, Russia - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Evry, France - Trujillo, Peru - Arlington (VA), USA - Denpasar, Indonesia - American Fork (UT), USA - Seattle (WA), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Coral Gables (FL), USA - Montpellier, France - Joplin (MO), USA - Pilisvörösvár, Hungary - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Boston (MA), USA - Torun, Poland - New York City (NY), USA - Dunedin (FL), USA - Quincy (MA), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Chateaubriant, France - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Jackson (MS), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Budapest, Hungary - Austin (TX), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Cypress (TX), USA - Bicheno, Australia - Wrocław, Poland - Brookville (OH), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Nelson, New Zealand - Cheltenham, UK - Wellington, New Zealand - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Mumbai (Maharashtra), India - London, UK - Haninge, Sweden - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Arradon, France - Jefferson City (MO), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Mumbai, India - Terrell (TX), USA - Bogor, Indonesia - Delta (CO), USA - Radonvilliers, France - Saigon, Vietnam - San Diego (CA), USA - Adelaide (SA), Australia - Belgrade, Serbia - Auckland, New Zealand - Seguin (TX), USA - Inverness (IL), USA - Oslo, Norway - Singapore, Singapore - Las Vegas (NV), USA - New York City (NY), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Torino, Italy - Susanville (CA), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Memphis (Tennessee), USA