One of the things that I have loved about my real estate career is personally doing the photography of my listings and creating my own virtual tours with photographs of the interiors and exteriors. It is always a challenge to get just the right shot or angle highlighting that particular shot and making it into the perfect scene.

As a semi-professional photographer, (I say that because I have sold some of my non-real estate work,) I find it exhilarating and quite relaxing to just go out and shoot some of the spectacular settings that we have here in Southwest Florida. I sometimes find myself a bit jaded living here in Naples and tend to forget how really beautiful the surroundings truly are.

This week I’m privileged and excited to be invited to go out and shoot the rarest of Orchid species, the Ghost Orchid, which now is in bloom some 45 feet in the air growing on a 400 to 500 year old Bald Cypress Tree. It will be in bloom for only about two weeks and it is something that most orchid lovers will never ever see in their lifetime,because it is so rare and only found in a few places here in Southwest Florida.

It will be worth the long drive and the trek through the swamp to get to it!

read comments (0)

Is it just me or does it seem that year after year major road construction projects begin just about the time that all the “snow birds” start returning to Southwest Florida? And why aren’t these projects started during the Spring, when these same “snow birds” are leaving to go back up north to their homes?

Somehow our leaders, in their inimitable wisdom be they State, Country or City, seem to think that the best time to begin a project is when the roads are the most heavily traveled. Boy they sure must know something that I don’t because I simply cannot figure it out.

Now I fully understand that a project like the widening of US 75, (which just started,) is one that will take up to three years to complete, so maybe that isn’t as critical as to when when it starts compared to some of the other smaller projects. Still, having said that, I would have liked to see them begin when everyone is leaving, rather than coming.

Some how no matter what is said, no matter what the inconvenience no matter what the aggravation, nothing is going to change. I guess that it is just one of those things that we have to put up with living in paradise!

read comments (0)

I’ve always had this great fantasy of going to Vegas to play in the World Series of Poker, and not only playing but winning the grand prize of $8.25 million. Yeah…right fat chance! (And people think that we realtors are over paid!) But when you think about it, this year’s winner, Jerry Yang, (the same name and nearly the same age as the founder of Yahoo,) has only been playing poker for about two years. So maybe there is a chance…anyway it’s a great fantasy.

Can you imagine do this for a living, actually making money like some people, traveling the world and playing poker. What a great deal!

Yet when I really give it a lot of thought, I wonder if the stress is more or less that of a real estate agent, especially in today’s market. I have to confess, I’m not totally sure. I do know that to win a major poker tournament can set you for life, so maybe the stress isn’t that bad playing poker after all.

At any rate, imagine how surprised I was to get this photo of my friend Evan Obrentz a few weeks ago. (He sent it to me, along with a few friends.) So I send him back an email saying “great picture…too bad you weren’t at the World Series of Poker playing for the big money.” (I thought that this was some low-level game in a smoke-filled back room in Naples.

Well was I surprised to find out that this really was him at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Turns out that he won a free spot through playing online. He managed to make it through about 6 hours on the first day before he busted out. Now I’m hooked…maybe we’ll have to put the real estate game on the back burner. Just kidding!!!

read comments (0)

One of the great joys for me is firing off ‘the canon’, which sits faithfully on my roll-top desk most all year. There are really only two times a year that I can do it successfully, (without getting arrested,) the 4^th of July and New Year’s Eve. You have to understand that at 63 years old, there is still a lot of kid in me and I get a bang (literally) from shooting it off!

The canon, about 14 inches in length and weighs a ton, is a hand made replica of one of the guns that sits on the gun deck on the Constitution (“Old Ironsides”), that wonderful old ship that resides in Boston Harbor. An interesting side note, once a year, the ship gets turned around, so that it weathers on both sides equally.

This particular canon was hand crafted by a gentleman in Marblehead, Massachusetts, who made about 15 or 20 of these for special friends and family. It would take him the better of a year to craft one, lovingly taking his time to make sure that the specifications were exactly to scale. The barrel is hand-turned from a solid piece of brass and the carriage is made from cherry wood. The canon can either fire 10 gauge shotgun blank shells or can be stuffed with wadding. (I prefer firing the blanks.)

In celebratory style we dragged it out and let loose just at dusk on July 4^th and what a blast we had, as always. The damn thing can be heard from two miles away…better than any ‘cherry bomb’ that I ever set off!

read comments (0)

As a pet owner here in Naples and not having a specific Dog Park where we can go with Roxy, our wonderful swiss cattle dog, I find it interesting that pet owners are now adding walk-to dog park to their new home search parameters. Many savy communities, Naples not being one of them, are taking heed of this emerging trend and either building them or designating existing parks as being dog-friendly.

Recently, Pat and I took Roxy to Bonita Springs and the Dog Beach there for her second outing. Bonita Springs in its wisdom, saw the benefits and created the dog beach. On any given nice weekend day, one will find some 50 or 60 dogs running and playing unleashed and having a ball. It really is amazing that with all those dogs, there are very few problems between them and the beach itself is a lot cleaner than some of the other non pet friendly beaches that we have seen in the area.

Always a bit cautious when we first take her off the leash because she so seldomly gets to interact with other dogs unleashed, after a few minutes, she is running and playing in and out of the water. As I watch her, I find myself wishing that Naples would get on board. They don’t necessarily have to designate a portion of our beach to pets, but they might want to consider one of the nearby parks as a pet-friendly park. It could really be a benefit fort those pet owners searching for property.

read comments (0)

Cinco de Mayo…what a great excuse to go out, party and drink margaritas with the best of them. Mason Ole, here I come!

People misunderstand the meaning of the day, for they believe that it is in celebration of the Mexican Independence, which it is not. Actually the day should not only be celebrated as Mexican Independence Day, but an American holiday as well!

It was on the morning of May 5^th, 1862 that 4,000 Mexican soldiers, led by General Zaragosa, totally destroyed a French army twice its size bent on invading Mexico and making it a French colony. The French army misunderstood the will of the Mexican army, thinking that upon attacking Puebla (Mexico City), they would just give up and surrender. (They were a bit overconfident because they hadn’t been defeated in battle in over 50 years, plus the fact they made some nasty tactical errors). As it turned out, the superior Mexican calvary literally analiated them.

With this victory, not only did the Mexicans defeat the French, but it allowed the United States the time to build the greatest army the world had ever seen and supply the Mexicans with supplies, weapons and men that would help them expel the French from their country forever.

And so Cinco de Mayo, a celebration of freedom and liberty. You see Mexicans and Americans never forget who their friends are, just like I never forget a good bottle of Tequila!

read comments (1)