Art (and Sky) #AtoZChallenge #SkywatchFriday

Today is the first day of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, when hundreds of bloggers start April 1 with a post whose topic begins with "A".  Every day, except Sunday, we will blog - tomorrow, "B", Sunday off  (although I'll have a non A to Z post on Sundays), Monday, "C", Tuesday, "D", and so on.  Many A to Z's have a theme for the month of April.

I hope you like what I chose. "From Florida to Vermont With Stops In Between".  My theme is not one giving information about travel or tourism. I am simply sharing pictures I hope you like.

If you are new, or returning from last year's A to Z, or a regular reader, welcome!

I normally feature sky photos on Fridays, music on Mondays (sometimes Sundays, too), and participate in a "Wordless Wednesday" (although it's never wordless).  Therefore, on some days, like today, I will be participating in more than one meme.  Besides Blogging from A to Z, I join Yogi and other sky watching bloggers for #SkywatchFriday.

I blogged this when I announced my theme:  "Now, in our most perilous of times, it is so easy to become depressed.  We must fight that urge.  It's so hard to believe in hope, but hope is what is going to keep us going.  It took me a while to find my theme for 2022.  I changed it several times."

I did a little more mind changing in the past three week and decided I will not take a straight line from Florida to Vermont.  I am going to hop around from place to place and not restrict myself to the East Coast. 

Besides the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, I am also joining Yogi at Skywatch Friday for his every Friday meme.

So let's start with a sky picture taken yesterday where I live in New York State.   Then, a quick trip to Florida.

Now, art I found in Florida. These pictures were taken in January 2020, the last major trip spouse and I took before the pandemic closed in.

Sarasota, Florida (on the West Coast of Florida) has a yearly outdoor exhibition called The Fence.  This is a traveling photographic public art exhibition, free to the public.  I've seen it twice, in 2019 and 2020.

I was taken by this exhibition of cats.

Punta Gorda, further south on the West Coast of Florida, is justly proud of its mural and other artwork.  Some of these are along the Peace River, such as this manatee mural. 

One panel of a historic mural at the old Charlotte County Courthouse called "The Life and Times of George Brown".  George Brown was an African-American entrepreneur and you can read more about him here.  

The other part of the mural.

This building used to house The Blue Turtle Tavern and Raw Bar; I understand the business has been sold and has a new name.

I didn't come to Punta Gorda to study their murals, and if I get to return, I now know just how many murals this city features.

Not all of Punta Gorda's art is murals.  On a walk near a hotel on the Retta Esplanade, the lights were hidden in casts of various sea creatures.

A butterfly bench.

It's time to leave Florida so here's a statue called The Spirit of Punta Gorda.

On the way to Vermont, which will be my location for tomorrow, I captured gloomy skies and a line up of Canada Geese.

Join me again tomorrow, when I travel to Vermont.