DON FARMER

The next time you attend one of those "Tour of Homes" events we have around here now and then, why not expand your horizons? After a day admiring dramatic dining rooms, killer kitchens and cool pools, take a few hours ...

We have learned two good ways to discover that recreational skydiving is very popular these days. One is to Google "skydiving." You'll find 10s of millions of results. A research method closer to home would be to check out the ...

If you could wave a magic wand at your dog allowing it to answer one question in English, what would be your question? Mine would be, "Hey you big sweetie, good girl, yes you are, yes you are! How old ...

The Marco Island Academy may be the coolest place in town. From the visionary founder and chairperson, Jane Watt, to the high-octane faculty and staff, this charter public high school apparently is a place where teachers love to teach and ...

Some people know Darrell Loan as a fall and winter resident of Marco Island, an 83-year old whose body and brain are active and motivated to stay that way. Many people in Iowa know Darrell as a vigorous farmer who ...

Dave Elliott has more gigs than a frog farm. His Marco Island-related pursuits include a daily talk show on WGUF 98.9 FM, licensed to Marco, his annual hosting of the tree-lighting bash that's part of Christmas Island Style and frequent ...

Cyclist Susan Evans, whose Island Bike Tours is increasingly popular here, says she's had few problems with drivers and cyclers trying to share the same space. "We're mostly on the sidewalks and in the bike lanes, so we're very safe. ...

Marco Movies owner Nick Campo has lots to be happy about on this Oscar night weekend. Our now digitally enhanced multi-screen cinema has had a flurry of fine films, several of which are nominated for Oscars in the big show ...

Naples resident and marcophile Neal Boortz has left the building, literally. Neal, the nationally syndicated radio talk show host based in a beachfront high-rise here, and his wife, Donna, are on the road again.

Twenty or more authors from Marco and elsewhere in Southwest Florida will gather to meet and greet book lovers at a free AuthorFest next week. “We’re very excited to have this event and hope a lot of people will show ...

When we recently spoke by phone with Jim Daly, president of the international Christian ministry, Focus on the Family, we quickly realized that he has a personal charisma which makes him a great communicator. Daly is the gue

As we reflect on the recent holidays, one image leaps forward. Henceforth, whenever we think of December and January, 2012 and 2013, we will thinkof plaid. Everyone in our extended family wore plaid stuff over the holidays.

Many of you know that some senior living centers invite children and teenagers who take music lessons to entertain residents of those facilities. Especially around this holiday time of year. So when my grandson Cade and othe

Here’s a thought for those of us who prefer to do our shopping, including in this holiday season, on Marco Island: Our list of local retailers to visit should include non-profit gift shops – The Museum Gift Store, the Art ...

Here's a quick quiz to make a point about shopping for retail merchandise in Collier County:

Roger Allen and I didn't need this new-fangled FaceSpace or Tweaker or whatever those instant, constant communication tools are called, to stay in touch. Why, we had dinner just a few months or so ago, while Roger and his wife ...

As Southwest Floridians and other Americans prepare to observe, celebrate, ignore or flee from Halloween this year, predictions on the economic impact of the haunt-happy holiday are like a witch's brew — mixed.

So your out of town guests and relatives have had fun and sun on our beach. They’ve had music, food and drink at Stan’s, the Snook Inn, Little Bar and other hot spots. They’ve danced at Marco Polo, reveled at ...

[No Paragraph Style]BC BodycopyOne of Marco Island’s best-known hair care artists is making a major career move. Maria Elena Pujol is closing her hair design salon to take her hard work and talent to join the other experts at the ...

A man with a national clientele who calls himself a "menu engineer" is helping a local enterprise maximize the impact of its menu.

Apparently a lot of people around here are dealing with the stresses of this boisterous, harsh, contentious political season by following an old saying in politics: ---- “If you want a friend, get a dog.” Or, we would add, a ...

You're taking your iPad or smartphone with you as you walk from your desk to the office break room for a bit of Internet browsing and a bite from the vending machine.

Some leftist media types have uncovered the real reason the Fox News Channel clobbers CNN and MSNBC in popularity. Is it the quality of Fox News anchors and reporters? Nah. Is it O’Reilly’s bloviating,

If you poked around in a lot of homes here and around the country, you might fight old armoires sitting empty and neglected in the garage, or even at a garage sale.

The digital revolution is coming to the Marco Movies. Owner Nick Campo is thrilled with the changeover from the world of 35- millimeter film, but, as he says with a grin, “I really had no choice. “Last fall, I got ...

We’re still about five months away from Marco’s two winter holiday parades, one boat, one street, but already some Islanders are preparing for all the activities that comprise the popular “Christmas Island Style.” It’s a lan

In this political campaign season, much is made of the relationship of business and government.

Maddie Richie, a young Marco woman who’s a rising senior at the University of Florida, has two big things and a little thing to think about this summer. The big things are a field project in the American west for ...

As Marco Island considers allowing a horse drawn carriage business, we decided to get the perspective of a source as close as we could get to being straight from the horse's mouth. We talked with Charlene Casey, whose 13-year-old enterprise, ...

A lot of American children have visions of making a life and a living tending to the likes of Flipper, Lassie, Rin Tin Tin or maybe a family of gentle giraffes. One local enterprise with a workplace that has a ...

Some dads' names may actually be close to Sue, but it's all in the family.

That phrase, “I came, I saw, I loved it, I stayed,” is how long-time Marco restaurateur Konrad Meyerhofer remembers events when he first got to Marco Island in 1981. He had left a prestigious job as executive chef at the ...

So how do you show off our beautiful island to first-time visitors after you’ve arranged a fine hotel on our great beach, good restaurants and other fun, on and off the water? Now you can show them the history of ...

Remember when the world of passwords was one of fun, childish intrigue and access to special people, places and things? Passwords used to be crucial to being an elite member of the Little Rascals’ He-Man Woman Haters Club. Life didn’t ...

The principal of Naples High School, Dr. Nancy Graham, said that, when we asked what our kids are wearing to high school proms in Collier County these days.

Now that the City of Marco Island will have a team of volunteers to help beachgoers have a good experience there while not intruding on wildlife or other people, we wondered about our knowledge, and yours, on beach dos and ...

The road to a successful radio station in and for Marco Island is strewn with road kill. Now there’s new hope. Several broadcasters and/or other would-be media mavens have spent and lost a lot of money in a clutch of ...

If you attend the Marco Island Seafood Festival here this weekend, the beverages may seem colder and the seafood may taste sweeter if you know or know of some of the people whose lives are changed by this annual event.

When Valentyna Chystyk first came to Marco Island from her home in Ukraine to visit a friend here, she says she knew right away she wanted to make Marco her home and America her country.

If you know anyone who has an iPhone 4S, you’re probably hiding in your cubicle at work or in the garage at home, hoping the iPhoner won’t find you. Being a recent purchaser of this latest Apple-built marvel, it’s hard ...

We’re guessing Islander Tom Curtis’s favorite animal is a particular zebra in Kenya that doesn’t know its image is being seen in all the right places these days.

The funniest new book that focuses on Marco and many of its residents is a cookbook, full of recipes by locals and their friends. It is the Sunrise Rotary Club’s “Marco Island Cooking Secrets, a Collector’s Cook book.”

We qualify as “mature” but we’re not sure we can claim to be boaters. We have no snazzy Sea-Doo, no super sailboat, no sexy Stingray, not even a quaint kayak.

So are those Canada geese we see enjoying the calm waters of Mackle Park Lake (or pond, as some call it)? Don’t laugh. We hear that some people thought they were alive, real Canada geese that seemed to have found ...

Our talented firefighters and EMT personnel now have a new weapon in their arsenals. On their vehicles, along with the right stuff to fight fires and save lives of humans in peril, they’re also equipped with small, medium and large ...

Welcome to “Your Digital Dude,” a new feature in our Marcophiles and Shop Talk columns, in which we drain the brain of our favorite computer guru, an expert in all things digital, Patrick Junkroski. He has clients on Marco, having ...

Have you ever noticed in large cities that sometimes billboards around town carry bigger-than-life photos of the local TV anchor people? The theory is, if people see those giant images enough, the public will want to watch the newsies on ...

When Joe Irvin arrived on Marco last October as the city’s zoning administrator, his office computer was barely warmed up when the first proposal for a putt-putt golf course here landed on his desk. Within two weeks another putt-putt proposal ...

Karen Gardner’s clients seem to love the services she provides to them, from A-list show biz celebrities to some of the most beautiful, rarest creatures among us. Karen, whose parents, David and Anne Gardner, are long-time Marco Islanders, could fill ...

Here’s a reminder that you’ll have a chance to ask questions of city council members Monday. The format is a Town Hall meeting. Some questions already submitted will be asked and, if they haven’t changed the rules, the floor will ...