ELIZABETH KELLAR

Ask Sander Langerbeeke who he is, and he will tell you without hesitation. A Dutch boy. He always has been, and always will be. The transition to Naples required him to adjust to a different lifestyle and to absorb a ...

Every dog has his day, and Cody Bear’s is rapidly approaching. The 1-year-old Golden Retriever is part of the PAWS for Love assistance dog program, a group started two years ago by the Southwest Florida Professional Dog Trainers Alliance. Sponsored ...

When Bryant Arthur looks at the beautiful beaches that have made Southwest Florida so famous, he doesn’t see suntans or seashells. He sees shoes. Sandals, actually.

For “Sex and the City” fans, a cardboard cutout pretend Mr. Big is better than no Big at all. On Thursday, the day “Sex and the City 2” premiered, a slightly stiff – but definitely well-loved – Mr. Big joined ...

There has been a lot of talk about tea parties recently. Not the sort with sign waving. The sort with scone nibbling. If that sounds like a tempting treat, Patti Sandick can give you a few white-gloved pointers. With friend ...

When a volcano erupts, everyone usually runs the other direction. Not Neapolitans Morris Herstein and George Schrenk. Instead, the two friends, retirees who are hobbyist photographers, decided to grab their cameras, load up Shrenk’s Learjet and pop across the Atlantic ...

Casey James wants to appeal to more than the opposite sex in his post-"American Idol" music career, despite what judge Kara DioGuardi has to say about it.

When Dr. Louis Moore arrived in Collier County in 1958, there was only one hospital. True, it was still called the Naples Community Hospital, but it wasn’t the multi-story, multi-specialty facility of today.

At first, it looks like the start of a proper play date. There are strollers, the heavy-duty kind that can tackle a hot day at Disney with nary a wheel wobble, and moms, mostly clad in colorful tank tops, athletic ...

Naples is the global headquarters of Slavianskaya, an award-winning organic vodka. Owned by Russian-born husband-and-wife team Yuri and Irene Kharlamov, the company formed in 1999 and moved to Naples in 2004, in part because the Kharlamovs vacationed here from their ...

From the moment we drove into Germain Arena on Thursday night and spotted a parking lot attendant wielding his flashlight as if it were a light saber, we knew “’Star Wars’: In Concert” was going to be heavy on the ...

Technically, it’s called a “Fit for a King” cake, but privately there are those who call it a “Queen Anne Cake.” That’s a nod to Wynn family matriarch Anne Wynn. The caramel-colored confection is one of her culinary triumphs, and ...

A galaxy far, far away is about to become a lot closer. To Estero, actually. At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, “Star Wars: In Concert,” an internationally touring multi-media show that combines film scenes, live narration and orchestral music from all ...

In hurricane-prone Southwest Florida, storm shutters are a home’s smartest accessory. But after several relatively quiet storm seasons, a collapsed housing market and an economic downturn, some among the region’s residential hurricane protection industry have taken a Category 5 business ...

The six students on Veterans Memorial Elementary School’s Odyssey of the Mind team have proven they can successfully build and operate a human-powered vehicle, apprehend wayward animals and weather unexpected, well, weather. Their biggest challenge is just ahead, though.

Designed to give adult students with special needs a hands-on chance to find potential career paths, Project Explore is a unique community-based program that teams students with staff mentors for education and support.

When Debra Newman was growing up, her mother’s love of garage and estate sales was a kind of running gag. The family frequently joked that it was important to like the gifts mom gave, because you couldn’t take it back. ...

It hardly matters whether or not yellow is a hot color for spring. We’re all wearing it anyway. That’s because sticky, mustard-colored pollen is dropping from the trees and being carried on the wind throughout Southwest Florida. April is typically ...

Maybe if the hog knew he was going to have his picture taken, he would have been sure to bathe. But as it was, 14-year-old Michael Moore’s porcine prize was muddy in all its post-hunt photo-ops. Not that Michael minded: ...

The blazing pink bougainvillea bush outside Linda and David Johnson’s Grey Oaks home is only a hint of what’s to come. Inside the residence, a riot of color continues. A palette of gentle yellows, crisp greens, soothing blues and rich ...

It’s not easy being beastly. While most of us have a few freckles we’d prefer to erase or a scar we want to shed, almost none of us know what it’s like to wear fur and fangs night after night. ...

Life-sized puppets, an encounter with the devil and a sacred mask. Clearly, “Wooden Mouth” is not the typical failed-relationship tale. Yet Barry Cavin, writer and director of Florida Gulf Coast University Theatre Lab’s new two-act play, says his story is ...

While most of us have a few freckles we’d prefer to erase or a scar we want to shed, almost none of us know what it’s like to wear fur and fangs night after night. Almost none of us except ...

Veteran investigative journalist Charles Lewis described his journey from Watergate-era intern to government watchdog as a “long, strange road.” Lewis addressed the Forum Club of Southwest Florida on Friday at an afternoon luncheon event at the Naples Beach Hotel. It ...

In her pixie ponytails and short sundress, Susanna Tocco looks more like a would-be beachcomber than some sort of new age sage. Which is exactly how she wants it to be. Tocco’s not a guru, nor does she aim to ...

Richard Miller is a self-proclaimed “Dumpster-diver.” Through the years, he has discovered all sorts of treasures in the trash. Every room of his home holds some item, large or small, that he rescued from a run to the landfill. Yet ...

The MyEnviro.com Messenger is small, just a few inches long. When Kevin Borders describes the product to potential customers, he likens the size to a stick of butter. But this is one butter substitute that most people are likely to ...

Luminaries from the local arts community received a special honor from the United Arts Council of Collier County on Friday afternoon.

Maybe you were a fan of ice dancing before the recent Winter Olympics. Maybe not. Maybe Vancouver made a convert out of you. Or perhaps you didn’t tune in for a single twizzle of the ice dancing competitions, and are ...

Pretend you could turn your house upside down and give it a good shake. Almost everything that would tumble out – whether it is lava lamps and Disney World dishes, or priceless artwork and rare antiques – would fall within ...

The Cold War is over but Russia still has a significant role to play in international affairs. “There are those who think Russian history is last century’s business,” said James F. Collins, the former U.S. Ambassador to Russia. “I’m here ...

At an open house. On the Internet. Through a friend of a friend. Everyone seems have different advice about the right or wrong way to meet a real estate professional. In Collier County, the choices total in the thousands — ...

If you remember VHS, you’re not alone. John and Michelle Mansika remember it, too. It was what they used when they moved to Naples from New Jersey in 1984 and started their video production company, Video Commercial Residential Productions.

Usually, a dress is just a dress. It’s meant to be worn to work or to parties, seen as stylish for a while and then, ultimately, pushed to the back of the closet in favor of what’s new. Fashion is ...

Everyone likes a little uncertainty, just a smidge of healthy surprise. If that riddle arrives in the form of something beautiful to behold, so much the better. Raku pottery is such a puzzle, at least in its end result, but ...

Soon, Lee County will be able to claim one more Pelican. It’s not the feathered variety, but it does have wings. And beer. And peel-and-eat shrimp, too. Uptown Larry’s, a sister restaurant to the popular Naples-based restaurant group Pelican Larry’s ...

Noted economist Hank Fishkind this morning offered a less-than-lovely picture of Collier County’s current economic state. He didn’t mince words when describing Florida’s recent recession, either, describing it as a kind of financial Hurricane Andrew. “It’s hard to see it,” ...

It’s easy to be distracted by artist Frank Corso’s numerous, non-painting pursuits, such as his talents as a musician or his affinity for American collectible cars. But then there is “Summer Heat.”

Dorothy Seymour Mills loves baseball, but not in a take-me-out-to-the-ballgame, peanuts-and-Cracker Jacks kind of way. Even baseball films aren’t her style. The Naples resident has never heard of the comedy “Major League,” and wrinkles her nose at 1989’s “Field of ...

During the school year, First Book-Collier County distributes curriculum-appropriate books to students in all the county’s Title 1 public schools. It is supported primarily through private donations, grants and a fundraiser held every two years; for the past two years, ...

Attention, all aspiring artists. The secret to a competition-worthy piece of artwork is about to be revealed. Unfortunately, it’s not an especially surprising secret, nothing an artist probably hasn’t already considered. But when the insight comes from Michael Monroe, the ...

To most, the idea of kayaking 5,000 miles is likely to sound extreme. And doing so at the start of one of the harshest winters in memory? Well, that’s sure to sound insane. But to Jake Stachovak, it sounds like ...

At 26 “People” magazine proclaimed him the youngest conductor on the Great White Way. And that’s only a small part of Jack Everly’s resumé. After frequent appearances as a guest pops conductor for the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, he is now ...

Pizza sounds simple. Start with soft dough, add sauce and cheese, some miscellaneous meats and vegetables. Then, bake it all to ooey-gooey deliciousness and enjoy, preferably with cola or beer. But if it was actually easy to make a mouthwatering ...

There’s something you don’t know about stamp collecting. Or, more correctly, there are probably several somethings you don’t know about stamp collecting. But to return to that first insight: Stamp collecting isn’t the easygoing, innocuous avocation you imagine. Instead, it’s ...

You may have already heard, but there’s a food and wine festival in town this weekend. No, not that one. Well, yes, that one. We wouldn’t deny that grand dame of all Naples epicurean events, the Naples Winter Wine Festival. ...

In movie-making, they say “lights, camera, action.” In Dr. Bradley Engle’s office, they might say something similar, such as “lights, camera, smile.” Whatever cue they use to get the cameras rolling, there’s no doubt the Naples periodontist is ready for ...

First came sex, drugs and rock and roll, and it was a revolution. Then came “Spring Awakening,” a Broadway musical based on a controversial 1891 play by German author Frank Wedekind. It dropped the drugs, but didn’t spare the sex ...

The story is familiar: A married man, planted firmly in middle age, meets a younger woman and decides it is she — not his wife of 30-plus years — whom he wants to love. Or, in other words, he has ...

There was one word Naples-area real estate experts especially favored on Friday to describe recent market conditions: momentum. The Naples Area Board of Realtors released its 2009 summary, as well as its 2009 fourth quarter summary. The figures showed a ...