Robbie Caponetto
It was a lovely, cool-for-Florida fall afternoon when I returned to Ca dZan.
A thin mist fell through the cluster of banyans, slipping past the canopy down onto the roots.
With each passing year, those trees grew more enormous.
Credit:Robbie Caponetto
Standing amid their branches, I had the sense of being sheltered from time.
I could almost catch the echo of my younger self.
I described abandoned arcades and kitschy secondhand stores, along with vast, decaying estates.
Credit:Robbie Caponetto
TheFlorida landscapeonly became more vivid the farther I traveled from it.
I was pulled back to Ca dZan by curiosity as much as nostalgia.
I wanted to see what had changed in the decades since Id last visited.
Credit:Robbie Caponetto
What did I recall incorrectly?
What did I get right?
We often think of travel in terms of novelty.
Credit:Robbie Caponetto
But its just as true that it can bring moments of unexpected familiaritydeja vu, even.
When I first set foot on the Ringling property, I was just 10 years old.
My new stepfather, an amateur photographer, wanted to take family portraits in Mables renowned rose garden.
Credit:Robbie Caponetto
I, restless and more than a little rebellious, wanted the freedom to explore.
After that initial trip, I revisited Ca dZan as often as I could.
Even with all the roving tourists, I could convince myself it belonged to me.
Credit:Robbie Caponetto
I was Mable Ringling, misplaced in time.
Every inch draws the eyestained glass windows, furnishings, friezes, and hand-glazed tiles.
A staggering collection of art lines the walls of each room.
Usually, when you return to a site that loomed large in childhood, you are met with disappointment.
The reality rarely lives up to the dream; buildings and people tend to seem smaller and less impressive.
Some love stories are written in pen and inkothers in terra-cotta and marble.
The architect, Dwight James Baum, addressed the blueprints to Mrs. John Ringling.
Music, art, and companionship sang from every rafter.
Even nearly a century later, one can detect the jubilant hope that went into building such a home.
A generous host but fiercely private in her day-to-day life, Mable rarely appeared in the press.
Her whimsy and imagination emerged in the details she selected for her house.
The ballrooms ceiling is decorated with dancers representing cultures from all around the world.
Delight was her mission; in that, she succeeded without question.
Commas and quotation marks wink from around the room.
Webb was also responsible for these painted accents, but neither he nor Mable ever revealed their meaning.
They remain an open-ended invitation to imagine the Ringlings lives in the beauty that was left behind.
The sunset colors of the houses terra-cotta facade are as striking and ornate as ever.
