100 not out👏

It sure was a great celebration to honor Mrs. Violet Edwards (fondly known as Miss Vie or Aunt Vie) on her 100th birthday.  

She does not look a day over 75 and the function celebrating the milestone with a splash, was held in Parkland, Florida on Saturday night.

Channel 10 was there and aired this excellent report.

The you tube link is at:

https://youtu.be/DcS95kqOOkE?si=cgPMlIHQVADN7IE4.

I had a great time and took a ton of pictures as usual.😁

You know what was particularly inspiring? The fact that Miss. Vie got all the well deserved accolades while she was alive. As normally people have to die before you are told of their good works. 

And Miss. Vie herself shared some of her secrets to long life and happiness. Laugh a lot, don't worry, maintain a positive outlook on life, be kind and sociable. 

She is by far my most impressive role model and am so happy I was invited to share this milestone.

Great memories.

Famous songbird Marcia Griffith, former backup singer to Bob Marley, pays tribute.

Son-in-law attorney Everett, pays tribute.

Daughter Dr. Christine Edwards with husband Everett 

Jamaica's Consul General Oliver Mair hails Miss Vie.

In-law Dr. Hope Smith admires the cake with Miss. Vie.

In laws Colin (also leader/founder of Tallawah Mento Band) and wife Anette Smith pose with Miss Vie.

Jamaica's celebrated tenor Steve Higgins serenades Miss Vie.

Consul General Mair

Wayne Armond, (left) former leader of Chalice dance band now plays with Tallawah Mento Band led by Colin Smith.

Tariq Smith, Tallawah's drummer.

There was lots of entertainment throughout including music by Tallawah Mentor Band and a Mentalist/ magician?

The "mentalist" used Shadrach for one of his schemes😊

The dance floor was well used all night.

Drop foot, (Shake a leg) yes Miss. Vie👏👏🎂

Marcia Griffiths in action, members of Tallawah Mentor Band behind.

Carol and Shadrach. The huge venue in the background.

Tenor Steve Higgins with Carol 

With my designated driver/friend, Carol.

(Photos by Carol.)

Marcia in action

Happy my grandson came

The guest of honor enjoyed every moment.

When Miss Vie got her Batchelors degree at age 96, (4 years ago: https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2022/06/reflections-on-aging.html?m=1,)  she set up a scholarship fund to help needy Jamaicans in her homeland attend the University of the West Indies. For her 100th celebration, Miss Vie requested that invitees contribute to that scholarship fund instead of bringing her gifts.👏👍

Incidentally, we Jamaicans celebrate Senior Citizens Week Sept 24 to 1 October, so Miss Vie outstanding celebration was well timed!

It sure was a great night all round!😊

 The food and general catering service was top of the line, the decorations superb, the entertainment appropriate and enjoyable, and the valet service went like clockwork.

The happy wonderer 😊

 My friend Jennifer is who I call the happy wonderer.

I have not seen her for years and never know where she is.

She is of Jamaican ancestry but grew up in the USA. 

I met her in Jamaica decades ago. Then she went to live in Panama. Then she wrote to say she was back in Washington.

The next I heard from her she was back in the Caribbean, which she loves.

Never know where she will be next but it was great hanging out with her and her friends in Coconut Creek, Florida yesterday.

Always wonderful to see her and catch up on her latest adventures.

Early Thanksgiving

 It was like early Thanksgiving, but the fare was even nicer and fit for us queens.

The queens, Michelle, Sonja, Joan, Kadia

This wonderful splash was prepared from start to finish by the creative Kadia, owner of the top-tier Blue Fork LLC, a well-known catering service in New York.

😋 Cheesecake my very favorite 

I only met Kadia the master chef, in May while on a cruise. We hit it off immediately when we discovered we were both former Hamptonians.

That's how I managed to get a commitment from her to cook me a super meal for my birthday😁.

The Hampton posse

There was a logistics problem however, as she lived in New York and I lived in Florida.

Anyway it all came together when her best friend Michelle migrated from New York to Florida. 

So this weekend she flew down for the birthday special and made it into a house-warming bash too.

Oxtail

Curried goat

                               Tada.... Pork.

 And would you believe cheese cake and creme boulee for desert!  Wow.

The chef extraordinaire 

And how could I forget the mannish water we started with😋.

It sure was a fun day (and filling to boot) to remember.😁😋

ICE, culturally disruptive😡

 One of the reasons for America's popularity and success, has been the comfortable diversity in the country. 

Surrounded by Sonias'!

Now, because of the disruptive and destabilizing methods being used by ICE, many legal immigrants are feeling uncomfortable and withdrawing into their communities.

Tamarac,  Florida seems to be going along that path.

I love my city, Tamarac 

Tamarac is a tiny but vibrant city of only slightly over 75,000 people. The makeup  is, just over 30% Hispanic, while the vast majority are Afro Americans and Caribbean, with a tiny number of others who originated from Europe, living comfortably together. 

Admirably too, because we have a wonderful music-loving Mayor, (Michelle Gomez,) we have quite a few concerts and cultural events annually.

When these events are held in the parks, you usually see this great cultural diversity in action.

However due to the fear now pervasive especially in the Hispanic community, due to the heavy handed operation of ICE, the attendance at these events this year, appear significantly smaller. 

I first made this observation after the 4th July Independence concert, as even then, you could see a trend where legal immigrants were preferring to stay home rather than tolerate the possibility of unnecessary, brutal and embarrassing harassment.

Poor turnout at the concert.

Nevertheless, at the Hispanic concert last night, despite the small numbers, spirits were high and the music good, as Tomasito Cruz and the rest of his trio had us rocking non-stop to music from throughout Latin America.

 We all had a good time and the weather which had been rainy and miserable all week, was perfect for this event.

Know what I realized too? How much Hispanic men love to and can dance.

They are on the dance floor throughout, in comparison to say, Jamaican men, who tend to excel at sitting around and  watching their partners jump and wine. 😁

Cruz in action.

Such a pity so many people missed out on the great entertainment due to the uncertainty of the times.

Murder at the movies.

 It sure was different from the usual Tamarac Senior Center activity.

And it drew quite a crowd too. I suspect that it was mainly out of curiosity, as it was for me.

A full house

Even I was a suspect!

Based on the promo, I thought since it was interactive, we were going to see a murder mystery movie and would have to guess who did it.

 But it was even better. No movie but instead a live production developed by Standin Room only Productions Inc.

A murder was committed and we had to guess why the man named Mo was killed and why.

The interactive part was, some in the audience were randomly questioned by the Inspector of Police and deemed "suspects" if our story sounded suspicious.

The Inspector questions the victim's brother.

In the end, leaders were chosen at each table to fill in a form explaining the motive and who they thought was the murderer.

It was quite an amusing, creative and entertaining production.

 Some talented "suspects" even performed! 

I especially liked the Mack the Knife rendition performed by the brother of the victim who was also a suspect.

And the room was well decorated.

Yup. It was different and it was fun. 

Only disappointment? 

Lunch was lousy😔. But the corn bread was delicious.😋.

The Inspector was quite busy

And Tamarac's Chief Organizer Michelle, got a well deserved award.

Hollywood revisited

 It's not often that I go on the monthly trips organized by the Tamarac senior center, as most are to shopping centers or casinos and I have no interest in those activities.

However today's outing was to Hollywood beach, so I tagged along. 

And it was great camaraderie and lots of free vitamin D.🙂

And we had to do quite a bit of walking as the Tamarac driver Shawn, for some strange reason, refused to let us off at our destination, Margaritaville.

Eric consulting the girls?

Carol striking a pose

A group of us stayed together and as Meredith and I were starving, we headed straight to lunch at Margaritaville. 

It was quite good and the prices were not as exorbitant as one had expected.

Ivy strikes a pose too

Meredith and I 

It was a pleasant day as we only had limited time to do anything else before having to catch the bus back home.

There wasn't much else to do anyway and I don't know if it was because school was back in session or because Trump had scared off the tourists, but the beach was really empty.

Some pics below tell the sad tale about the current tourism situation today at Hollywood beach.

Bikes begging to be rented

We virtually had the beach all to ourselves!👍