Hispanic music

 My little city Tamarac Florida, abuts  the cities of Sunrise and Coral Springs. We are the smallest city though: Tamarac's population is around 75,000, Sunrise 100,000 and Coral Springs 141,000. (Approximates all).

 However, because we have an activist music-loving mayor, Michelle Gomez, we tend to have many fun events which attract persons from those neighboring cities.

 Especially to our regular concerts in the parks.

We took in the Latin concert in Sunrise.

On  the other hand, before last night, I had only found one event in Sunrise which I felt was worth joining in. 

That was a day trip to Key West. 

 (https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2025/03/that-key-west-trek.html?m=1).

However, I have never attended an actual event in Coral Springs, although, I do walk at their Three Mountains Park on Saturdays. 

The name is a joke though as Broward County has no hills much less mountains.😅

However in Coral Springs, they did dredge a canal once and dump the dirt nearby to make 3 little hills, which is what was turned  into that small park with the auspicious name 😁.

As my muscles can never improve if I only walk in flat areas, I must not be disparaging, as I have gratefully adopted that area for a weekly trek🙏.

JOAN, MY VIEWS.: A hill at last! 

Yes, I  know I am rambling! It's only because I attended the Hispanic Heritage concert in Sunrise and was just reflecting on what the adjoining cities offer in comparison to mine😊.

You see,  like Tamarac, (JOAN, MY VIEWS.: ICE, culturally disruptive), Sunrise also had a Hispanic Heritage Concert during their celebration of Historic Heritage Month.

 It was held on the 10th October in their fairly new, beautiful amphitheatre.

The attendance was low in the beginning as it had rained all day and I imagine the ICE monster hadn't helped. 

The rain stayed away in the late afternoon though and it was actually a nice night. So the crowd grew slightly later and appeared to almost double.

Everyone was in high spirits throughout.

I love Latin music.

Latin music is so energetic and lively. One reason for this is it's pulsating beat as the rhythms are often built around throbbing African drums.

For the first hour at Sunrise, music was provided by DJ Genesis and the selections were good, as he played popular hits from every Latin American country, identifying them as he went along.

         Venezuelan dancers do their thing.

Then the live band La Nota took over and kept the vibes soaring throughout.

They had a half hour break during which Venezuela dancers, even mere babies  entertained.

It was a beautiful, cool night after the rains and the music, camaraderie and general entertainment was good.

Pity so few people turned out to enjoy what was a really very well planned and executed event.

A lovely get together

 The setting was exquisite and the company full of fun.

 Yup we spent a wonderful afternoon sharing memories and stuffing ourselves with the tasty fare prepared with love by our charming host Dahlia.

A setting fit for queens

It was a very pleasant afternoon in Coral Springs, Florida as young and not so young 😁 graduates of Hampton School in Malvern. St. Elizabeth, Jamaica caught up at a delicious brunch provided by Dahlia.

We happily shared amusing memories from our days at that institution.

An unexpected aspect was when Dawn showed us pictures and commentary from the 40's when her mom- in- law was a student at Hampton.

The early birds l-r: Sonia, Winsome, host Dahlia, Carol, Violet, Joan.

More memories in pictures.

Winsome aka Lady C.

Sonja, Carol. Sonia

L-r Violet, Barbera, Angela, Jennifer, Dahlia 

Dawn, Angela, Jennifer,

L-r: Sonja, Carol, Sonia, Doreen

Dahlia, Winsome .

Maurice graced us with his presence 

Dahlia and Dawn

Violet, Joan

The backyard 

Dahlia and her husband Maurice escorting some guests out.

Nb. Some pics contributed by Sonja Pantry.

A hill at last!

                                             

Atop a landfill in Coral Springs

I owe my Floridian friends a big apology, as for the past few years I have been complaining bitterly that the hiking trails are boring, as the terrain is so flat.

Well, that’s not quite true at all as I hiked the most wonderful trail last week, with hills and valleys that were absolutely invigorating.

No I am not talking about the trails at that park in Coral Springs called “Three Mountain Park,” for those little hills which they call mountains are really landfills 😂.

Well, I shouldn’t be unkind as my Saturday walks up those inclines do prevent the muscles in the backs of my thighs from seizing up.

The only problem with this new trail that I am raving about is that it is six hours away and the only way will be able to hike it regularly is to move Jacksonville.

And that's just on my stars!

We got to visit those undulating trails on a recent camping trip to Camp Chowenwah in Clay County Florida.

Thanks to our local ‘guide’ Stephanie, we were taken to Jennings State Forest, about half hour away from our base.

The great thing about this Forest, is that it has around eight color-coded trails ready-made for your specific fitness level.

These range from easy to extremely difficult.

From our party, three hikers took the easy trail, two the moderate and three the difficult.

The two moderate hikers were Jennifer and I.

We took the Pioneer Trail which was said to be around six miles and there was supposed to a be a waterfall en route.

The trail started out as a normal Florida flat track with lots of shrubs, thatch palms and beautiful wild flowers but no trees. 

Luckily, we started out early and it was cloudy so we did not have to contend with the boiling sun.

Gradually, we started to ascend and as we did, the thickness of the forest increased.

Below us we had the presence of the North Fork Black Creek and its tributaries,  which you could see from every angle. As we hiked, some sections got so steep that the at the operators of the trails had installed wooden rungs and even easy bypasses.

As we enjoyed the trek, I kept listening for the roaring waters as a sign that we were approaching the waterfall. 

However, we continued walking for what seemed like forever without any sign of it.

This was when I started to suspect that it couldn’t be all that spectacular, for if it were, it would have been marked on our hiking map that we got at the Ranger station and there would be markers on the trail directing us to it.                                                                                                                                                                              When we almost reached the top, at Harris Overlook to be exact, there was a map and Jennifer noticed that we should have taken a trail on the left, to get to the waterfall.

At that point, to get there we would have had to descend quite a bit and after that difficult but invigorating trek to the top we decided that it was not worth the effort.

It certainly wasn’t, for those who took the easy trail had ended up at the waterfall and what they saw would have made me weep, if I had gone back down there to see it!                               

For when Sonia sent me the pictures of what they found, it was not something I would have called waterfall.

That's the waterfall!😏

Besides the waterfall not being worth the effort had we turned back to look at it, we would have been soaked. For shortly after we passed the marker, it started to rain.

Initially, as there were lots of trees, we did not get too wet and it did cool us off, as the climb had been strenuous. I was a bit worried though that there might have been some lightning, as Florida is famous for its lightening strikes, so it is not wise to be among trees at such times.

Luckily there was none.

After we descended for a mile or two with the rain still falling steadily, we came to a clearing and what did we find? It was the park where Rosie, Beth and Sonia who had taken the easy trail, had their vehicle and they were just about to drive off when we appeared.

So, we happily jumped into their truck. This saved us from a thorough drenching as we had now left the covering of the trees behind and had come into the open.

Rosie and Beth

It was a wonderful day of hiking but my one regret was I saw no animals!

Jennifer did spot an armadillo, but by the time she alerted me, it had gone into hiding. 

No, that's not quite true, as when we were at the Ranger’s station, there was a huge rooster looking quite at home as he voraciously picked insects from the grass. 

The next thing we saw was him hightailing it across the road, to where he had a girlfriend and babies, we were told.

And there had been numerous exotic and ordinary birds accompanying us with their various melodies and screams, and of course the ever-present woodpeckers were having a ball as usual.

This was by far the best hiking expedition we went on in the area and whereas those of us who did the easy and moderate trails had a whale of a time with no repercussions, around the fire later, we learnt that those who had opted for the difficult trail did have some bruises, aches and pains.

But that all part of the process isn’t it?

Links; Joan, my views: No more cruising! (joan-myviews.blogspot.com)

Joan, my views: Glamping (joan-myviews.blogspot.com)

               Joan, my views: Anti immigrant crap (joan-myviews.blogspot.com)

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