A Walk Around Deer Creek

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A WALK AROUND DEER CREEK

Deer Creek Country Club is a community on the west side of Deerfield Beach in South Florida. Deerfield Beach is a city on the Atlantic Ocean, at the northern side of Broward County where is meets Palm Beach County.

I have been fortunate to live in Deer Creek for almost two years, and it's really a great place to live, especially if you want somewhere that is relatively quite, and safe.

Deer Creek Country Club consists of a number of private homes, town houses, and condominiums. I live in one of the condominiums, on the seventh floor of a tower, that overlooks the golf course. You couldn't want for a better view, and with many of the residents being retired or snowbirds (from Canada or the Northeastern USA, they migrate south to spend the winters in Florida), it's fairly quiet too.

This lens also features some of the communities that make up the Deer Creek Country Club, including the Deer Creek Golf Club, the Villas D'Este and The Lakes at Deer Creek. You will also find a number of photographs of the local flora and fauna in Deer Creek, in particular the birds, shrubs and trees.

I like to try and keep fit, and one way I do this is to take a morning walk around the lake and golf course. This is the story of my morning walks, in photographs from this pretty community in South Florida.

This lens about A Walk Around Deer Creek in Deerfield Beach in Florida was awarded a Purple StarThis lens was awarded a Purple Star on 21st May 2009.

MAP OF MY WALK 

THis is a map showing the route I take on my morning walk. You can see all the lakes I pass, and it's off the beaten track so usually nice and quiet.

MY MORNING WALK 

Since I lost my job in mid February 2009, I decided to that I needed to make sure that I took good care of myself, and having the time to devote to that, no longer having to get up early and head off to an office, I now have the time.

Having reached my 50's, I need to try and keep fit, and besides that, spending the whole day working on the laptop, either writing and promoting articles or job hunting, I need to make sure that I get some exercise, otherwise I will soon become stagnant, stiff, and almost certainly put on weight.

One great way for me to get some exercise is to take a morning walk around the lake and golf course. Taking a morning walk really helps me to wake up, clear my head, and start the day right.

My walk goes around "the loop", which takes me past 5 lakes, parts of the golf course, a number of nice homes, and some picturesque tropical trees and plants. There are also a variety of birds (Blue Herons, Cormorants, Swans, Egrets, Muscovy Ducks, Egyptian Geese, Mockingbirds) and other creatures (Turtles, Iguanas, Raccoons, Groundhogs, Possums), so the walk is always interesting and different every time.

Update 21st May 2009
Rain rain torrential rain... I very luckily timed my morning walk just right, because I hadn't been back half an hour when the heavens opened and it was like a monsoon with driving rain. I think we must have had a good 3 inches in a short time. You can read about the floods and see the photos on my blog.

DEER CREEK ON GOOGLE MAPS 

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DEERFIELD BEACH ON WIKIPEDIA 

Deerfield Beach is a city in Broward County, Florida, USA. The city is named for the numerous deer that once roamed the area. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 76,478. It is part of the South Florida metropolitan area, which is home to 5,463,857 people.

read the rest of the Wikipedia article

THE VIEW FROM THE CONDO 

Living on the 7th floor, I get a great view over one of the lakes and the golf course. A walk around the block is 2 1/4 miles, which is quite a good walk, and usually takes me between 35-40 minutes.

FIRST STEPS 

My day usually starts with a large glass of Orange Juice, a quick check of my email and web sites, a chat with Debbie if she is home, and then I exit the condo, head out along the catwalk, and walk down the six flights of stairs.

 

Around the building and across the main road that runs through the community.

I CAN'T LEAVE FOR MY WALK 

Without my trusty MP3 player. Listening to my favorite music helps me clear my head, and I enjoy pacing myself to the different rhythms that I love.


I enjoy a lot of music, from Classic Rock, to Latin (Salsa, Merengue, Bachata), Country etc.
I also really like Premiata Forneria Marconi, an Italian Progressive Rock band, and have several of their tracks in my playlist at any time.

AROUND THE LAKE 

My walk starts up the east side of the lake on the north side of the condo. It's usually quiet, with a nice view of homes and trees.

 

 

 

A flotilla of three white ducks on the lake.

 

And a view across the lake back towards home.

THE NORTHEAST SIDE OF THE LOOP 

Winding around to the left, I walk past more nice houses

 

And across a bridge over a canal

 

Across the bridge we come to the Villas On The Green, one of the developments that forms Deer Creek.

 

Then the road winds around to the left some more, to the north side of the golf course.

THE NORTH SIDE OF THE LOOP 

On the north side of the lake the road crosses through the golf course. This is a shot looking north up the fairway.

 

And continuing along the road

 

Another fairway to the south. We had almost no rain for more than a month, but today started with a thunderstorm and torrential rain.

 

A couple of Muscovy Ducks. There are dozens (maybe hundreds) in the area. They think they own the place.

 

And finally we reach the western end of the golf course.

VILLA D'ESTE 

As we continue up the road, we come to more nice homes on the left, and the upmarket Villa D'Este on the right.

 

Villa D'Este has nicely landscaped walls, an impressive entry and Mediterranean styled bridge.

 

 

 

 

And to the south, opposite Villa D'Este, more houses and another lake.

 

 

THE LAKES AT DEER CREEK 

Following on, with Villa D'Este still on our right, on the left we have "The Lakes", another housing development.

 

A number of the houses have nicely landscaped gardens.

 

And the oak trees here provide some much needed shade from the sun.

 

There is always something different to see on the lakes. Today this Anhinga was watching for fish.

 

RIVER PARK 

A little further along the road we come to River Park, a small garden set with plants to attract butterfiles etc.

 

 

 

Yet another section of lake frontage. This is such a scenic walk don't you think?

 

THE NORTHWEST SIDE OF THE LOOP 

The road continues with houses on the left and right.

 

And an enclosed swimming pool on the left, with some colorful plants.

 

 

Another very impressive house.

 

And some more nice colors.

THE WEST SIDE OF THE LOOP 

The western side of the loop has several developments of condominiums on the right, and three points where the road borders a large lake.

 

 

 

The fountain is about the halfway point of the walk, but don't worry we are 3/4 through the photos.

 

 

 

 

I always stop here to see if there are any bananas growing. The owners don't seem to take much care of it. Sometimes there are several bunches.

THE SOUTHWEST SIDE OF THE LOOP 

Continuing down the road, you pass more of the large lake, lots of birds, turtles, fish jumping, and the occasional iguana.

 

This area has some nice vegetation and landscaped beds.

 

And more great views of the lake.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a point where you can see right through the lake to home. It's also open, and if I am lucky, a nice cool breeze blows through and cools me off.

THE LOWER SOUTHWEST SIDE OF THE LOOP 

 

 

Another nice colorful landscaped garden.

 

 

A nice view of The Forum - more of this later.

 

The owners of this house have a collection of hanging baskets on the trees.

 

Another great view of The Forum

 

And finally we reach Country Club Blvd which runs along the south side of the loop.

SOUTH SIDE OF THE LOOP - THE LAST LEG 

The south side of the loop has a lot more trees, mostly a mix of Oaks, Palms and Ficus, and provides a lot more shade.

 

THE FORUM AT DEER CREEK 

I couldn't complete the tour without a mention of The Forum, which is a set of impressive pink towers that can be seen from various points around the loop.


The Forum at Deer Creek is a Five Star Independent Full-Service Retirement Community with Independent Living, Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing in the heart of Deerfield Beach.

I think when it comes time to think about a sheltered living facility, there are worse places you could end up.

 

 

CONTINUING ALONG THE SOUTH SIDE 

The first time I walked along here I saw three baby raccoons. They allowed me to come within two feet of them. Always something different to see.

 

 

Another Anhinga that flew into a tree as I approached and was looking for fish.

 

One of the many Ibis's that you see around here. Sometimes you can see as many as 50 together.

 

DEER CREEK GOLF CLUB 

The clubhouse for Deer Creek Golf Club is halfway along the south side of Country Club Blvd.

 


Deer Creek Golf Club is a public 18-hole Championship course located in southeast Florida between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, just five miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and is noted for its exceptional course conditions and country club amenities.

Golfers can enjoy a championship course, Key-West style clubhouse, fully stocked golf pro shop, comfortable locker rooms, driving range, and practice putting and chipping greens.

Deer Creek Golf Club is also known for it's luxurious banquet facilities, which are ideal for weddings and parties of any kind.

 

 

 

There is a small lake outside the restaurant at the Golf Club with an island and Ficus trees in the middle.

 

The lake and island make a nice background for the diners on the patio, and also for wedding photographs.

 

THE FINAL STRETCH 

Along the edge of the golf course again on the last leg of our journey. You can see how much it rained this morning.

 

Up and over the bridge over the canal.

 

 

 

 

 

HOME IS IN SIGHT 

Finally on the last leg, I can see home at last.

 

The Bottle Brush trees are coming into bloom.

 

 

Landscaped vegetation at the entrance of the condominiums.

 

 

A Hibiscus in bloom.

 

I love the shape of this tree.

 

Finally, up the six flights of stairs, two at a time, then I stop to cool off on the catwalk. Sometimes after my walk I head straight down to the pool for a refreshing swim.

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BACKGROUND TO MY DAILY WALK 

I thought I would add this section to fill in some gaps in the information about my walk and to maybe answer some questions that any visitors might have.

The idea for this lens came about a month ago, when I started to write articles about my daily walks on My Blog. I wanted to take some photographs to complement the blog entries, and then Jaguar Julie suggested that this would be a good idea for a lens. Adding a few photographs to a blog posting is one thing, but to make a whole lens about my daily walk required a lot more in my opinion, and so the idea was born.

Firstly, YES I know it's a long lens (and then some). I thought that I had taken about 40 or 50 photographs on my walk. I returned to find it was actually 122! I found it hard to whittle the number of photos down too much without losing some of the sights that I wanted to show, so I decided to just include about 80 of them, thinking that any reader that does enjoy this lens will hopefully spend the time looking at all of them, or maybe bookmark the lens and return to look at the photos on installments.

I usually take my walk between 7:30am and 8:30am, and the previous evening I had decided that tomorrow would be the day to take the camera with me. It had hardly rained here in months and everywhere has been very dry, however I woke up the next morning at 5:30am to the CRASH BOOM FLASH of a tremendous thunderstorm.

This went on for a long while, then it appeared to clear up, so I got ready to head out for my walk. The next thing I heard was rain pounding on the roof, so I had to wait until 10am to head out of the door, by which time the sun was fairly high in the sky and the temperature was already in the 80's (25C).

One thing I usually do before I take my walk is to make a mug of Green Tea, so that this can cool down ready for me to prepare my favorite refreshing drink, Iced Green Tea With Lime. Please click on the link to read about this great healthy drink.

If you enjoyed this collection of photographs, and I hope you did, you can read more about my daily walks on my blog with the following posts: An Early Morning Walk, My Daily Walk and In A Word - Blisters.

Many thanks to Evelyn Saenz for correcting me on some of the wildlife around the lake. I thought the Anhinga was a Cormorant. You can tell by the beak apparently. The Anhinga has a pointed beak and spears the fish to kill it. A cormorant has a hooked bill. I also stand corrected in that the Ibis is an Egret. The Egret has a straight shorter bill and the Ibis has a longer curved bill. It's always helpful to be corrected and to learn something more. Thanks Evelyn.

I would also like to thank Kim Giancaterino for mentoring me on this and my other recent travel lenses. Both Kim and Jaguar Julie have been a great help in turning an idea into what I hope will be a very successful lens.

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THE VISITORS BOOK 

Please let me know if you liked this lens (or not). It's always good to know what visitors think, so if you have a few moments, a comment from you would be much appreciated. When another lensmaster leaves a comment for me, I always try and return the favor by visiting their lenses, which is only fair.

visit the poddys lensmaster page on squidoo to learn about poddys and all the lenses created by poddysJOIN SQUIDOO - If you are not a member of Squidoo and would like to know more about creating your own lenses, join Squidoo and start today. What to make a lens about? How about YOU! A short biography of yourself is always a good way to start as a lensmaster. It should take about 5 minutes to get started. Why create a lens? Do you enjoy writing? Would you love to be able to create your own web pages but don't know how to program? Would you like to earn some extra income by creating lenses like this one? Join Squidoo and find out more.

The Laughline has some of the best daily jokes, funny pictures and funny video clips on the internetDo you feel like a good laugh? If so, then having left a comment here, I invite you to visit to THE LAUGHLINE. This site has the archives from the mailing list that I have run on Yahoo Groups since 2001, plus many more Jokes, Funny Pictures and Video Clips. You won't be disappointed.


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  • Reply
    Tipi Tipi Oct 12, 2009 @ 7:31 pm
    I have been thinking of re-visiting this lens, and wanted to wish you a happy belated birthday.
    This is a very nice nice walk down Deer Creek. Thank you once again for creating it, I love it!
    Happy Belated Birthday Tony! (Hi, Deb!:)
  • Reply
    Suzie-Shine Suzie-Shine Jun 21, 2009 @ 11:01 am
    Super lens, I was with you all of the way. And a purple star: I must look up what that is! Loved the photos.
    Suzie.
  • Reply
    AbbasAbedi AbbasAbedi Jun 2, 2009 @ 5:20 pm
    Excellent Lens. 5*

    If you get a chance check out my Instant Stress Management lens.
  • Reply
    kathysart kathysart May 31, 2009 @ 2:04 pm
    What a LOVELY adventure!
    5 stars!
    ~Kathy
  • Reply
    TopStyleTravel TopStyleTravel May 31, 2009 @ 12:19 pm
    Great lens on Deer Creek, FL. Love your photos and links. It seems you have taken a potentially negative thing (losing a job) and made it positive. You are taking the time to smell the flowers. Congrats on the Top 100 and Purple Star.
  • Reply
    aj2008 aj2008 May 31, 2009 @ 2:13 am
    Now this is a new "trend" on Squidoo that I really like. Angel Blessings for an excellent lens!
  • Reply
    aidenw aidenw May 28, 2009 @ 9:02 pm
    What an awesome lens! I just couldn't get enough of the pictures; and the animals mentioned: ducks, Anhingas (never heard of this one before), jumping fish, iguanas, ohh... what more can you ask for? :) I felt like getting a virtual tour of paradise. Indeed, this is my idea of paradise on earth and I'll certainly add this community to my list of places I'd want to live. Congrats on the purple star. Certainly well deserved!
  • Reply
    Shelly Shelly May 26, 2009 @ 9:26 pm
    I keep telling myself I'll start morning walks again...I tell myself every day, perhaps tomorrow! My walk would look much different as I live in the northwoods of Wisconsin and have seen quite the variety of wild life from bear to mosquitos. Very nice work!
  • Reply
    Spook Spook May 26, 2009 @ 12:13 pm
    A lovely walk Tony and congratulations on your new job. Believe it or not I had something similar. All the best.
  • Reply
    naturegirl7 naturegirl7 May 26, 2009 @ 10:47 am
    Congratulations on the purple star. I've been wanting to do a daily walk lens for a while, but just never got around to it. Now you have inspired me. Great job.
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ABOUT PODDYS 

Lensmaster poddys has been a member since January 15 2008, has rated 2,537 lenses, favorited 1,546, and has created 78 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "Bournemouth - Seaside Beaches Holidays Sunshine". See all my lenses

My Bio


Off The Record - My Blog
Lots More About Me
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I am an English guy who moved to the USA in 1994, spent 12 years in Indiana, then moved to South Florida in 2005. I have a background in computers, have run my own web sites since 1998, and spend more time working than I would like (as do we all)...

I enjoy travel, spent a year in New Zealand, followed by 12 years of travel for work, mostly to Central and South America and the Caribbean. I love meeting people from different backgrounds and cultures and experiencing different ways of life. I have met some wonderful people on my travels, and one of thing I have found is that laughter is one of the best ways to make friends.

I love humour, and have run a jokes mailing list for the last 8 years, helping make thousands of people laugh around the world. A lot of my humour also shows through in my lenses and blogs.

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