Friday 3rd April 2026
Good Friday today, though Easter isn’t the big “thing” here: Elton is off school of course but not on Monday, no Easter holiday around here in the US.
As yesterday we planned to chill out, but first we had one very important task to undertake. Woodfield CC has organised a “day camp” for all the children and Andrew had left instructions on what to gather for the “day-camp”: certain clothes, shoes and swimmers etc., and deliver him at the tennis club after breakfast, by 0850hrs-sharp!!!!
Task completed on time though the “sharp” was a little miss-leading as they were still “piling” in long after, and they had laid breakfast on for the children!!! At least it isn’t raining today and we are sure they will all have a great time.
Back home we lazed around until after lunch when we headed back out to the pool area for another bit of sun bathing and a swim.
Andrew was back in time to collect Elton after a fun-packed day and joined us in the pool.
Tonight we had fresh “burgers” and by Jove they were nice ones; chunky, meaty and very tasty, nothing like the frozen ones we seem get in the U.K.!!! Elton was very tired so went down straight away and we watched a film before heading off.
As I said yesterday I looked into Florida’s history, so at the risk of being boring, I’ve added it to this post.
According to Archaeologists this region was inhabited over 14,000 years ago by Paleo Indians (note 1). Later history is documented; it was discovered by “Juan Ponce León” in 1513 who claimed the territory “El Florida” for Spain (note 3). The territory swapped to the British and back before the US took possession (note 5) in 1821and became the 27th state in
Note 1:- Paleo-Indians were the first people to inhabit the Americas, arriving from Asia via Beringia (note 2) roughly 12,000-14,000 years ago. These nomadic hunter-gatherers lived in small bands, hunting megafauna like mammoths and mastodons and creating distinctive stone tools like Clovis points. As the climate warmed, up they adapted by diversifying their diet to include smaller game and plants
Note 2:- Beringia was a vast, unglaciated land and maritime area connecting Siberia and Alaska during the ice ages, formed by lower sea levels that exposed the Bering Strait’s continental shelf. This “mammoth steppe” (a steppe is a dry, temperate grassland characterised by treeless plains, short grasses, and low rainfall, 10-20 inches annually) supported large herds of animals like mammoths and bison, and served as a land bridge for the migration of plants, animals, and the first humans into the Americas, who followed the herds. Today, only the Diomede Islands and Pribilof Islands remain as remnants of this ancient landmass.
Note 3:- Juan Ponce de León (1474-1521) was a Spanish Conquistador who led expeditions from Puerto Rico to the coast of Florida, giving the region its current name. He also served as the first governor of Puerto Rico and discovered the Gulf Stream. He died following a skirmish with indigenous peoples on a second voyage of exploration to Florida in 1521.
Note 4:- Great Britain controlled Florida from 1763 to 1783 having acquired it from Spain in exchange for Havana, (Cuba), after the Seven Years’ War. The British divided it into two colonies, East and West Florida, but returned the territory to Spain via the 1783 Treaty of Paris after the American Revolutionary War.
Note 5:– Midday on Mon, 3 Mar 1845, Florida is admitted into the United States as the 27th state After centuries of Spanish rule, 20 years of British control, and almost 25 years as a U.S. territory, Florida was finally voted in as a state. President John Tyler signed the admission bill. Floridians had voted in a referendum in favor of statehood in 1838 and a state constitution was approved in 1839, but it was not until the U.S. Congress approved the act in 1845 admitting both Florida and Iowa that it became official. After admission the State Legislative Council began in haste to organize its first state election, which occurred in May of 1845, to elect a governor, a member of the U.S. Congress, 17 state senators and 41 state representatives. The total population of Florida in 1845 was approximately 66,000. Today the population is 23.4 Million!