Today is cool. We got up late and decided this would be a shopping day. Elizabeth had wanted to have breakfast at Flo's again and then get a pedicure across the street while I was instructed to wander for an hour.  While dining at Flo's I looked around some more at the paraphernalia that adored its walls. One sign advertised the following "WANTED GOOD MAN. About 90 years old, half blind, bad leg, good with a gun. to watch my wife while I'm out hunting. INQUIRE WITHIN". Another admonished you with the following. "PLEASE NO SINGING, NO DANCING, NO SWEARING. THIS IS A RESPECTABLE HOUSE." I had a meal which reflected by growing discomfort with enormous plates of food . My meal consisted of a paddy of beef, cottage cheese and the rest diced fruit. Elizabeth toned down to an egg salad sandwich.

Upon finishing our late brunch Elizabeth went across the street to have her nails done. She then convinced me that I should have a manicure and pedicure. I demurred. Real men don't do that or eat quiche. She insisted it was to be a belated Christmas present for me. So I ended up is this feminine setting siting on a throne with my feet in hot water, with a young lady taking each foot out clipping my toe nails, dunking them back in the hot water, taking them out again and then doing the cuticles. She then massaged my feet with oil. I never realized how ticklish my feet were. I would have confessed to anything with this torture. I can't imagine what I would confessed to if tortured by having someone beat my feet with a stick.This was getting more and more relaxing. I was getting into it.

Next she walked me over to a table and did my finger nails and massaged my hands. When she finished both hands and feet tingled with her manipulation. My nails were complimented on how the nail beds were perfect both on my hands and feet. I was getting a swelled head. The owners of this place were not Vietnamese like most of these places in North America but rather Korean and the young lady who personally took care of me was from Peru. All in all I think they may have seduced me into the idea of having this done on occasion. I didn't have my nails painted so I was finished earlier and went out onto the street to take pictures.

Elizabeth wanted to go shopping at the Sawgrass Mall again since it had an Outlet Store for Coach handbags that could be purchased there at a lesser cost. The traffic to get there was high tide and it was only two in the afternoon. To park at the Sawgrass Mall is by the luck of the draw. Think of Yorkdale's parking lot on Steroids. Unless you happen to be near someone pulling out you will not get a parking spot. It took me 15 minutes to find mine. I waited another 30 minutes while Elizabeth targeted the bag she wanted. I final got a call to come and pick her up. When I did so she told me that Coach handbags did not have anything she wanted so she had gone to Neiman Marcus and found a suitable bag.

We were now going to be late for supper with my first cousins who live in Florida. They are my first cousins Grant and Marina, brother and sister. The husband of Marina is Al and we all went out for dinner to an Italian restaurant called Zucarellos. We caught up on a lot of family history and had some great laughs. It is fun to be with your own kith and kin especially ones whom you had known for your entire life. A lot of emotional memories were shared and great nostalgia was generated at those that had passed away. Then someone pointed out I was the oldest of the Genovas now and therefore could legitimately claim I was the patriarch or Godfather. I humbly accepted this mantle. From now on I will have to sit in the corner with my back to the wall in restaurants.

More history for you. I am always interested how history is told. If you are the winning side in a war you tell your version. If you are one nation then your story of discovery of the same area discovered by another nation is different. The stories are of the rich and powerful none of the common folk. A lot is left out.

One of the more fascinating stories is the birth of the United States. In the mid 1700's England had 20 colonies in North America. Surprise! The 13 that finally went their way, 5 in what is now Canada and are you ready for this 2 that were in what is now the United States but remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolution. They were called Florida East and Florida West. Florida East is basically the Florida we know today. Florida West is the Florida panhandle at the top of the present state west to New Orleans which include Louisianan, Mississippi, and Alabama. They fought on the British side during the war. It posed a real problem for the Rebel Americans because they could be attacked from the south. They had come into British hands when the Spanish had sided with the French in the Seven years War and were defeated. The French lost Canada and Spain lost Florida giving it up to get back Habana. During the American Revolution the Spanish supported the American Rebels and as a reward got back Florida. However the Spanish hold on Florida was tenuous at best. The new American Republic wanted to fulfill its Manifest Destiny. Think of what happened in Texas where Americans flooded into Mexican territory eventually being of such numbers to challenge the Mexican authorities, declare an independent state and then joining the United States. The same story unfolded in Florida.