Are Manners Obsolete in the 21st Century?

I sent a package of books recently as a Christmas gift for a child.  "Dad" promptly got on email and let me know not only they had arrived, but  he appreciated my thoughtfulness. Sadly, I was surprised.  As the electronic age is starting to percolate steadily throughout our society, and with all our new found ways of keeping in touch with one another via email, skype, social media, texting, IMing, blogging, and twittering, one would suppose acknowledging gifts would be on the uptick.  Oh, that is such a pipe dream.

I face to face give as well as send lots of gifts by mail.  I buy gifts for five children.  I send holiday cards, and I don't just mean Christmas cards.  I send stuff by snail mail and electronically.  I send postcards regularly to four children, so they can have the joy of 'getting mail'.  I send family unsolicited gifts.  I made and gave kimonos to nine women this past year during the wedding celebration.

I really spent lots of time and effort making the kimonos, so they weren't just a 'go to the store, survey the aisles and grab something' gift.  I hate those kind anyway.  Just as a personal survey, and knowing my feelings would be hurt if they weren't formally acknowledged,  I LITERALLY said as the kimonos were opened:  "I spent time, effort and love making these; I expect a thank you note.  Can you believe that one person didn't bother?  I could.  I was pleased that eight of the nine 'got it'.  The one who didn't?  Well, let's just say my feelings about her have changed.

In my childhood household, it was not just encouraged, or suggested, it was demanded whenever I received a gift, a thank you note to the giver would follow within five days.  Five days was my mother's arbitrary limit of how much time   could pass before I (and by proxy, her) would lose face by not writing a thank you note.  I was equally inflexible with Sarah.  Children do not 'know' they should make a special effort to acknowledge gifts:  It has to be taught.  I can hear the eye rolling from the parental readers.  "Don't you understand how difficult it is to work, manage a household, feed everybody, and get SOME sleep?" Yes.  I do.  I did it.  I'm wondering what are your priorities since getting along with people has to be a number one social skill?  Teaching manners should be on the short list of parenting.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Life is short, but there's always time enough for courtesy."  Manners, of which acknowledging gifts is just one of a set, show respect both for yourself and for others.  We are a social, herd animal.  Using manners with one another is the way our herds function best.  You never have to worry about 'political correctness' if you have a polished set of manners.  Good manners allow you to make a great first impression in this age of 'networking'.  They are social armor you wear into an unknown group of others.

I long ago decided to cut children some thank you note slack especially if their parents are ignorant or lazy.  However, even I have a line in the sand:  If you are a child to whom I give gifts, then you can expect me to suffer your poor manners until you are sixteen.  Then, at 17, you get a 'second chance' to step up and make an acknowledgement.  After that, there are no more gifts.  I don't care who you are as my unmannered nephew discovered upon his high school graduation.
I think I'll continue to be an old fogey and completely out of touch in the 21st century with my unreasonable expectations on this issue.  At some point, though, if you stop hearing from me, or receiving those notes or cards or gifts, you can bet that I finally got fed up with your lack of manners.            

Visiting the Smithsonian

We FINALLY got to spend our week at the Smithsonian.  If you're planning your own visit, let me tell you the first week of November is an excellent time to choose.  We were downright lonely in most museums.  I think you would have to spend two solid weeks touring constantly to see almost everything of interest. Since this was not our first rodeo in Washington D.C., we knew how important it was to have a master plan.  Just ask Sarah.  We took her to D.C. when she was seven, and she remembers it as the worst vacation we ever took.  I think her perception was somewhat colored because of an incident that took place during the vacation.

First, Sarah absolutely insisted on carrying a purse.  This was her first actual purse, as well as her first time at keeping up with one.  Her heartless mother spelled out in advance that if she insisted on carrying it, the purse was Sarah's responsibility and hers alone.  I'm sure you can anticipate the ending of this tale:  Yes, on the second day of the trip, she left her purse on the Metro.  She was shocked, angry and heartbroken.  Not only was her purse gone, but her 'trip souvenir money' stored in the purse had also vanished.  Her unsympathetic parents did not replace the money.  Paired with OUR poor sightseeing plan in which we wound up criss-crossing and back-tracking over the Mall, you can understand Sarah's attitude.

If you've never been to the National Mall, it's much bigger than what most people imagine.  It's 1.2 miles between the steps of the United States Capitol and the Washington Monument.  In between are SOME of the Smithsonian Museums - the most famous being the Natural History Museum and the Air and Space Museum.  It doesn't take long to realize there's no way and no reason to drive a car to visit the Mall attractions.  There's no parking.  This area is not car friendly.  Fortunately, the Washington "Metro" (subway system) is excellent and there are stations at both ends of the Mall.  Another surprise is that almost every museum doesn't open until 10:00 am and closes promptly at 5:30 pm.  They are open seven days a week.

Having said all that, Drake and I knew that if we were only going to spend five days, we would have to carefully pick what we were going to try and see and then lay it all out in a comprehensive plan to minimize time spent traveling from one place to the next.  Does that mean a spreadsheet?  You bet your booties it does.   We immediately dropped the two 'kid' friendly museums - Natural History and the Mall Air and Space.  We concentrated on art this time with two additions:  The National Archives and the new Uder-Hazy Air & Space Museum addition out by the Dulles Airport.

Drake really wanted to see the 'documents'.  I'm talking about the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  (FYI - The original Declaration of Independence is almost completely faded out, but the Constitution and Bill of Rights are still readable.)  I saw all of them when I was 16, so I was more curious about the Public Vaults.  This is a new attraction at the National Archives - well, new to us, anyway.  The Archives hold not just the big three, but also other famous documents, recordings, census records, army records, and tons of other original source material of historical interest generated by the United States government.  The Archives have opened their 'vaults' in a clever interactive exhibit divided into five sections based on the preamble of the Constitution.  For instance, I saw the original Emancipation Proclamation.  Also interesting were personal letters written to various presidents.  The one that cracked both of us up:  Teenage girls of an Elvis Fan Club wrote to Eisenhower telling him they 'would die' if Elvis was forced to get a GI haircut.  Drake was fascinated by immigration forms of the famous - like Albert Einstein.  There was so much, and it was so cleverly presented.  I didn't know that the Archives are petitioned for help constantly - for instance in determining citizenship of someone who was brought to the United States as a child.

The Uder-Hazy was built as an addition to the original Air and Space Museum,  and the new place holds the big stuff.  The star of the collection is the newest biggie - the Discovery Space Shuttle.  This is a slickly designed facility which is several airplane hangers connected together.   You can just wander around and look, or you can go to an IMAX show, have lunch at the McDonald's, or buy rides in simulators and other high end tech toys.  There's also a complete restoration area with a viewing overlook.

They have one entire hanger that's nothing except the space shuttle, space capsules, rockets and satellites.   Some other highlights are the Enola Gay (plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima), a Concord, a 707 jetliner, a Pan American Clipper Flying Cloud (first transport airplane with a pressurized cabin), the only remaining WWI fighter airplane, and a Stealth Blackbird.  All in all, there are more than 200 airplanes displayed both on the floor and hung from the ceiling.  There are two stories of  cat walks to give you a bird's eye view of the hanging aircraft as well as an overview of the floor.  There are also nooks and crannies displaying peripheral flight stuff - like an Astronaut suit that's been on the moon, and still has moon dust all over it.

Since you can't tour the inside of these artifacts, there are computers scattered throughout the museum that lets you do a 360 VR inside a variety of aircraft as if you are sitting in the pilot's seat.  I can't begin to tell you the difference between the cockpit of the Enola Gay and the Discovery Space Shuttle. All the more jaw dropping when you realize there's less than 50 years between the construction and flight of the two aircraft.  Even more amazing:  Wright brother first flight of about 15 feet in 1903.  First Space Shuttle Launch was in 1981.  There is only 78 years between the two events.  I have two grandparents who were alive for both occurrences.  If you're interested in the pix I took, there's a separate photo album that's only the planes.

And now for the art:  We went to the National Gallery of Art, the Renwick Gallery, the Corcoran Gallery, the Hirshhorn, the Freer, the Sackler, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.    I've created a best pieces photo album for those of you who would like a greatest hits version of the trip.  I've also included the big enchilada - a photo album of every picture I took while there.  It's heavily weighted toward pieces of art.  That album is best viewed in pieces since it's 901 pictures.  By contrast - the plane pix album is 118 snaps, and the greatest hits photo album is 162.

Finally, we also went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the Smithsonian Castle.  We saw iconic artifacts of American history and culture.  My favorite in the American history museum were the First Lady gowns and china, but there was a bunch of other interesting 'stuff' mainly handled chronologically.  The Castle wins the funniest exhibit - called Souvenirs.  It's all about what we save to commemorate important events or people.  Many artifacts are sent unsolicited with 'labels' directly from individuals to the Smithsonian. Someone sent a collection of hair of the Presidents.  Really.

This was a great trip.  My feet held out (barely), and we were smart to have a plan and limited what we tried to see.  We bought a pocket book of maps we used constantly.  The final tip is:  Stay in an outlying area close to a Metro station and take the subway train in and out of town.  You save gas, aggravation, stress, and money.  For instance, we stayed in a highly rated chain motel with a hot breakfast five minutes from the Springfield/Franconia Metro Station for $100 a night.  A seven day Metro pass is $57 per person for unlimited rides, and you can either take the free shuttle from the hotel or park your own car for $4.50 a day at the station.

Here are the photo albums.  Pick your poison.

Greatest Hits:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/115478608971584948192/albums/5947444820285122945?sort=1&authkey=CP6oiI662tCA0gE

Airplanes:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/115478608971584948192/albums/5944385050606046193?sort=1&authkey=CPbRqeLtx9fFGg

Art & Architecture:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/115478608971584948192/albums/5947450770948723185?sort=1&authkey=CNH-movAl_C4pwE        

                

Thrilled

I'm  always amazed when I encounter the attitude of "Nothing I do really makes a difference".  I think each time you express that attitude by not voting, by not volunteering, or by not caring, you sell yourself and everyone around you short.  I know it is easier not to care, and certainly less frustrating.  And, of course, no one likes to be reminded that apathy and indifference are not just unattractive qualities, but actually unChristian, and I suspect unJewish and unIslamic too.  

As you should all know by now, I support teacher friends who post projects on Donor's Choose.  Our last project to try and get funded was for Shannon Sansom, an elementary school librarian in a central Texas rural district.  She posted a project to buy library books with which to challenge her children to read more.  We managed to help her raise $1018.00.  That's a lot for a project, and we were all thrilled when her project funded.  Many of my friends and readers helped her.   

Shannon sent this today to all her donors:

"Thank you so much for the donation of fiction books for our library.  The books are processed, on the "New Book" shelf, and are already in  demand by our readers! We are a charter school, and the library budget would not allow for us to have these great new books if it weren't for  donors like you. Our "Reading Bingo" program is underway, with nearly  half of the student population signed up with the goal of reading 100  books by the end of the school year. To date, nearly 30 students have gone to the second level, and 4 have reached the third level! They are excited and proud when they turn in their Reading Bingo cards and  receive the next level card. Nothing can get a child more excited about  reading than to provide them with new books on topics they enjoy. And  of course, nothing helps a student's reading skills more than reading!  Pleasure reading will help boost students reading skills in every aspect  of their learning. Thank you again for providing my students with such  great books. With gratitude, Mrs. Sansom" She also posted some pictures - this one was my favorite

   
If you were one of the people who accepted the challenge to 'make a difference', then just look at those faces.  If you were one of the people who 'passed', then look at the faces.  

There will be another project.  Be someone who thinks their actions make a difference.  I know mine do; proof is in the picture.  

The Leaves of Virginia

Since we arrived, we've been very curious about what autumn was going to be like in central Virginia.  I knew there were lots of deciduous trees in the area because I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma which is a city of trees.  I can pick out most of the standard trees, and I know which ones usually have colorful leaves.  It seemed to take forever for fall to arrive since we had a very late Indian summer week which delayed the leaves turning.  We took off for Shenandoah National Park the last week of October when the leaves around our apartment were just starting to turn

Shenandoah was interesting and the leaves were pretty, but not nearly the show that New Hampshire and the rest of New England put on.  Drake really summed up the autumn on the Blue Ridge:  "It looks like bad shag carpeting from the '70's."  See what he means -  

One of the hallmarks of the Virginia autumn in the wild is the predominance of yellows and rust colors.  That's due to the yellow poplars and the elms.  There's also a lot of different oaks which tend to be rusty or just outright brown.  The most fun in Shenandoah was the chilly morning we took a hike to the summit of Stony Mountain and it snowed on us!  OK, it was just flurries, but it was constant.

Another unlooked for enjoyment came from a spur of the moment decision to drive over to Luray, Virginia, the Heart of the Shenandoah Valley, to see the Luray Caverns.  Now, there are caves and there are caves.  Some you seem to be just circling their one real nice stalagmite or column, and others like Carlsbad are one outstanding rock formation after another.  Well, the Luray Caverns, discovered in 1878, falls much closer to the Carlsbad standard.  In point of fact, these are the best caverns I've seen since Carlsbad.  People have been touring these caves since the 1880's and there's a whole little attraction complex surrounding the caverns now.  They have so many nifty formations that the tour takes more than an hour.  My favorite part was the 2500 square foot lake which was only about two feet deep, but when lighted shows an exact reflection of the stalactites above it.

My favorite formation was the 'waterfall'.  These are pretty rare and only grow at the rate of about one inch every 130 years.  They are originally falling water.  Apparently, it takes longer to turn moving water into stone.  

The Luray Caverns Attraction Complex had restaurants, a fudge shop, a toy store, an English garden maze, and an antique car museum.    Like caves, car museums can be spectacular or pretty disappointing.  This one was crammed with some really vintage models including Rudolph Valentino's 1925 Rolls Royce, painted to look like it was covered in alligator skin, an actual carriage from the 1720's, and a wagon actually used to ferry railroad passengers to the Luray Caverns.  They also had one of the earliest examples of a 'horseless carriage'.  Not surprisingly, these nascent cars DID look like carriages without horses.  That example above of an early car is an 1892 Benz.  My favorite car was the 1930 Cord - mainly because of the color.  According to a mechanic we chatted with, every car in the museum was in complete running order.  You could start them up, and drive them out the doors.

As we drove back into Richmond, it became obvious that the leaves had really gotten tuned up in our absence.  Every view all over town seemed to be in technicolor.  
   

 There is some variety of planted maple which are like flames. Here they are in the parking lot of my local library in Henrico, Virgina.   All over town looks like this.  Today, I was eating at a Ruby Tuesday and looked out the window to discover there's a variety of crepe myrtle here whose leaves turns flame red in the fall.  There was an entire line of them which were sporting the hot pink flowers when we got here and now their flowers are gone but their leaves are the exact color of a red-orange Crayon.    Here's a representative picture of the mixed forest that is Richmond's landscape.  We've joked that the tree trimmers and leave rakers can really make more than a decent living here.  Drake has been so thankful he doesn't own a house here with the attendant 'leaf pick up and disposal' problems.  

We decided to take advantage of what will probably be the last day of summer (temp was 77 degrees) and check out autumn at Pocohontas State Park, the largest in Virginia, and only about an hour south of Richmond.   We settled on doing a small hike around Beaver Lake, which in Texas we would have named Beaver POND.  The only wild life we saw were squirrels, but as small as the alleged lake was, there were fishermen in evidence (big mouth bass and a few pike according to one we met on the trail).  It was a pretty spot.

Overall, I have to say that the autumn around Richmond has been gorgeous much prettier thanks to the planted trees than the Blue Ridge.  According to locals I've met, the tree color here is rated as a 'down year'.  I've heard at least a couple of times, "It was much prettier last year."  All I can say is they shouldn't look this gift horse in the mouth.  Lots and lots of places would love to have these beautiful trees.

If you want to see the rest of the Shenandoah Valley/Blue Ridge pictures, here they are:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/115478608971584948192/albums/5939238633933979537?rlz=1C1SFXN_enUS500US500&ie=UTF-8&authkey=CJ3Tot-3_I7MswE

More Observations of Women in the Islamic World

(Readers,  this is a guest column from one of my long time friends who spent ten years living and working in Saudi Arabia.  These are his observations based on that experience.) 

Dear Jan,

It is not the black robes and veil that oppress women.  It is the entire Islamic culture that oppresses women.  There are a dozen mainstream laws of Islam which demand and require that women become and remain second class citizens in any Islamic society.  "Women are your tilth" (property as a field or garden) the faithful are told in so many words in the Koran "Use them as you will".  Women can not join men in the mosque; they must be invisible behind a screen in the back.  Men can divorce at will; women must petition an Islamic court.  Men can take up to 4 wives at any one time; women can have only one husband.  Men can marry Jews or Christians if they wish.  Women must marry only Muslim men.  In a court of law a man's testimony is worth that of two women.  If a man who has washed for prayers encounters a woman, he must repeat his ablutions because contact with a woman makes him unclean.  After sex, there are no tender cuddles in the afterglow; the man must rise immediately to wash off the pollution of contact.  Women taken in adultery are stoned to death.  Men have so many opportunities for fornication, what with multiple wives and concubines and ''temporary" wives, etc. that you can never (well almost never) hear of a man getting in trouble for adultery.  

Add to that the cultural baggage of Arab, Persian, Turkish and Egyptian societies, and those black robes are actually the least of women's worries.  In Saudi Arabia, those women could not drive or even the leave the house without their husbands' permission.  

One of my co-workers in Saudi Arabia, "Al", a fellow Okie, told me about a rough and ready Arab technician he worked with, a very hard case who kept a British .303 rifle in the trunk of his Chevy sedan.  One day this technician just took off from work, didn't sign out for vacation, didn't leave word, just wasn't there for a week.  

When he came back, Al asked him, "Hey Abdullah, where have you been?"

Abdullah answered casually, "I had to go kill my sister."

Al did a double-take and said, "Say whaaattt???"

Abdullay said, "Yeah, my sister dishonored the family.  So me and my brothers, we took her out into the desert, shot her and buried her."

As Al told the tale, Abdullah did not even have his paycheck docked for time off work for this homicidal (sororicidal?) episode. 

The Arab women who were born into this culture were basically stuck with it.  To renounce any part of Islamic law and custom was considered heresy, and in Islam the penalty for heresy is death.  

But why any Western woman would voluntarily sign up for such a situation mystifies me.  But I knew half a dozen British and American women with stars in their eyes who married Arab men and willingly converted to Islam, took on the veil, and the black robes and the whole routine.  As converts tend to be, some of them were more Islamic than the Muslims.  There ain't no limit to human folly.  If Katy (Dale's young daughter) ever tells me she wants to marry a Muslim man, I'll knock her on the head, carry her home and lock her in the basement until common sense returns.

But, do Arab women consider themselves oppressed?  In a word, no.  They think they are being protected, and honored, and valued, and supported in the manner to which they wanted to become accustomed.  They pity western women who have to go out into the world with bare faces and bare arms and legs and make a living on their own.  They pitied the American women soldiers who came over during Desert Storm because they had to work with men and sleep in tents next to men and thus were obviously debased prostitutes of no more status than a slave.

So here is that yawning cultural divide again.  We think Islamic women are oppressed, and that the robes and veils are visible symbols of that oppression.  They think they are not, and prefer to cover up especially if Auntie and Granny are around to cry "shame" on them.  They think all you Western women are forlorn sluts and do not think the freedom to go out into the world and make their own living is worth the risk of disgrace and dishonor.  

And on that note, we and they may have to agree to disagree.

All best wishes,

Dale

Perturbed, Disturbed and Angry

I was at Sam's last week, yes, Sam's  Club - Walmart's cousin, and I saw a woman dressed in a full burka.  Basically, she looked like this.  My mouth dropped open, and I literally stopped walking.   I looked again.  She was with a man, presumably her husband, and she had a little girl by the hand, who was about four.  The little girl was wearing a lightweight short sundress and a pair of sandals. 

Then, I felt this incredible rush of anger. 

I walked away really shaken and trying to figure out why I felt such anger which felt intolerant and prejudiced.  It took me a few minutes to get my feelings under control, but the sense of 'this isn't right' just wouldn't go away.  I wished I'd gone up and talked to her, but as Drake put it, "Thank God your better judgement prevailed."  What I felt was based on my Western perception that this garb symbolizes the oppression of women.  Then I had to step back and ask, does it?

First, wearing a 'burka' is NOT a requirement in the Qur'an  (Koran).  Yes, this holy book does prescribe modesty for women, but  apparently, the full covering stems from custom in the time of Mohamed rather than scripture.  So, let's say you're a 21st century Muslim woman and you choose to wear the burka.  Are you oppressed because you choose modesty in the strict Eastern interpretation?   There are some women around the world who wear the burka as a  symbol of their direct rejection of Western culture.  Others say they wear it because they don't like being judged by their bodies.

It still seems like oppression because I'm not convinced that women in an Islamic society are exercising free choice.  Are we not all brainwashed  to a greater or lesser extent by our culture?  The strict Islam culture believes in the subjugation of women and enforces this view by teaching women they must conform or they will bring shame on themselves and their families and ultimately damn themselves to hell.  Guilt and shame are powerful emotions which can cause anyone buckets of anguish and doubt.   

Clothing customs are very much a matter of culture.  Throughout history, men always seems to be obsessed with how much (or how little) women wear.  Islamic men do not have a corner on this.   In our own country's experience, clothing was very much an instrument of control.  A woman can not run, or even move very fast in 50 pounds of clothing in nine layers  which was commonly accepted dress throughout most of the 19th century.  

Corsets have been a standard undergarment since the 1600's.  The Victorians refined it into an instrument of torture by prescribing the lacing be so tight as to obstruct breathing and cause actual physical deformity.  A woman appearing in public without a corset was tantamount as a declaration of prostitution.  In most places in America in the 1800's there were laws prohibiting women from wearing trousers in public.  You could certainly expect to be arrested, and your husband/father would be chastised for allowing their wife/daughter to appear in pubic dressed indecently.  Sound familiar?

My point is that women have been conditioned throughout history to accept cultural clothing strictures, and it is very, very recently, and only in a relatively small percentage of the world that a woman ACTUALLY  has free choice. in the matter of her own clothing.  There is also no 'choice' involved if a woman is considered fair game for rape or being beaten or both if she doesn't choose to wear the burka.  Since the woman in Sam's doesn't run that risk from the general public, you have to accept she is choosing the burka.   This is America.  She can wear what she wants even if I think it's nuts.   

Some Western countries are banning the burka.  They cite the faux choice argument (pressured by men, religious custom, etc.), as well as something I think is much more important.  Burkas cover bruises.  One rationale for burka ban is that women can be more easily abused, when only their eyes and hands are visible.  There are some studies that seem to indicate women who live in societies that insist on the burka have higher rates of abuse than societies that are more clothing flexible. 

When I finally sorted myself out about why this woman at Sam's Club disturbed me so, I realized that it wasn't her that bothered me - it was the little girl whose hand she was holding.  That little girl was dressed in typical little American girl attire.  What is going to happen to her when she's thirteen?  How in good conscience can her mother wear clothing that screams oppression and subjugation over a vast part of the world?  Why would she set this example?  All said and done - that's what really, really made me so angry.  We've struggled and struggled as women to have cultural and economic equality in this country.  I don't want any little girl who lives in America to be sent the message by her own mother that inferior and unequal and subjugated to men is in ANY way OK.
         

Maymont, The Gilded Age Mansion

When we moved to Richmond, we asked people what they considered to be the best attraction in their city.  Over and over again, people suggested we visit "Maymont".  Turns out that

Maymont is a 100 acre park on the James River.  The property was bought by the Thomas and Sally Dooley in the 1890's.  He was an early backer of railroads in the devastated South and made a boat load of money on them.  He was an Irish, Catholic Confederate vet, and she was a western Virginia upper middle class Episcopalian.  The families disowned both upon their marriage due to their different faiths, and never reconciled.   

The couple discovered this beautiful property while horseback riding. He bought the land and they built a small mansion which she surrounded with gardens of her own design.  This property is so special because it never changed hands. The Dooley's never had children, and upon Mrs. Dooley's death in 1925 (her husband died in 1920), the property was deeded to the City of Richmond along with all the furnishings.  Maymont is an unparalleled example of a Gilded Age mansion with all the fixins'  It's never been lived in by anyone besides the original owners.  It's never been remodeled.  The original furniture is still intact.  AND, the Foundation that maintains the property is experimenting with allowing visitors to take non-flash photography of not only the outside but also the interior of the mansion! 

Richmondtonians?  Richmondians?  Richmondtons?  (I don't know what these folks call themselves) are justifiably proud of this property.  You will see what I mean when you catch the pix.  Oh, and I'm always talking about how beautiful it is here in town - well, this property kind of shows you what I mean.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/115478608971584948192/albums/5932578246093881425?rlz=1C1SFXN_enUS500US500&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&authkey=CObbtJyJ8c2ZHQ