Although I always wanted to go to China, I didn’t know much
about the country except that it
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| Bell Tower |
had the Great Wall, a Forbidden City, some
Terracotta Soldiers, and the ancestors of Charlie Chan. What I found on this
trip was a rich history, engaging people, and a much wider variety of foods
than I had imagined. Dave and I started our trek in the capital of China,
Beijing. With its population of 21.5 million, China’s second largest city has
thousands of years of history.
It came to my attention rather recently that
although we visit Burleson frequently, I’d never
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written a blog about it.
Burleson is the closest ‘city’ to Vince; this is where he does most of his
shopping. It has lots of chain restaurants, some ‘big box’ stores, and medical
facilities. It was also the location of my first venture into the job market. I
was about 16 and had just gotten a driver’s license so I needed money to
support the life-style to which I wanted to become accustom. While the other
students in my high school were driving into Fort Worth to work as salesclerks,
burger flippers, or other jobs suitable for that age group, I went to work on
Saturdays for a medical doctor; I also worked there in the summers. It seemed
like a good idea at the time and did give me a chance to decide if I really
wanted to work in the blood, tears, and other bodily fluids that could on
occasion spew forth from a human being. The answer to that question was a
profound, ‘No’!
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| Headstone art |
Dave plays golf at a number of clubs in near
Keller and never likes to take the same route to them more than a couple of
times. This means that he see some out-of-the-way places, discovers things of
interest and gets lost a lot. Old cemeteries catch his attention because of the
artwork on the monuments and the sometimes odd places they are located. One day
neither of us was content to stay home, so we went to visit two of these
graveyards that had aroused his curiosity.
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| Entrance to Lantana |
Lantana is a community that was developed around
the Lantana Golf Course. There is not much history to it since it was established
in 1999. Near-Normal Traveler, Dave, discovered it when he met a group of men
to play golf at the course there. What neither of us realized, until we
explored the area, was that is site ‘cheek by jowl’ with Bartonville.
