On Oct 5-7, we visited Jim and Anais at Cleveland, Ohio, which is about 4 hours drive from Happy Valley. Their mansion @ the Hudson town is the largest and most beautiful house we have visited so far in the US. Jim proudly showed us the huge garden, which has a fountain and water frontage to two man-made lakes. We promised to visit them again in the spring, when the daffodils will be in full bloom.
The Webbs took us to their favorite Chinese restaurant, Noble House, where we ordered Peking duck and sea bass. I rate it as the best Chinese restaurant we have patronized in the US.
.
.
The next day, we tour Cleveland, stopping to take a shot at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum (below). Upon our return, the two ladies started preparing for the BBQ dinner (above), whilst Jim and I dashed to the nursery to buy more daffodil bulbs, which we later planted in the garden. On Sunday, we went to worship together at their local church, Evangelical Covenant Church of Hudson. The sermon was on recognizing a tree by the fruits it bear.
.
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit, you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matthew 7:15-19).
As an intro to the message, the pastor asked the children where do banana come from? As expected, everyone answered "banana trees". But a smart kid, yelled out, Ecuador!, which is technically correct since most of the bananas consumed in the US are imported.
Jim is a professor at the Cleveland State University. He is a founding member and ex-president of the American Real Estate Society. During his last visit to S'pore, Jim presented me a book "Beyond the Random Walk: A Guide to Stock Market Anomalies". I am happy that the "seed" Jim sowed has produced fruits - two publications on REIT pricing anomalies in the Journal of Real Estate Research and the Journal of Real Estate Finance & Economics. You see, the Sunday message is applicable even in the academia world. We professors, like trees, are judged by our fruits, i.e. the number and quality of our research publications! Most top universities adopt a strict promotion and tenure (P&T) system where "tree that does not bear good fruit is cut and thrown into the fire." They also import "bananas", preferably "branded" ones with certified quality. 
Front view of the mansion.
Rear view of the mansion.
.
After dinner chat beside the pitfire on the terrace.
Trivial: Famous sons of Ohio
1) Thomas Edison, developed the incandescent light bulb.
2) Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon (21/7/1969).
3) The Wright brothers, a pair of bicycle shopowners, became the first in flight in 1903.
4) 8 US presidents (2nd only to Virginia)
.
.
.
.
.
The buckeye is the state tree of Ohio. The seeds look like chestnuts but they are not edible.
