I woke up in a bad mood this morning because we are going to Dallas next week and I didn’t have anyone lined up to take care of the dog. My parents have kindly offered to come stay with her, but the room they usually sleep in is in an area of the house now known as “Siberia” thanks to the wonders of multi-zone heating. I could heat it, but it would never be warm enough for my poor dad.

Dog care aside, I’m still not thrilled about going to Dallas. It isn’t that there’s anything particularly wrong with Dallas, apart from its being somewhat overwhelming for someone who drives almost exclusively on village or country roads. The problem I have with Dallas is the building in the photo above. It is the Dallas Market Center and when we are in town, it is our home. We get there in the early morning and leave at dusk.

It doesn’t look like much in the photo, but it is 14 stories of windowless, airless fun. Next week is the International Lighting Market. In the past, market has been ok, but this year with everyone suffering from the terrible economy, I am feeling gloomy about the whole trip.

Side note – I took the photo a few years ago from the top of the market parking garage on our last day in town. As I was snapping a few shots, a car came up and drove right into the concrete Jersey barrier behind me.

We’ve been down on Ocracoke island in the outer banks of North Carolina this past week.

Rumor has it Jimmy Buffett was/is here, too. We were told he was dining at the same restaurant as us the other night. That shouldn’t be too surprising. There aren’t a lot of restaurants open here in the off-season so unless he was in the mood to fry up his own conch fritters, he didn’t have a lot of other choices. If he was there when we were, I didn’t notice him.

I happened to walk past the Cathedral of St. John Divine in NYC last Sunday while they were doing the blessing of the animals to celebrate the feast of St. Francis. I caught the action with my cell phone camera.

It isn’t a great shot, but yes, that is a camel up there. I wasn’t within spitting distance, fortunately.