Notes from the Big D

Been gone a few days to Dallas. One of those few rare occasions where I could go with husband on business. Even got some revision work done while we were gone which was awesome.

And in no particular order -

• Waved to the enormous statue of Sam Houston in Huntsville. Billboard as you approach it says, "Largest Statue in the World" Then in smaller print, it adds, "Of an American hero." Ohhhh.
• Spent about 40 miles driving near a Toyota mini van with a stenciled sign that proclaimed it was "Funeral Transport Vehicle." Spent entire 40 miles speculating as to whether soccer moms now did coffin transport in between car pool runs. ( husband and I are easily amused, obviously.)
• Ate in Dallas at an Original Pancake House. If you're from Chicago area, you know it as Walker Brothers Original Pancake House. If you've never been to one and there's one near you, go. It is totally worth the wait. And yes, you will wait on the weekends. Order the Dutch Baby or the 49er Flapjacks. Platefuls of pancake heaven. Seriously.
• Discovered that combining me with martini happy hour on an empty stomach is one lethal combination.
• Got to finish two books - Jane Yolen's Briar Rose and Holly Black's Ironside, which is the sequel to Tithe. Briar Rose masterfully combines a retelling of Sleeping Beauty with a story of the Holocaust. It is haunting, wonderful, and poignant. I could read it many, many times over. Ironside is a very satisfying sequel to the adventures of Kaye and Roiben. I never much liked tales of faery lore before reading Tithe. But Holly Black has hooked me. She too, is a masterful story teller.
• Discovered that GAP is having one heck of a sale. Ditto every other store in every other shopping mall/strip center in Dallas.
• Met up with good friend and her husband for dinner at one of the gazillion restaurants that dot the Dallas area. I am not kidding- you people in Dallas must really like to eat out. There is a restaurant every forty feet or so.
• Managed to stay safe and not float away. Dallas has been having terrible rainstorms for weeks and weeks. People north of the city have been flooded out of their homes. The signs every two miles on the freeways say, "If water on the road, turn around. Don't drown." That is one serious sign.

Til next time