After putting the camera down for a few days, it felt kind of good to get out of the house and shoot a few basketball games at a tournament in Plano. In between games, and feeling refreshed, I kept noticing light pouring in from a row of windows in the gym at Plano Senior High School. I studied the sun as it was setting very bright, it was creeping across the basketball court, hitting a particular spot in the court. So patiently, waiting for players and referees to run up and down the court, I snapped a few frames. Settings were Nikon D7000 with an Nikon 80-200mm 2.8, 3200 ISO. The first shot is a shadow of a referee on the back wall of the court. The second is of Irving player Jalen Strickland.

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Watch Callie Scheffler sign a letter of intent to play golf with Texas A&M and Katy Case sign to row for Alabama.

Stop by Bachendorf’s in The Plaza at Preston Center today or tomorrow to see a master Lazare diamond cutter create an ideally proportioned diamond from a rough stone. Demonstrations are scheduled for noon, 2 p.m., and 4 p.m. Enjoy the show!

When Chris and I were at a media tour of the George W. Bush Presidential Center earlier this morning, this mailbox caught our eye. It’s right outside the construction site (managed by Manhattan Construction), so we figure it probably fills up with bills and permits and whatnot. And (hopefully) notes of inspiration from the man himself.

For more information about the construction, check out this Friday’s Park Cities People.

Yes, after the car “cooled down,” the outside temperature read 111 degrees. Is this an act of terrorism?

And to think, it looked like Dallas had beat the Heat in June.

I found the perfect message for Style Network regarding their latest reality show, Big Rich Texas, in the most unexpected place.

While his sisters were away at camp, my 8 year old son decided to have a little fun. He sent letters saying he had won a trip around the world and each day he mailed a homemade postcard from exotic destinations complete with photos of himself at famous landmarks as proof.

My camper could have played along. Or she could have stopped opening mail from him all together. But she saw his game as an assault on her intelligence. 

Her response was straight-forward:

Dear William,

I am not stupid. You are just cutting out pictures and pasting them to pictures.

YOU ARE NOT GOING AROUND THE WORLD.

I decided that’s how many of us feel about Big Rich.

Dear Style Network,

We are not stupid. You are just cutting out pictures and pasting them to pictures.

THIS IS NOT AN ACCURATE PORTRAYAL OF DALLAS’ ELITE. Though it is a trainwreck we’ll watch til the bitter end.

You can find the recap of episode 2 tomorrow on D Magazine’s FrontRow.

Style Network’s absurd notion that Woodhaven Country Club in Fort Worth is the hotspot for Dallas socialites has Texans shaking their heads. But this morning I heard from a woman who lives in Woodhaven Country Club Estates and she said neighbors are laughing more than outsiders.

I read your story about the show Big Rich Texas. I don’t belong to the club but I’ve lived about a half mile from it for over 25 years. When the show came on I looked on the internet because I didn’t believe this was filmed down the street. I called my friend that is a member and she wasn’t watching the show so I told her to turn it on and she didn’t think they were talking about our Woodhaven either. When I convinced her we had a good long laugh. It’s not a bad place at all but even the people that belong there don’t think of it as a glamorous place. My friend said she’s going to get boa feathers and fancy shoes to sit by the pool.

Another reader, a Park Cities resident, said her parents belong to Woodhaven Country Club and while it’s a comfortable place for them to visit with friends in their neighborhood, they could not imagine why anyone from Dallas would travel for the facilities.

Anyway, if you liked the banquet hall where the episode 1 fight went down, the venue is open to non-member events like weddings.

The Arthurian Legend is coming to Dallas with the hit musical comedy Monty Python’s Spamalot, hosted by Dallas Summer Musicals. The play gallops into Music Hall at Fair Park June 14 through June 26, and you have a chance to be there! The first two people to answer the trivia questions below by 3p.m. today will win two tickets each to catch this colorful cast in the “new musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”

Question #1:

What is the instrument specially developed for and used only in Spamalot?

Question #2:

Approximately how many coconuts does the Coconut King in Florida supply Spamalot per month?

Good Luck!

This is a photo of the “snowcone” one of my kids bought at the University Park Pool/Holmes Aquatic Center today. Two. Dollars. For real. About 8 ounces of crushed ice and and a little flavoring. Two. Dollars. Developing.

Should we be concerned with scary weather and a plague of snails?