In Dallas the big Mother’s Day weekend event is the Swiss Avenue Historic District Home Tour. I agreed to be a docent at one of the two houses on our street on the tour this year, and in return got a free ticket for the tour. Being a docent on home tours is fun. I remember when our house was on a tour and we had some docents who were too shy to talk; Ed and I stepped in for that shift and talked ourselves, even though I thought I would hate it, because it’s no fun to be on a tour with no narrative.

Sunday I used my free ticket. I enjoyed seeing the big mansions on Swiss Avenue, as well as an old house on our street that was saved from demolition last year and is being restored by Preservation Dallas. The weekend also included parties on Swiss, carriage rides, bands, art booths, etc.

As much as I liked having an event like this in the neighborhood, I was still sad to be missing the Art Car Parade in Houston on Saturday. So far I haven’t found anything in Dallas like the Art Car Parade / Museum, the Orange Show, the Beer Can House, Project Row Houses, etc.

And a sad note from Houston: Saturday night after the parade, the curator of the Art Car Museum was killed by a drunk driver while sitting on the curb in front of the museum on Heights Boulevard. He had driven one of the art cars in the parade that afternoon.  I’ve met him before, and it’s a shame.