One of my favorite things to do on the weekend is visit the North Carolina Zoo.

I am lucky to live just 20 minutes away from it, and over the years I have found it to be a great place to get in a long walk, at the same time that I get to see gorgeous animals from around the world — all right in my hometown.

When I was there last weekend, I started thinking about the world we live in now — and how the planet really is shrinking. That in the same day I could see an African elephant, then get a call at home from Vietnam, then e-mail my sister on a business trip in London — all from a small town in North Carolina.

And that “shrinkage” is so apparent in what we do in this business too.

You see it in the styles of the times. Animal prints (especially the spectacular exotic ones like the ones I see at the N.C. Zoo) continue year after year to be at the forefront of style. This month in our Design Directions on rugs, Safari Chic is one of the top trends (see page 42).

And take our Summer Sketchbooks in this issue — Nouveau Classic takes Hollywood Regency style and dresses it in French influences, while Global Village celebrates the blurring of the lines between cultures to create a look that is uniquely American in that it is a true melting pot (see page 67).

And of course, many of the products in this business come from faraway countries. For the first time, we have published a look at the top 10 importing countries by sales volume for seven of our major product categories this month (see page 36).

Working with those countries has exposed many of us to different ways of life — and of doing business. And those experiences are not always easy, but they are certainly always interesting and eye-opening.

Increasingly in the business and the economic world, it's not all about the United States. International influences are growing stronger in trends, economics, fuel, foods and much more.

It's a small world after all.