"No matter how cynical I get, I can’t keep up.” — Lily Tomlin
There I was at 30,000 feet
I included an image of Pima Air & Space Museum’s Curtiss F6C-4 Hawk in a recent Air-Minded entry. At the time it was still in restoration, and the photo wasn’t mine. The Hawk is now on display, just inside the main entrance, and I’m able to share some of my own photos: The Curtiss F6C Hawk was […]
The first woman military pilots knew — or quickly learned — what kind of culture they were getting into, which explains the “keep your head down” ethic they embraced (and probably still do since their numbers remain so small).
There’ve been some changes at Pima Air & Space Museum, where I work as a volunteer docent. Our T.35 Vampire, once used as a trainer and staff support aircraft by the Royal Australian Air Force, has been moved indoors, and not a moment too soon: de Havilland used molded plywood in its construction, and those panels were taking a beating […]
A friend sent me a link to astronaut Scott Kelly’s New York Times op-ed, “How Tom Wolfe Changed My Life.” It’s a wonderful tribute to a great writer, but if, like me, you aren’t a subscriber and are limited in how many NYT clicks you get each month, here’s the part that grabbed me, where Kelly describes […]
If you follow me on Facebook and Instagram you know I post Pima Air & Space Museum photos every Monday. That’s the day I work at PASM as a volunteer docent, driving and narrating tram tours. Between tours there’s often time to take photos, and if I get enough bars on my iPhone I’ll post […]
I’m not going to be coy: my blood sugar started inching up a few years ago; this year it crossed a line and my doctor says I now have type 2 diabetes. At my age I’m probably in for the duration. It’s totally on me, of course. I couldn’t feel guiltier if, after years of unprotected anal […]
A few years ago, restoration staff at Pima Air & Space Museum parked a USAF F-86E Sabre and a North Korean MiG-15 next to one another in an exhibit hangar. As leader of the museum’s walking tour team, I was asked to write a background paper to help bring the other docents up to speed on the jets and […]
And with it, spring cleaning here at Paul’s Thing. Although I won’t rule out minor tinkering with site design in the days ahead, I’m happy with the blog’s new look and hope you are too. I was going to say spring has brought us a fresh new war as well, but I see now Trump’s strike […]