"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
What’s going on in my life
In an Air Force pilot’s career there are few tasks harder and more frustrating than trying to figure out how and why a fellow pilot crashed, especially when he or she is so inconsiderate as to die in the crash and either disappear completely or leave very few clues behind that would help others figure out what happened.
When I became a mail-order minister several years ago and started officiating weddings, I knew the day would come I’d be asked to do a funeral. That day is here. A friend is setting up a memorial for C____, a mutual acquaintance who recently took her life, and she’s asked me to officiate. Suicide may […]
This week marked a personal transition at the air museum. I led walking tours Wednesday and tram tours Friday … but as you know I’ve been doing both for the past month. What’s different now is that from this week on, I’m all tram, all the time (if you’re a friend, though, and you come visit, I’ll be […]
A woman we know through the local Hash House Harriers club has apparently taken her life. She’d been incommunicado for a few days: another member of the hash went looking for her and found her dead. That’s all we know at the moment. Know: I used the word twice, each time carelessly. We can’t say we knew […]
Photos from the Sunnywood Estates 4th of July Parade, Tucson, Arizona: As you can see, we’re in our annual monsoon season … the overcast greatly reduced the temperature (if not the humidity), and it was pleasant outside. Of course the parade was at nine in the morning. Any later and it would have been too hot, overcast […]
It’s day five of a painful sore throat, the kind where 1) you dread having to swallow and 2) you have to swallow constantly. I stopped at the corner CVS yesterday to get something for it, and, since there wasn’t anyone in line, visited the “minute clinic.” The five-minute strep test was negative; the PA said I probably have allergies. I walked out with […]
That’s my latest Facebook cover photo, which a friend (thank you, Pat Shields!) helped colorize in honor of Friday’s Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality. After I put it up on my Facebook page, another friend told me she didn’t get it. What’s not to get? The right says everyone in favor of marriage […]
It’s been extremely hot in southern Arizona. Every day we hear about electric power outages in different sections of Tucson. Are these intentional rolling blackouts? Sure looks like it. So far no power interruptions in our hood, but since our air conditioner crapped out last week and we had to spend a night and a […]