They're Coming!

Our *new* planes have started their journey! Three gorgeous aircraft were lifted off the decks of the Intrepid museum yesterday to begin the trip to their new home at ESAM.

Intrepid posted the above video, and the New York Times covered the event with video of their own. Additional info available here.

We're thrilled to be receiving these unique planes - one which originally flew out of the Air Force base we share a runway with! Please keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer for safe travel as they make the complicated journey to us. Watch our Facebook page and website for updates!

My Grand TV Debut

Somehow, in a brief moment of insanity, I allowed myself to be talked into going on a local TV show to talk about the museum and our upcoming events. Fortunately, Ann Parillo was amazing and made sure I didn't make a fool of myself. Considering that it didn't turn out half bad, I thought I'd share. :0)

Croaked Croquettes and Powerful Planes

I tried my hand this week at making potato croquettes - kind of like mozzarella sticks, only with creamy potatoes inside instead of cheese. It sounded like a great idea, except that either my recipe is seriously flawed or I'm missing something. The potato mixture was way too soupy to be shaped and breaded properly - I ended up just mushing it all together and making some yummy, if unattractive, potato pancakes. :0) Anyone have any experience making these and want to offer suggestions?

I also had my first day of training to be a docent at the Empire State Aerosciences Museum. It is amazing that so many fascinating things can be packed into such an unassuming space! They have several "movie stars" - planes and an aircraft carrier (real and reproduction) that have been used in famous movies. They also have combatants - planes that actually served in war time and came here still bearing their battle scars. My personal favorite was the one shipped to them with it's giant guns still active... the ATF Bureau wasn't too happy about that and showed up to claim them! They even have their own aviation related library with collections valuable enough to be linked to by the Smithsonian's website. One of the things I was suprised to learn is that it was high tech Kodak cameras (23 of them, in fact) that they lined up in the plane pictured here (an RA-5C Vigilante) to do surveillance and recon. How did I grow up in Rochester, home base for Kodak, and never learn that? And why did my Girl Scout troops never bring us here to learn about the pioneering women in aviation? There were a lot more than just Amelia Earhart!

So, anyway, all that to say that I had a fantastic time and I have much yet to learn!

As a side note, I also found a fantastic book that I highly recommend. It was the selected reading for the online Bloom Book Club. I didn't expect to like it, but found myself extremely impressed. It avoids all the pitfalls frequently endemic to its genre, offering instead realistic perspectives and gentle truth. My library had it, so hopefully yours will too! If you read it or have any experience with the Bloom Book Club, I'd love to hear what you think.