Farewell, SkyMall, you'll be missed

It was in all the papers. You probably saw it sandwiched amidst all the other more important news that ranged from awful to terrible, and it made me a little sad.

SkyMall, that catalog of oddball stuff we used to find on every airplane, is going out of business -- another victim of iPhones and iPads.

The catalog once had the world's largest captive audience: Airline passengers looking for an excuse not to talk to the know-it-all in the other seat.

Instead, we could peruse the catalog of products that ranged from the statue of Big Foot to life-size suits of armor built to stand smartly in a corner of the family den.

Now we can just lose ourselves in the electronic devices. Too bad, really.

I logged many airline hours fantasizing about what my wife and kids would say if something from the catalog -- maybe the mounted squirrel head -- showed up at our house. "Oh, Dad!"

For years, I planned to buy the pink flamingos on a stick and plant them some night in the yards of chosen friends.

But I never did, and now it's too late.

Time marches on, tastes change. I don't think the catalog's latest edition even included flamingos.

I'm gonna miss that catalog!

• Passage: The end of the SkyMall catalog ("Sunday Morning," 01/25/15)