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Show Kite flying sure sign of spring jp.gr. blab By MARCELLA WALKER We saw some kids with their kites in the sky last weekend. There is nothing much unusual in that, except ex-cept it is a sign of spring. Don't you think it is interesting that the stores put the kites out for sale come March, regardless of the weather? That is optimism on the part of the merchants for sure. Of course, it is in keeping with the custom of putting out the valentine things as soon as Christmas is over and the Easter things two weeks later. I have not been one to buy anything for any of these holidays too early, although I have wished I did when Christmas creeps up too fast and the Halloween treats are all sold by the time I arrive to get them at about two hours before the trick-or-treaters will come. The high school baseball team has been selling their chocolate bunnies as they do every year and there are several that call us, probably because they know I am a soft touch. At least one Young Womens organization in : town is selling Easter baskets and, you guessed it, I got a call. I wanted to get a basket for each of my grandchildren but my husband discreetly reminded me that this is sort of the parent's territory. He nicely told me to back off. So I did. I am a fool when it comes to soft plush bunnies and duckies and chickies and such. I love the green grass that go in the Easter baskets of the street and then run all the way to the other end with the kite nosediving and flipping behind us in the air as we tried to get them to fly. I was never successful and neither were many of the others. Kite flying takes a special knack. My dad could get them up in the air but he did not have much time at home during the day to help us. Of course, it is no wonder that I could not fly them. I can't even understand how a big huge Boeing 747 stays in the air without falling down. Aerodynamics are not my forte, to say the least. It is a little easier to understand how a Piper Cub or Cessna stays up there. I do understand how kites stay up there, it is just getting them caught in the breeze just right that is tricky. I notice that a lot of other people have the same problem as you watch all the broken kites being picked up by heart-broken children who have just crash landed their kites which . never got more than 12 feet of the . ground at their highest. It is also evident when you look at ' the gaily colored kites adorning the power lines, especially around a park. Kites are not easily governable and may decide they want to come down, or at least take a dip, near the power lines. , Kites used to be diamond shaped figures which came in plain colors. Then they evolved to designs and now they are in every shape under the sun with all kinds of colors and designs and the strangest tails you have ever seen. Kites must have tails in order to be stabilized in flight, I am told. So we always put a tail on. It was usually made from strips of old sheets but we were told that dad's old ties made good tails. Helping yourself to dad's ties in order to make a good tail for a kite was not easily accepted by the fathers. Come Sunday and they needed their tie, they found it permanently per-manently knotted to the end of a kite. A spinoff from kites are the wind socks that people tie to the strings of their kites or put on their front porch. I don't quite understand this but we fit right in. The only differenc is that our brightly colored windsock is on the patio. We had trouble with it all last summer because when the wind caught the streamers hanging down . they would fly up and get caught on the hummingbird feeder and get soaked with red sugar water. - In fact, we forgot to bring it in last fall and one of the streamers is still caught on the birdfeeder, although now, of course, it is empty, i Like' I said at the first, the kites are a sign of spring. So even though it is snowing outside as I write this, I am clinging to the faith of the merchants who are trying to sell those kites and I really do believe that spring will come. Maybe in June. A. . W " but dislike the yellow and pink. Don't you? But I have not bought anyone in the family a kite this year. I never could get a kite in the air when I was a child. My kid's Uncle Kent would take them out to fly a kite. He is good at it. My son-in-law is really good at flying kites, the best I have ever known. He makes his own out of newspaper and balsa wood and they work fine. In fact, we splurged and bought him a colorful round kite while we were at the beach in California and it wouldn't fly,- at least hot as good as his homemade ones. We like to go to Lincoln City on the coast of Oregon. They have some good beaches there and lots of good agates to pick up. They now have all the kite salespeople displaying their wares on the shore and the sky is filled with a rainbow of colors and all shapes and descriptions of kites. When I was young, all of us neighbor kids would go up to the end |