Kite Day 2011

by Diane Forrest

Let's go fly a kite

Up to the highest height!

Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring

Up through the atmosphere

Up where the air is clear

Oh, let's go fly a kite!

May 12th is National Kite Day.  Every time I think of kites I can't help but sing the tune above, the last scene from Mary Poppins.  To me this scene is telling me that sometimes you need to just drop everything, spend time with your family and friends, and have a little fun.  It was so dramatic when Mrs. Bates tore off her Suffragette banner to use for a tail on the kite.

 The kite was said to be the invention of the famous 5th century BC Chinese philosophers Mozi and Lu Ban. By at least 549 AD paper kites were being flown, as it was recorded in that year a paper kite was used as a message for a rescue mission. The period from 1860 to about 1910 became the "golden age of kiting". Kites started to be used for scientific purposes, especially in meteorology, aeronautics, wireless communications and photography.  Remember Ben Franklin and the lightening storm?   After the invention of the airplane, interest in kites diminished.  They are used mainly now for recreation.

Kite festivals are a popular form of entertainment throughout the world. They include large local events, traditional festivals which have been held for 300 hundreds of years and major international festivals which bring in kite flyers from Britain to display their unique art kites and demonstrate the latest technical kites.

When I was in grade school my teacher, Mrs. McGowan decided that one day we would have Kite day.  We brought sack lunches and blankets to eat lunch on the grounds at school, then spent the rest of the day just flying kites.  It was a beautiful site seeing all the different colors shapes and designs floating in the air. 

With the recent wind storms in my area, I stopped by the store and saw a kite display, so I sent some to the kids. So they could have some fun with all this wind.

So...in honor of this day, forget your worries for a while...and GO FLY A KITE!!!

P.S. Tuesday we spent the day in Grand Turk with partly cloudy skies and a very nice breeze to be flying a kite. The cruise continues to be very successful and Audrey had a wonderful time ashore, in the pool playing with other children and listening to music from Margaretville (sadly, Jimmy was unable to be here today). Terry