K is for Kite

is for Kite.

I have some wonderful memories involving windy days and handmade kites - you know, the ones with knotted rags for a tail. It was the best when we could make it to the beach and fly them over the water.

What a thrill it is for a child to finally see their kite off the ground, especially if they've had to do lots of running to get it done. I remember wanting to fly my kites on days without wind; I would run and run, trying to find the least bit of a gust - and it would lift off the ground for a moment, only to fall when I stopped sprinting.

Those days made the windy ones even better. A kite that flies almost immediately, as though it has a mind of its own and it wants just as badly to be soaring over your head, is thrilling to watch.

The one time I remember flying store-bought kites was at the beach with some family; we had some kites that were made to fight each other to the ground. The strong wind made each battle intense to my ten-year-old mind - it obviously stuck with me.


I was captured anew when I found this picture online, and I can't decide if it would be better to buy a kite like this one, or make one.

No, I have decided. Our boys will make their kites, at least their first fliers. There's something about rags tied with boy-knots, old shirts flapping in the wind that strikes pride in the maker.

Then, when these first kites begin to fall apart, maybe we'll save up for a ship-kite. First stop, Never Never Land...

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Read more about my theme this April in my intro to the A-Z Blogging Challenge. Or visit the home page here.

*Picture credits: Mishes