Kites and dreams of soaring.......

Out walking recently and I spied this fantastic homemade kite flying in the fairly breezy sky. What struck me was how well this kite was flying and I could see that a fair bit of time and effort had gone into making this beautiful flying machine. I could not see the "pilot" as he/she were out of sight to me. It sparked a whole heap of memories that came flooding to me from my younger days. The kites we tried to make out of brown paper and string, some that worked, and some that were not so good at flying. I remember the first fighting kite my parents bought me at the Adelaide Show. There was a man selling them and he had several colourful examples all flying together so high in the sky. I remember waiting for a windy day to try out my new kite. It was so fragile, but robust and very light compared to our cumbersome bombers. That kite was the first kite I had that you could make dive and soar and it was fast and furious. Too many close shaves in the diving manouvre destroyed the kite in a cloud of dust. Another memory was from grade 3 and at our small school all the students were involved with the making of a huge box kite. This was something different again and the fact that is was so large it made the anticipation greater. This kite was then taken to the local community show and was set up as a fund raiser for the school. This kite was launched and flown so high in the sky, and it flew with dominance and beauty. The money raising idea was this, pay a small amount, probably 1 shilling and guess the length of the twine that was used flying the kite.I so much wanted to win that kite!!!.......Well it would have been part of our family if my sister had filled out her coupon correctly. She guess the correct length, but stated feet instead of yards.......so close but so far. I don't really remember who won the kite but I hope they appreciated the new flying machine.

So many kites came to mind since, some bought many made but the dream of flying was just that a dream and that is probably where my dreams of being able to fly like a plane came from.

Back to the kite in the photo........I wonder if that child had similar dreams and desires while flying that fantastic kite. A bit further down the road I heard a high flying plane, and laughed to myself..........that kite has turned into a real flying machine. Did the kites dream come true? Did the child flying the kite also see the high flying plane? I'm sure that is the case and did that child see the link between the homemade kite and the high flying plane. We had something in common that day and our paths never really crossed.