SCIENCE OF FLYING (KITES ARE FOR LEARNING)

SCIENCE OF FLYING (KITES ARE FOR LEARNING)

The forces that are at work on a kite are the same forces that are at work on an airplane. No one should write off a kite as wasted time.

A kite is heavier than air and flys because air is in motion over its wings.  Lift is created by the wind pressure resistance along the face of the kite. The wind pushes up the kite, like a hand. As long as the kite builder remembers this, a kite can have many shapes and will still fly. Drag is created by the turbulence in the air behind the kite. Gravity pulls on the weight of the kite and the lift must overcome it. Thrust is the power of the wind which creates the lift.

None of these facts takes away the poetry of seeing the kite in the sky. It is still the surest sign of spring. With this blog post I close out April, a windy month. My all your kites fly high.

SEVEN DEAD PIRATES

SEVEN DEAD PIRATES:

A Ghost Story

By Linda Bailey

Tundra Books, A Penguin Random House Co., 2015

ISBN: 978-1-77049-815-0

Price: $10.81 in hardcover

This is a ghost story for the eight to twelve year olds. I love a good ghost story so I enjoyed this story right from the start.

In my opinion, it has one of the best openings I have read in a long time.

“It was the worst birthday party Lewis had ever been to. But then, what could you expect when the guest of honor was a corpse?

Okay, so Great Granddad wasn’t exactly a corpse. But he sure looked like one. The old man lay stiff on his back on the narrow bed. His eyes stared sightlessly, and his mouth was fixed open in a round toothless O. If it weren’t for the pink party had, you’d never guess he was alive.”

With that opening, I was set up for an adventure, and that is what this story delivered. Lewis moves into his Great Granddad’s home, has to start a new school, and discovers his room is inhabited by pirate ghosts with a mission. Pirate ghosts with a mission are different from any type of regular haunting you can imagine.

Lewis tackles his problems and wins my affection as a true hero moving on his journey. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. I want to share the delight as Lewis struggles with the pirates in his room.

I give this story a five out of possible five.

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TOGETHER TUESDAY SHARE YOU KITE FLYING MEMORY.

What are your earliest memories of kite flying? Mine are memories of kites, red and yellow, against a bright blue sky. I don’t think I was in school yet. The kites flew over a baseball field. So my earliest kite memory is one combined with baseball, the two truest signs of spring.

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HEAD FOR WINDS ALOFT!

         Maybe we have moved from the clutches of winter. I know we are now in storm season. We’ve already had a weekend of tornado’s on the ground which makes spring official. Apart from the storms what else tells us it’s spring?

         Dandelion season is another thing. This year I have an outstanding crop. My only hope is to get them mowed into submission because there are too many for jabbing out of the lawn. I’ve given up weed killers and trying to pollute my way into a green haven in front of my house. It just invites the moles anyway, they have to make a living, too.

         I think I need to look up. There used to be a weather program that gave the flying weather for small aircraft. It was a wonderful low budget affair. Very different from the dazzling sets and clothes budget that the weather channel has now. The woman who gave the ‘winds aloft’ report had three sweaters and five scarves in her wardrobe. But she diligently reported the weather for small flying craft. I found it enchanting. Just think, if you focused on flying high, you needed the winds aloft report. I always want to fly high just to elude the dandelions.

         Let’s make that our goal for the day, to get our craft in the winds aloft. I want to fly high and see what’s happening high above the dandelions. Don’t stay tied to the grass. Set big goals and head for the winds aloft.

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