KITES FALL into our yard on a fairly regular basis. They’re interesting glimpses into the culture.
This one fell yesterday. It is, as are they always, homemade. Three cross-sticks to which is attached plastic from a grocery store bag. In this case, Merza, a local chain. A different color bag, darker, provides strips for the tail. At the end of the tail is tied a couple of leaves to provide some weight and stability.
What you cannot see because I’d already balled it up and tossed it into the trash can is the string. As a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, these homemade kites always have the same weak link, the string, which is sewing thread.
Sewing thread is used, I imagine, for two reasons: It is very light, and if these super-light kites are to soar, light string is required. Also, sewing thread is cheap.
This is a low-budget operation.
Alas, long lengths of sewing thread snap easily at altitude, and the kites fall, often into our yard.
Kids still make their own kites in Mexico. I wish I could return these carefully constructed toys to their owners, but there’s no way to know where they are.
I was amazed to see kids playing with tops right there in the Patzcuaro town square. I don’t think I’ve seen a top since the days when you and I were growing up in now-flooded Jacksonville. Wonder if they have Filipino yo-yo exhibitions during the Saturday kids’ matinee anymore?
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Steve: Tops are fairly common here. And I see very talented youngsters doing all manner of stuff with them. I don’t remember yo-yo exhibitions at Saturday matinees in my faraway youth, however. But yo-yos are pretty common here too.
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It’s refreshing to see homemade kites, and I have to wonder if any kid NOB has ever even thought of making one. I bought one in Hawaii for a grandkid that cost $25. What was I thinking?
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Angeline: It would be hard to believe that any kid north of the border is doing this these days. Heck, decades ago even I was not doing it. I bought them from the five-and-dime for cheap. I can’t fathom making one from scratch.
I do like the leaves on the tail. This kite is the first of the many that have fallen into our yard that had that clever detail.
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An excellent comment on the culture and the times. Ingenuity and good use of the materials available. Says a lot about the kids involved in the manufacture and use.
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Ricardo: I agree 100 percent. And I sure wish returning the kites to the owners was possible.
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Can you put them outside your gate in some type of carton so they don’t blow down the road and maybe the kids with pick them up. Owners or not at least someone will enjoy them for a short while again. I made kites out of newspaper when I was a kid if we didn’t have the ten cents to buy them.
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Peggy: I guess I could. Doubt I will, however. The chances of the rightful owners passing by are next to zero, I think. No, I think these buggers just are doomed to a brief lifespan. And a brief moment of fame right here.
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I rarely see a kid with a “store-bought” kite here. I guess it’s boring to an eight-year-old with a smartphone.
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Ray: Hardly a surprise there. I doubt you see kids playing with yo-yos either. I do. Here.
Smartphones are both a blessing and a curse.
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