On Cloud Gazing And Kite Flying

Day 116


As I was driving west along M-61 late this afternoon, I witnessed a beautiful sunset. It was the kind with a yellow sun just below the horizon and several clouds above. One cloud was a dark blue that transformed to a majestic deep purple. Another cloud was like a sliced loaf of bread, layers resting one above the other. The bottom edge of each slice had a yellow glow, the top was white. As each rose higher into the sky, the yellow darkened with each layer until it turned to a lustrous gold. I thought it looked like a Bob Ross painting, only better. It stirred old memories from deep in my mind.

When I was young, about 9 years old, my friend and I would walk or ride our bikes to the city park. We would play on the swings, the slides and the monkey bars shaped like a giant spider. This was a popular park for the local children as witnessed by the thick coats of paint on nearly everything, worn over time from hands and legs rubbing on them, grabbing, swinging and straddling. On warm summer days, after burning off our youthful energy, we would rest on the grass and look at the sky. The great fluffy clouds like cotton wadding floating past. But if you really looked, with a little imagination, you could see shapes in the clouds.

We would spend some time resting and searching for the most interesting clouds. Sheep were common as were other barnyard animals, people were a little more complex and combining two or more clouds with interacting shapes was the granddaddy of cloud gazing. Two rams going head to head. A single sailing ship was real exciting. Two ships sailing across the skies passing each other was a real coup. A true cloud master.

You might be thinking that anyone could say they see something in the clouds and you'd be right. But if the other person couldn't see it, it didn't count. Someone could still cheat and say they didn't see it when really they could see it. But it didn't matter, no one was keeping score. It was just fun to relax with a friend and share ideas.

When I was older I would do the same with my high school sweetheart. Just look at the clouds and dream about the future and the endless possibilities.

It also reminded me of flying kites on a breezy day. With long tails made from strips of cloth for stability. Higher and higher the kite would soar, until we swore it would burn up in the sun with just the burnt end of the string floating back to earth.  Of course, the worst that would happen was the string would break and the kite would go sailing off to parts unknown or get caught in a tree.

Power lines were the worst because we just knew if the kite hit the power lines, a jazillion volts of electricity would come streaking down and electrocute anyone touching the string. Some of us took to tying an old iron key to the string, like Benjamin Franklin, to stop the electricity from reaching the kite pilot and averting certain tragedy.

Most often we would just reel the string back in, a little at a time, until the kite returned to earth. Ready to fly another day.

Want to do something magical? Go fly a kite.

Until tomorrow,

Ken