Published again and flying a kite

A couple entries ago I wrote about some self-defence lessons with the youth, and that piece is being published in the Washingtonian. At least, that's what editor Bill O'Sullivan told me yesterday. It will be in the First Person column on the last page of the magazine, probably next month. I'll let you know when I see it.

Maybe if I'm going to try getting something published, I shouldn't post it on a blog until after I get paid for it...

On Saturday Hil and I finally went out to try that kite I built for her.

The day started off at the graduation ceremony for the Unified Services University of Health Science. Our friend Mason, a lieutenant in the Navy, was graduating from medical school. Glo later met us on the Mall with the kite. She said that on two separate occasions, kids had approached her and told her it was a cool kite.

It's a box kite, 3 feet tall, 9 inches wide and deep. I built it by hand from 1/8" dowels and wood glue. The panels and tail are polyester and hand sewn. The string is plain old package-wrapping string. The kite ended up being quite sturdy, but I was afraid it was too heavy to fly.

But as I stood on the National Mall holding onto the kite, a sudden gust of wind pulled the kite from my hands, and the kite hovered at eye level. I ran out the string and the kite rose so fast that the string burned my fingers.

The kite flew amazingly well. It required no effort at all to get it aloft--you just had to hold it at arm's length until the wind picked up, and then it rose on its own. Once it gained altitude, it could spin in tight circles or figure-eights with a slight pull on the string. It was very nimble for such a bulky kite. I was worried that maybe the design was unstable--I thought that box kites were supposed to just kind of float instead of perform acrobatics.

We were the only kite-flyers on that stretch of Mall and a few times small crowds would form and watch the kite.

Happy birthday Hil.