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Boomer Generation
Relics Of The Past - Kites
Posted by:
Boomer on
December 13, 2006 at
1:42PM EST
Please allow me to introduce myself.
My name is George and I live in Hopkinsville KY and am coming up on 56 years old which makes me a Baby Boomer. Over the last 10 to 15 years I have developed an inordinate interest in the Boomer generation. It is generally accepted that the entry by birth into the boomer generation began in 1946 and ended in 1964 although 1960 as the end is also accepted by some demographers who have studied the boomer generation. This is my first attempt at doing a blog and I understand that websites like this one seem to be aimed at young people. While I am not a young person now I was at one time and my memories are still fresh. If this blog works out I will be writing about things that in my generation that had common threads for many of us. Today, it is difficult to imagine that we somehow got along without the things we take for granted today. The list includes CD, DVD, iPod, MP3, home computers, the Internet, instant messaging, Cars without seat belts or air bags, Play Stations, Xbox, Hi Def TV, Cable or Satellite TV, VCRs, FM radios in cars, and a myriad of other things that we take for granted today. While we did not have these marvels of technology there was still a lot of things to do. In my case I came to really enjoy flying kites. When I was about 6 years old I watched as a group of kids flew kites in a vacant field just across from our house. This was the first time I had ever seen a kite and it was a wonderful experience to sit on the porch and watch the kites as they soared and danced around the sky. I asked my father to buy me a kite but he had a better idea. He was going to help me make one. Two straight sticks, some string, tape, and the Sunday cartoons from the newspaper were all we needed to create a colorful diamond kite that flew as well as those I had seen in the field across the street. Eventually the kite met a bad end in a tree. My next kite was purchased form a drug store for .10 cents. It was a red Hi-Flier Little Boy paper kite. From that time on, I was addicted to kite flying and spending any money I received on kites and string. For a while it seemed like every kid in my neighborhood was flying kites. The Hi Flier company started making kites just past the turn of the 20th century and although designs changed over the years, the basic diamond kite structure stayed the same until they stopped making them. I have one of the last paper kites that Hi Flier produced before they went with the plastic delta wing design. It is amazing how many of these paper kites survived and I have put together a collection going back to the 50s. Here are a few of the designs:    Did you ever fly any of these? For Hopkinsville Nostalgia check this out. Please visit my website
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