In kite flying, nostalgia can be disastrous

A recent news report in China Daily about the International Kite Festival in Weifang, Shandong province, caught my attention.

I have warm childhood memories of the time I spent with my father making my first kite. I had just turned 5 years old.

With his help, I tied together a few sticks of lightweight balsa wood, and he helped me cut notches in the ends of the sticks with a pocket knife. (I am grateful for this help, as I am now an adult with 10 intact fingers.)