Kite Master

This is Ron. He flies kites. He also makes kites. He told me he had been doing this for over twenty years. He is 80 years old. Arvin, Helena and I met him this afternoon at Zuanich Point Park in Bellingham. We were taking an afternoon walk after our morning shopping run and the day was gorgeous. We were walking and talking to folks when I noticed a string of kites growing up into the sky about 50 yards (meters) away. I had to investigate.

The three of us got to Ron as he was letting the last ten or so kites up into the air. There are sixty five small kites, each eight feet from its neighbor, making for 520 feet of kites when they are all up. Ron made all of the kites himself out of spinnaker sail material, even the circular tails. He chose the colors and created each small kite. I love the way he chose to place them on the string, one mixed fabric, four of a common color, another mixed fabric, four more of a common color. In the air they look fantastic. You can see more detail if you look large.

Ron says he has hundreds of other kites at home. And he has flown in most of the well-known kite flying places in the United States. He claimed that Zuanich Point Park is the best kite flying place anywhere. I'm not sure of that but there were very many kites there today and it looked fantastic.

We continued our walk and then drove over to the Bellwether Hotel in search of otters. We met friends who told us that they often hung out near the Coast Guard Headquarters near the hotel. No luck with the otters but we continued our walk and enjoyed the beauty of the grounds and of the day.

You can see more photos from our walk on Chaikins of Bellingham.