Sky High Wonder

The Sunday Scribblings prompt is WONDER. And I may just get under the wire, since daughter Candace and I took advantage of this glorious warm day for a wheelchair trip (Candy pushing, me riding)around the Marina paths through the territory where folk were flying kites, walking dogs, picnicking, and shedding their winter wear.

Candy with kites just showing over hilltop.

Fathers were launching kites with the "help" of excited children.

Big Dog.

And what child's sense of wonder could fail him at the sight of this humongous dog floating above him or her? They ran back and forth beneath him shouuting with laughter, trying to catch a giant paw. While this is literally a kite filled only with breezes from the bay through that flapping slit between his eyes, it's greater weight required a booster kite, at a much greater height, buoying it up.

Booster Kite,

Nor were children the only ones taking part in the joy and wonder of kites! Here are a few other kite photos taken today. Many may be practicing for the renowned Berkeley Kite Festival, which takes place in July.

Here are a few more kites sighted today:

Airplane kite

There were many rotating kites.

Dragon rising.

And then there were the ground squirrels everywhere. A sign at the entrance to the walks warns "Please don't feed the squirrels." It seems that the park is suffering from squirrel over-population. Well, here are a few of the little varmints:

One squirrel...

Two squirrels...

And so it goes. And the squirrel population grows and grows. For some other blogs participating in Sunday Scribblings (probably not submitted as late as this one) click on links or banner.

K is for Kisses and Kites

Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday Round 4 has reached the letter K. For links to participating blogs, click on banner or above link.

We have been having trouble with our internet access, so forgive me if I make fewer comments than usual. I will rush through to view as many posts as I can get to before our server crashes again...

Also in the interest of haste, I just grabbed some photos from my archives: K is for Kiss, and K is for Kites - two of my favorite things. None of these pics have been posted before, although the first is taken just a few minutes after a similar one that I used for a story that I posted a while back.

Kisses

The above photo was taken at the wedding
of Daria and Andy Bishop way back in 1991.

And this kiss is being given to great-grandson Jon
by his mother, Josie Andersen

And now for the Kites

This dragon kite was photographed by
Josie or Charlie Andersen on a beach expedition.

And finally one that I photographed
at the Berkeley Kite Festival.

U is for Underneath

Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday letter is U.

Underneath the clouds, from the plane, I saw land
and photographed it (of course).

UNDERNEATH (haiku)
Underneath bright clouds
landscapes are dim in shadows
unaware of sun.

This haiku is being posted at 10: 22pm PDT Wednesday, so anyone reading this post earlier thsn that will have missed it. I composed it when I briefly awoke last night after I had already packed my computer for an earlyt departure for the airport. It seemed appropriate to add it while it still ABC Wednesday

Underneath a sky full of kites. Berkeley Kite Festival July 2007

I'm busy packing to fly again tomorrow morning - this time to Washington state for grandson Johnny's university graduation.

Day After Kite Festival

The day after the kite festival, Byron and Myrtle went, in the very early morning, to the same site on the Marina in order to fly Byron's new stunt kite with no interference from friendly but crowded skies. These photos were taken by Myrtle. They were having such a good time that Byron brought Myrtle back to the house at almost noon and rushed away almost too late to get to his afternoon job in Santa Cruz. Myrtle's nose was a bit sun-burned, but she was beaming happily over the great fun they had had. Aren't brothers and sisters wonderful?
Byron with a kite string in each hand.
Aloft at last! Note twirling kite-tail as Byron masters a trick.