Kites And Rockets

Before I do anything else today, I want to wish my son Travis happy birthday. I’m sorry we can’t be there to spend the day together, but it was great seeing you and Geli last week. Happy birthday, Travis. I love you and I am very, very proud of you.

I was a single dad, a role I never expected to see myself in, and I know I made plenty of mistakes along the way, but somehow we managed to get through it all, good times and bad. Travis says he’s old now, but I’m the one whose kid is turning 40 today! What does that say about me?

The New Smyrna Beach Kite Festival is happening this weekend so Terry and I drove down to the beach to check out the action. It was a cloudy day but that didn’t stop anybody from coming to the beach to have fun. And while this festival isn’t as large as some that we’ve been to, they still had a lot of kites in the air.

This is one really big kite!

And this is a very dangerous woman!

Some of you may recall that I wrote a blog post a while back called In Search Of The Elusive Jynx. As I said in that post, Colleen “Jynx” Baker is responsible for Terry and I getting into kite flying. We were at the Washington State International Kite Festival in Long Beach a few years ago and were admiring the way folks could handle their Revolution quad line stunt kites. Jynx saw us, invited us to fly her kite, gave us a few minutes of quick instruction, and the rest is history.

Jynx is also the reason we bought a house in this area. She spends her winters in New Smyrna Beach and when I mentioned that we were going to look for a place in Florida, she told us not to buy anything until we came here. And obviously she was right. Again.

Here is another character you need to keep an eye out for. If Jynx is the pusher out on the beach luring unsuspecting people into the life of kite flying, John Lutter is the one supplying the goods. John is a past president of the American Kitefliers Association and owns a business called the Kite Stop, with locations on Flagler Avenue in New Smyrna Beach and in Titusville. John is a great guy, and if you’re in this area looking for a kite, he’s the man to see.

But kites were not the only thing going into the air yesterday! A little after 5 PM, SpaceX launched a rocket from nearby Cape Canaveral. We have seen several rocket launches since we’ve been here, but this one was history making. It’s the first time a recycled cargo ship was sent into orbit. It’s on its way to the International Space Station with 6,000 pounds of supplies on board.

Terry and I went down to our little fishing pier to watch the launch. No matter how many times we see them, it’s always a thrilling event. We managed to get a couple of pictures as the rocket lifted off toward outer space.

Only a few minutes after liftoff we heard deep rumblings as the first-stage rocket booster returned to Earth to land at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

I wish the rocket launch would have been a few days earlier, while Travis and Geli were still here, because he really wanted to see one. Gee, I guess they’ll have to come back for another visit!

Today is your last chance to enter our Free Drawing for an audiobook of my friend Ken Rossignol’s Pirate Trials: Famous Murderous Pirates Book Series: THE LIVES AND ADVENTURES of FAMOUS and SUNDRY PIRATES. To enter, all you have to do is click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn this evening.

Thought For The Day – Love is a two way street, especially in high traffic moments.

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