Let's Go Fly a Kite

We Dreamers rode our bikes to the Berkeley Kite Fest. The morning was a bit chilly, but the fog lifted and it was a perfect day. The kites are almost as magnificent as hot air balloons. Some are huge! We took a few lessons with stunt kites and were hooked.

Mr. Dreamy launches a stunt kite

The whimsical owls were "flying" almost all day

Kites of every size and shape were represented

The festival has free kites that kids can color and fly. This video was taken early in the day before a zillion kids' kites were in the air!

One of the neatest things about the Kite Fest is that my 1st cousin, once removed (my cousin's son... in case you don't understand the 'removed' thing either!) is a professional kite flyer, and we had the opportunity to meet him.

His name is John Barresi. I attempted to make a sketch of him in action. He is the man calling the shots, closest to the camera in my video, below. He is an amazing guy. He bought his first kite at this very festival 26 years ago... and has turned his passion into a career.

Rosie the Riveter

Rosie the Riveter National Historic Park is just a few miles from my California house. I knew it was there, but just had not taken the time to stop in. A few weeks ago I took care of that and went to the Visitor Center with the "other" grandmother and her sister, Kim.

I am so glad that I did visit, and I want to go back to take in things I didn't get to digest fully on my first visit.

Oh, and, yeah... it might be nice to take some pictures!

Sure, I remember reading about Rosie the Riveter in my history books. But evidently I totally missed the boat, but then again,  I'm sure I didn't pay close attention to the details! Maybe I was strictly at a literal level at that point in my life... or maybe it is just that I never did well in history. I felt mildly sorry that Rosie was/is just a symbol of the involvement of women in war efforts at home, and that she wasn't a specific person. I wanted to "meet" Rosie...

The Visitor's Center has many excellent displays and several wonderful movies. As a new resident in the Richmond, CA area, I loved seeing pictures of my new city from way back when. This was a "happening place"! During World War II, when manufacturing was at its peak, Richmond had a population of over 130,000. Today the population is a mere 100,000. The Rosie the Riveter Visitor Center is located in one of the ship yards, and next to the Ford Assembly Plant. These preserved historic sites are surrounded by current industrial concerns, as is our new home!

My house is located at the small blue flag on the left, and Rosie the Riveter visitor center is marked by the red flag. All of the "grey" area surrounding the port is industrial property. I am fortunate in that my house is separated from the industry by a huge hill. We are not aware of any of the industry in our back yard!