The Old-fashioned Way

I saw a family down at the beach yesterday flying kites and it reminded me of a memory I haven't thought of in a long time.

I was very young when my grandpa Thomas taught me how to make a kite from a newspaper page, constructed with a couple little strips of wood he brought in from the barn. And Grandma got some strips of cloth from her sewing room and taught me how to make a tail for the kite.

I also remember Grandma making paste out of flour and water. (It actually worked!) Later on, in high school art classes, we used that same homemade glue to do paper mache.

There was no Mod Podge in the 1950s.

PHOTO: Grandpa Thomas holding my little brother John

PHOTO: Grandma and Grandpa Thomas