K – Kites - Kazoo
I have been thinking about some of the things that we did as kids growing up on the farm to amuse ourselves. Things that were inexpensive or home- made. Making Kites was something that the boys especially were good at and they were serious about these. My eldest brother and a cousin who lived on another farm about two miles from us would spend hours designing and making these Kites. They were mostly made out of the Bamboo canes as the frames (this was very light wood but strong). I can still picture the boys kneeling on the slate Verandah surrounded by bamboo canes, balls of string, brown paper, glue and an assortment of water paints of various colours to paint designs on the Kites. After the kite was finished to their satisfaction we would walk to a hill in a nearby paddock to test out the kite. Sometimes they would have to lengthen or shorten the tail. If it flew OK then we younger kids were allowed to have a turn at flying the kite. Of course that depended on the size of the Kite as the larger they were the harder they would be to hold.
Sometimes the Kite would begin flying well then without warning do a nose dive and crash into the ground. Then major repair work had to be done. Once we younger kids learnt how the boys made their kites, we would make smaller ones of our own. That was a favourite summer pastime.
When our two children were young we also gave them a Kite…..At that time we were milking two Nanny Goats as my son was allergic to Cow’s milk. This particular day when they were flying it in the paddock close to the house and the Kite crashed to the ground, before they had time to retrieve that Kite one of the Goat’s had grabbed it and began chewing it up !! That was the end of that Kite. Goats are not fussy creatures and will eat most everything.
For Xmas one year, my mother gave my younger brothers and myself a kazoo each. We were all musically inclined and it wasn’t long before we were making tunes with these. I’m not sure if these little instruments are available now but they were very popular when I was a youngster. We spent lots of our spare time either in our rooms or sitting out under the Verandah playing tunes together. I also remember that another year we were given a Recorder each. We must have sounded OK as I can’t remember being told to stop playing ‘that noisy thing!!’.
Another inexpensive musical instrument we used was a ’leaf’ off a Eucalypt (Gum tree) we would fold them in half and then blow threw that fold which produced a whistling sound/note that could be changed by the strength of the air we blew into it. Surprisingly very pretty tunes can be achieved by doing this.
Ramblings of childhood days!!
Tags: Ramblings Of Childhood
