MARCH WINDS
Ah, March. The beginning of spring. Birds chirping good morning songs. Daffodils and crocuses peeking up through the winter soil. Soft breezes with a hint of warmth caressing our arms, freed from their winter coat prisons.

Well, now that you know what's happening in the rest of the world, let's talk about Nantucket. March is known as "hate month" here on the island. There's no "hate month" celebration, complete with a parade full of politically incorrect floats and angst-ridden talent contests. It all boils down to being ready for spring, and getting more winter.

As a mom, spring means more than the waking up of the hibernating nature that draws people to Nantucket like pilgrims to a shrine. It means the ability to open the sliding glass door, push the children out and wave from the kitchen window. While those days are still just pinpoints on the horizon, it's still a good time to start planning ahead with crafts that can be made indoors for outdoor play later.

A wonderful Nantucket craft that can keep a kid busy for a few days is kite-making. I would love to be able to say that I have instructions that came to me in a dream and are products of my own intelligence, but I believe in truth in newspaper reporting. So, I'm reprinting instructions from the Big Wind Kite Factory in Hawaii.

The material list is as follows: one sheet of brightly colored 8 1/2- by-11-inch typing paper, one 8-inch bamboo shish-kabob stick, a plastic bag cut in a 1-inch-wide spiral all around to make a tail, one roll 1/2- inch-wide masking tape or any type of plastic tape, one roll of string, at least six to 10 feet long, one piece of 1-by-3-inch cardboard on which to wind the string, scissors, and a hole punch (optional).

DIRECTIONS: 1. Fold a sheet of 8 1/2-by-11- inch paper in half to 8 1/2-by-5 1/2- inch.

2. Fold again along the diagonal line A in Fig. 2.

3. Fold back one side forming kite shape in Fig. 3 and place tape firmly along fold line AB. (No stick is needed here because the fold stiffens the paper and acts like a spine.)

4. Place shish-kabob stick from point C to D and tape it down firmly.

5. Tape the spiraled plastic bag to the bottom of the kite at B.

6. Flip kite over onto its back and fold the front flap back and forth until it stands straight up. (Otherwise, it acts like a rudder and the kite spins around in circles.)

7. Punch a hole in the flap at E, about 1/3 down from the top point A.

8. Tie one end of the string to the hole and wind the other end onto the cardboard string winder.

While this craft is more suited to kindergarten through grade-school children, toddlers can also get into the act. Let them decorate the sheet of typing paper. They can help by holding the tape while you place the sticks where indicated. Putting them in charge of winding the string around the cardboard is sure to keep them busy for at least 15 minutes.

You don't have to stop with one kite. Let them make multiple kites. Hang them from the ceiling in your child's room or from the drapery rods. That way they can fall asleep to dreams of running on Surfside beach, the wind in their hair, trailing the kite they made while waiting for

spring to visit the island. I