At my 80th birthday party in Battle Creek, Michigan recently it was sunset and we were all gathered around the pool at my son Daniel’s home and someone spotted an air balloon drifting along lazily in the blue sky above. It passed by very low and then drifted out of sight and then a few moments later a second balloon appeared, and this one seemed to be so low that we could almost reach out and touch it. The people in the balloon waved at us and then they too disappeared from sight. I guess I can honestly say that I got two balloons for my birthday. What a nice memory. May God bless America and keep our troops from harm.
Recommended Reading
Up and Away!: How Two Brothers Invented the Hot-Air Balloon by Jason Henry
More than a century before the Wright Brothers invented their plane, Josephand Étienne Montgolfier sent a flying machine into the skies—a hot-air balloon with three animals in the basket. Go up, up, and away with them on their first, magical journey!
Back in 1782, in Ardèche, France, lived Joseph Montgolfier, a dreamer and an inventor who liked to learn about how everything worked. When one day a gust of wind blew his papers into the fireplace, he noticed that something lifted the pieces into the air—and he realized that heat could make things rise. With the help of his brother, Étienne, he began to experiment . . . and created a new kind of flying machine: a hot-air balloon! This beautifully illustrated picture book tells the story of how the balloon came to be, King Louis XVI’s visit to see it fly, and the three animals—a rooster, a duck, and a sheep—who became its very first passengers.
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