First ride of the Season

In my life there are only two seasons, winter and summer.  And on Friday I got out for my first ride of the summer season.  As you can see by the pictures below, it was a beautiful day.  I might divide summer into spring, summer and fall, but I hope the whole package lasts as long as possible before I have to hibernate again!  

I just rode up and down our own street, down into the cul-de-sac and back to the other end at the stop sign, four times altogether.

In the cul-de-sac there's a big Silver Maple that I always stop and say hello to.

At this time of year its buds are swelling fast, giving the branches a stubbled look.  Soon those will be leaves.

Beyond the cul-de-sac is an open lawn.  There was a flurry of concern 2 or 3 years ago about development going in here.  It's on a street of single family homes, but of course they proposed cramming about six townhouses in here.  I don't know what the final decision was.

I turned around and headed back.  Passing our own home I checked out the trees in our fencerow.  It's a big change since they cut down the huge White Ash; we're left with just maples.

This end of the street is dominated by a row of big Norway Spruce which throw a large patch of shade across the street.  On the left we have our mailboxes and a tiny library.

After that I turned around and did the entire ride three more times.  Good practice with my new wheelchair, which goes a trifle faster, up to 10 km/hr.  All in all a ride of about 24 short blocks.

I thought I should practice the gears and speeds on my new wheelchair, since I discovered that you  can't read the control panel in bright sunlight.  I was downtown recently, delivered to the library and I had to cross the traffic light to go to the bank.  The chair was moving so slowly I tried to change gears as i crossed at the light, and turned the machine off by mistake while I was still in the middle of the road!  It was embarrassing and perhaps a little unsafe!

This chair has indoor and outdoor gears, with five speeds in each gear.  I need to learn those so that I can switch in my sleep without actually looking at the control panel!  Hence the practice before I ride all the way downtown by myself, which I will do on Thursday.