“Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride.”
No sun again yesterday had me thinking I must be a character in the Ray Bradbury story All Summer in a Day. Today, though, is much lighter despite the clouds, and I swear it looks as if sunlight is struggling to break through. There are lots of errands to do today as I lolled and read yesterday. I haven’t told Gracie yet, but the dump is on the list.
My deck is a mess from all the wind and rain. It had been cleaned and readied for occupancy and now has to be again. The feeders are empty. I watched a cardinal hunting for pickings in the big feeder. After I get home, I’ll mosey out and do a bit of clean-up and give the birds their seed.
Today I’m mailing my passport to the Ghanaian embassy to get my visa. It will be accompanied by two applications, a money order, a return registered envelope and four very ugly passport pictures.
When I was a kid, my bicycle, after spending the winter in the cellar, needed to be spruced for spring. The chain had to be greased, the handle bars polished and the rest of the bike dusted. It was a heavy bike; they all were back then. It was difficult to get my bike out of the cellar because the stairs from the cellar were to the left of the door, and the bike just didn’t bend that way. Usually the best way was to hold the bike by the back fender and lift the front end into the air to turn it toward the stairs. I then pushed it up the stairs to the backyard.
I remember the joy of those first spring bike rides. The air was filled with the smells of flowers and of dirt freshly turned. My street was a hill, and that first ride was like flying. I never pedaled. The hill just took me and my bike. My small town was my world and once spring came, no where was beyond my reach.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
May 12, 2011 at 12:02 pm
I just finished “The Door to Summer” by Heinlein.
Actually it was a very enjoyable read. Written in 1957. Your first line sounds so very much like this book – I did a double-take.
So you actually have to mail your Passport to the in order to get a Visa? Not a copy – the actual Passport?!?
s
May 12, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Scott,
I actually have to send the passport as the visa is stamped inside it. The passport goes registered, and I include a registered return envelope which can be traced if anything happens. I have done this four or five times without a problem.
I haven’t read Heinlein in so long. I’m thinking it’s a good book to purchase for my iPad and my trip.
May 12, 2011 at 1:28 pm
I actually looked to see if they have an electronic version (same though) – they do not seem to.
Pick it up at your library though – bet it’s available there. You’ll just need to not take it on the trip. 😉
It’s a very light, very enjoyable, read.
s
May 12, 2011 at 7:15 pm
1. http://www.freebookspot.cc/Comments.aspx?Element_ID=108071
2. http://ebookee.org/Robert-Heinlein-The-Door-Into-Summer_151863.html
3. http://ebooks.ebookmall.com/ebook/411368-ebook.htm
Cheers
May 12, 2011 at 1:45 pm
Thunder and lightning here yesterday and I can hear it from a distance now too. Finally the heat wave seems to be over for this time and it´ll be so much cooler at work again 🙂
The first bike ride every spring was wonderful, but I have to say that I seldom cared about doing anything to it like greasing the chain 🙂 🙂 Thunder is on its way again I´m afraid!
Have a great day!
Christer.
May 12, 2011 at 9:57 pm
Christer,
We have the same weather we have had for days. The sun never did come up, and it’s damp and cold. By Sunday we should have a decent day.
I remember getting grease on my pant legs after I lost my chain guard. Rusty chains just didn’t make it for me.
May 12, 2011 at 5:27 pm
I used to love to ride my bike. I bought it in the summer with the money I made baby sitting and working in my parents store. However, now since I broke my knee, my body won’t ride a bike. I assumed that even though I had ridden a bike most of my life that even though I hadn’t ridden in years, it would be easy. Not so. Oh well. I don’t know why the phrase ” You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” would go thru my mind whenever I tried to get on a bike these past few years.
However, I have become a much better swimmer; I can do the butterfly stroke now. Am I making sense Probably not.
Senselessly Waving,
Lori
May 12, 2011 at 10:00 pm
Lori,
My bike was a Christmas present when I was 10. It was the best present I ever got. I rode it everywhere and only put it away when the snow finally fell. It was one of those old, heavy nikes we all got as kids. It came with a squeeze horn and a basket in the front.
May 12, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Just in case it has been a while since you read it…
Click to access All%20Summer%20in%20a%20Day.pdf
and I’m listening to Jerry Lee Lewis right now Ah-h-h, MERCY!
May 12, 2011 at 10:03 pm
Rick,
It has been a long time. I used to teach it in my sophomore English class, and that was many, many years ago-thanks!!
May 13, 2011 at 3:48 pm
I checked the story out & found this:
now I’ll have to give it a read.
May 12, 2011 at 8:15 pm
Coincidentally, we saw/heard a Jerry Lee clone
over the weekend (A 4 concert weekend!) who just blew us away.
Sandy and I were talking this afternoon that our bikes, from 10 to 16, were our ticket to independence, our passport for our world. We could go anywhere we wanted to, and the cost was nothing but energy. And, at that age, we had plenty of that to spare. Trips to the movies, where a quarter for the show and 10¢ for popcorn was worth the week’s work to earn it. We’d go to all the hobby shops, comparing models that we just had to have (at that time they were plastic, rather than flesh and blood). And, on occasion, trips to exotic places like Betty’s Junk Shop where it was rumored Betty’s husband was an ex-felon and had to put the store in his wife’s name while he himself ran it. We never actually say Betty. Perhaps that was the reason….. No, couldn’t be.
About once a year we’d go to Kegel’s, the local motorcycle/bicycle shop, and pick out new decals for our bikes. After 3 or 4 owners our bikes always needed a yearly paint job and we guys would spend hours deciding on exactly the right decals for our new look. Generally, we’d pick variations of a Skull & Crossbones motif, but often a set of flames for the top tube, placed right behind the fork, would be all the fashion. Kegel’s is still open (the oldest Harley dealership in the country) and I often think of stopping by to see if they still sell decals. A nice skull and crossbones with flames shooting out from the skull would look great on the back of my truck.
May 12, 2011 at 10:06 pm
John,
You always get the best pictures at these concerts-did I mention I was also jealous at the number of concerts to which you go?
I felt the same way about my bike and freedom. Once my brother and I rode our bikes to East Boston to visit our grandparents. It was a long way away and part of the trip was on Route 1. My grandfather called our mother who was horrified. We were to ride home immediately (no second car in those days or she’d have come after us). That was the furthest I ever rode.
May 13, 2011 at 3:38 pm
That’s funny!
Your mom was horrified that you rode your bikes on Rt 1 but then made you two ride home again using, I assume, the same route. Ah yes, parenthood.
Oh yea,
another concert next Thursday….
May 12, 2011 at 9:55 pm
Minicapt,
Thanks for the links to the free downloads. I will definitely add the novel to my trip reading. Usually I lug a bunch of books and leave them where ever I finish them. This will be so much easier!
I so very much appreciate your looking up all the stuff you do for me!
May 13, 2011 at 6:33 pm
John,
My kids were always angry by the other kids and what they did.
May 13, 2011 at 7:10 pm
Hey Kat! Great post!
Because I have a mild case of cerebral palsy, my balance would not let me ride a regular two-wheeler. When I outgrew my training wheels it caused a bit of a problem.
Then my Mom discovered a trike bike – one wheel in front and two in back. The two wheels held a nice big basket behind me. I went everywhere with it.
I also have no idea what happened to it. I’d sure like another one, though! 🙂
(You can do the same with a motorcycle. I think I want a trike Harley 🙂 )
Hope your Sox win big this weekend!
Coleen
May 13, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Thanks, Coleen
I have seen the bike you mean. The one I saw was red, and it was neat looking and complete with basket. A lady was tooling down the bike path at a good pace. I’m betting they’re still available.
I wonder if you have to start with Harley training wheels first?
2-2 in the top of the sixth!