When riding your bike rekindles the passion and walking the dog is a pleasure

BLOW DRIED - Angel Hubbly-Hyde and her dog, Bear, and Jenni Olson and her bulldog puppy, Buster, get acquainted as their masters keep a watchful eye on a warm but windy day in downtown Rochester. (Rochester Voice photo)

ROCHESTER - When you see motorcyclists humming down the highways and byways of Rochester weaving back and forth like a kid on their first Big Wheel, you know it's the first ride of the season.

And so it was on Monday, but it wasn't only the bikers out having a good time as the mercury hit 70 degrees drenched in midafternoon sun.

Dog walkers, moms pushing baby carriages and teens on skateboards were all out and about in the downtown enjoying the outdoors after a winter that wasn't all that bad actually.

Ducks gather to swim about, and occasionally dive for lunch, near the Garage Way Dam that separates Milton and West Lebanon, Maine, on Monday afternoon.

"It's great to be outside," said Jenni Olson as she walked with her dog Buster, a 10-week-old bulldog, on Hanson Street.

Olson, who owns Freedom Beauty Salon, said Buster would be a fixture at her salon.

"Yeah he's gonna be a shopdog," she said.

Monday's high of 70 won't be back for a few weeks, but then again, it's not going to be single digits either, not for a good long time.

The high today is 63, with some rain, while the rest of the week will have highs mostly in the mid-40s to 50.

Next week calls for highs in the mid-50s with nighttime lows above freezing.