This Week's Update [12/29/13] - Merry Christmas

[The Weekly Update is an email that was started in the fall of 2010 to keep family and friends informed of my medical condition and has continued as a review of family activities.  Written by Zelma and edited by Steve. Working on adding past issues to the blog.]


Hi All,

We had a nice relaxing holiday week.  Christmas Day Matthew was at his Dad's, so GJ and I got to enjoy one of our favorite meals of homemade crab cakes - yum!  We celebrated our "gift opening" Christmas this weekend and we roasted a chicken which was also delicious.   We also took a family Christmas shot and decided to send the one with the funny hats - Matthew opted with the safest option of the Santa hat. :-)

We are on track to make our 2013 biking goal on New Year's Eve. Miles for the week are 110, miles for 2013 are 3,771 and total miles are 8,971.

Take care,

Zelma

This Week's Update [12/1/13] - Happy Thanksgiving

[The Weekly Update is an email that was started in the fall of 2010 to keep family and friends informed of my medical condition and has continued as a review of family activities.  Written by Zelma and edited by Steve. Working on adding past issues to the blog.]

Hi All,

Despite what looked to be a dismal weather forecast, I collected Matthew from college and Roger and Becky arrived for Thanksgiving on Tuesday without significant issue.  Roger and Becky did adjust their plans to arrive on Tuesday instead of Wednesday because of the storm that was coming through.  We had a couple of nice days of cooking, eating, and visiting.  Becky and I made a mix of old favorite recipes and a few new ones for two days of Thanksgiving "feasting".  Matthew had a steady stream of class work to keep him busy over the break.  Hard to believe in less than two weeks this semester will be finished and he'll be home.  I've attached the annual family Thanksgiving shot.  

Matthew also decorated the Christmas tree and Steve has posted a really cool "high speed" video of it on Facebook using his GoPro camera.  :-)

We missed a few days riding this week (Steve had a follow up CT scan on Monday, chill'n out with family a few other days) but overall not a bad week - miles for the week 64, miles for 2013 - 3,410 and total miles of 8,610.

Take care,

Zelma

This Week's Update [1/20/13] - Happy Birthday Steve

[The Weekly Update is an email that was started in the fall of 2010 to keep family and friends informed of my medical condition and has continued as a review of family activities.  Written by Zelma and edited by Steve. Working on adding past issues to the blog.]


Hi All,

Steve was delighted with all the birthday wishes and cards he received for his birthday.  The festivities started on Sunday evening with a Skype call with Sue, and of course, Sue and Ron singing Happy Birthday to Steve.  On Monday - GJ, Matthew and I gave Steve his presents and Matthew whistled the Happy Birthday song (since we do a miserable job of singing.)  Mom gave Steve some new scenic biking DVD's.  

This worked out great to have some new scenery to see while we were on the birthday ride on the trainers.  We saw Europe, Yellowstone Park, and Hawaii. :-)  I gave Steve another photo book from this past year.  It was a lot of fun to put together to highlight all the things that happened in 2012.

We did the ride in 2 parts.  I was also glad that Steve decided to ride his age in metric (65 km) instead of miles.  Overall, it was easier than I thought. This is probably because Steve rides much faster than I do on the trainers and I get to take credit for how many miles he rides instead of what my odometer says.  :-) 

The birthday ride is our new longest ride so far... and we made our first 200 miles for 2013.

The weather has continued to be confused - it was in the 40's yesterday and is expected to be in the single digits by mid-week. We also still have no snow on the ground, but Steve noted that it has started to snow this evening.  

We've continued to maintain our daily riding and because of the birthday ride we had 111 miles for the week, 273 miles for 2013, and 5,473 miles total.

I expect this week to fly by as it is Matthew's last week at home before heading back to Oswego for the spring semester.  Hope everyone has a good week.

Take care,

Zelma

This Week's Update [1/6/13] - Good-bye 2012 - Hello 2013

[The Weekly Update is an email that was started in the fall of 2010 to keep family and friends informed of my medical condition and has continued as a review of family activities.  Written by Zelma and edited by Steve. Working on adding past issues to the blog.]


Hi All,

As I put together the picture for this week's update, it was a good time to reflect on how much has happened this last year.  We started 2012 with Steve taking the really aggressive chemo treatment to give him the best chance to be healthy for Sarah and Mike's wedding in May.  It was a very rough (and scary) process, but the results have continued to be better than we could ever anticipate.

  The celebration of Mike and Sarah's wedding with so many family and friends was priceless. It was also a year full of other significant family life events - GJ moving to Rochester, Sarah being accepted into the Nursing program, and Matthew graduating HS and getting off to a great start in college at Oswego.

Woven through it all has been our biking and Steve's perseverance through his treatment to continue to ride.  I know neither of us thought we would have accomplished what we have this year.  I remember Steve telling his Aunt Jackie when she was at the wedding that he hoped to do 2,500 miles for the year if his health (and the weather) held up.  We have been fortunate to have both and New Year's Eve we completed 3,300 miles for 2012.  

This brings us to 5,200 miles since Steve's surgery.  In the photo, we are wearing the jerseys I had custom made to celebrate our 5,000 miles ride on 12/12/12.

We are looking forward to a great 2013 and miles for the year are 77 and counting...

Wishing everyone a wonderful year.  Take care.

Zelma