This Weeks Update [4/17/16] - Finally Riding Outside!

[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 an awesome end to the week with "ride outside weather" both days this weekend!

First Outside Ride of the Season on 4/16/16.

Earlier in the week, I headed to Oswego to spend the afternoon with Matthew at the Senior Graduation Event (also known as where you- the parents - can make the nearly last investment in their undergraduate's education by buying a cap and gown and diploma frame).    Besides for a lot of standing in line, it was a nice afternoon and we received our 6 "golden" tickets to graduation (1 more than in Willy Wonka).  Matthew did point out that the actual tickets are white - but it is exciting to see him this close to finishing. Matthew will be graduating with honors from the honors program and magna cum laude based on his GPA.  Hard to believe there are only 4 weeks until graduation! Seems like a fast 4 years.

It was a wonderful weekend for riding.  Yesterday was good - riding outside with long sleeves and some head wind.  Today was great - short sleeves and no wind to get in the way - only sore muscles for me :-).

Ride 4/17/16

Miles for the week 65 (24 outside!), miles for 2016 - 1,031, and total miles 16,595.  [Besides the first outside rides of the year, we passed 1,000 miles this week.]

Take care,

Zelma

This Weeks Update [4/10/16] - Great Doctor's report

[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,

It was a great week as we once again got good news from Steve's CT scan.  Dr. Friedberg greeted us with "It's a very good day" on Tuesday.  It was nice not to have to wait through the normal administrative formalities to get the results.  I guess they figure by now, we've been at this long enough that they can get right to the results.

Anyway - the scan showed no evidence of anything new and the spot they zapped with radiation in September continues to shrink.  Steve doesn't have to have another scan until the end of September, so we are looking forward to enjoying an appointment free outdoor riding season.  Now if the weather would cooperate!

We had enough snow last week that the daffodils were buried. Currently forecasting snow changing to ice tonight.  Hopefully this week will be the last of it and spring will return to stay.

We did finally get back to doing puzzles.  Attached is the picture from today's efforts.

"Whaler's Bay" by Charles Wysocki from Buffalo Games & Puzzles

Miles for the week 75, miles for 2016 966, and total miles 16,530.

Take care,

Zelma

This Weeks Update [4/3/16] - Belated April Fool's from Mother Nature

[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 have a belated April Fool's prank going on with snow today and a forecast of 3-6" tonight.  Hopefully, they are wrong about the last part, but there was enough snow today to cover the ground and the birds were glad that Steve is keeping sunflower seed in the feeder.

I took GJ and one of her friends out to dinner to celebrate her birthday.  We went to our favorite restaurant the Bad Apples Bistro. I had mentioned it was her birthday when we sat down so they put a candle on her dessert.

Steve had his routine CT scan earlier in the week.  We'll get the results on Tuesday.

Miles for the week are 63, miles for 2016 are 891, and total miles are 16,455.

Take care,

Zelma

This Weeks Update [3/27/16] - Happy Easter and Happy Early Birthday to GJ

[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,

Matthew's spring recess has come to an end and GJ and I took him back to Oswego today.  He made good progress on his various writing assignments.  He also received his first round of thesis comments back from his adviser.  More to do on that this week, but as he says, feedback was good (aka not a complete do-over).

While Matthew was home we celebrated an early 86th birthday for GJ today.  Her actual birthday is on the 30th (Wednesday).

Miles for the week are 63, miles for 2016 are 828 and total miles are 16,392.

Take care,

Zelma

This Weeks Update [3/20/16] - Matthew Home for Spring Recess

[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,

This week seemed to fly by.  Friday, Matthew came home.  He has a week off from class for "spring recess" - which looks more likely to be better known as writing boot camp.

The time so far has been spent trying to put the last pieces of his thesis together.  The house looks like a thesis disaster zone with books, binders, printouts, laptops and the printer covering all the surfaces in the kitchen and the front room.  My proofreading eyes are also starting to cross.

Fortunately, Granny Joyce has been making us dinner, so Matthew has not had to disturb his work zone.  After his thesis is sent off to his adviser in the morning, then there are 5 more writing assignments to start on. :-)

Miles for the week are 77, miles for 2016 are 765, and total miles are 16,329.

Take care,

Zelma

This Weeks Update [3/13/16] - Thinking Spring

[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,

It was a quiet week.  We did get a mid-week teaser with record warm weather [75F on Wednesday the 9th]- a little rain and wind and a lot of being at work deterred any outside riding. Can't say I was glad to lose an hour of sleep this morning, but it was nice to see that it is still light outside after 6.

The puzzle for the week was picked because it looked to me the most like spring.  :-)

"Uncle Jack's Topiary Tendencies" by Charles Wysocki from Buffalo Games & Puzzles

Miles for the week are 63, miles for 2016 are 688, and total miles are 16,252.

Take care,

Zelma

This Weeks Update [3/6/16] - Pretty Quiet Week

[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,

This week was uneventful and as I sat down to write this note, I thought I can't wait until we have an outside biking picture to attach instead of a puzzle. :-)

Maybe we will get lucky and our relatively mild winter will turn into an early spring.  Next week's forecast is predicting at least 1 day above 60... now if it could also not be raining.

This week's puzzle is another one from Steve's archives.  The ground in this one was deceptively hard.  [The process was also complicated by me knocking over Zelma's wine onto the puzzle about half way through. -Steve]

Miles for the week are 62, miles for 2016 are 625, and total miles are 16,189.

Take care,

Zelma

This Weeks Update [2/28/16] - Family Road Trip

[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 long weekend visiting Mike, Sarah and Olivia.  The weather cooperated - just some rainy drizzle on the way down and really great weather today to drive back.  Olivia continues to change a lot since we saw her at Christmas.  Facebook suggested a memory for me while we were there which was a picture of Olivia and Steve from 2 years ago.  I've included it for fun with the current Olivia and Papa pic.

Not a lot of riding this week because of the road trip - 40 miles for the week, 563 miles for 2016 and 16,127 miles total.

Take care,

Zelma

This Weeks Update [2/21/16] - First Big Snow

[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,

This week marked the first big snow of the year.  I think we had close to 18 inches at our house.  

The storm got into full gear before morning commute on Tuesday and the plows spent the rest of the day trying to catch up.  After 30 mins on the road and progressing about 5 miles, I managed to turn around and come home. Lots of people were stranded on expressways for several hours.  The weather continues to be fickle and (fortunately) the last 2 days have had temps in the 40's so much of the snow has melted.

Steve had his regular check up with his surgeon on Thursday and things continue to be good from Dr. Coniglio's perspective. [Also extended the next visit from 6 to 9 months.]  Next check in is with the oncologist at the end of March [following a scan].

Unless we are foiled by the weather, we are planning to head to see Mike, Sarah, and Olivia later in the week.

Miles for the week are 75, miles for 2016 are 523, and total miles are 16,087. 

Latest puzzles also attached.

"Peppercricket Farms" by Charles Wysocki from Buffalo Games

Small 500 piece puzzle from the Dollar Store

Old Milton Bradley 500 piece puzzle found while clearing out the house in Victor

Take care,

Zelma

This Weeks Update [2/14/16] - Happy Valentines Day

[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're glad winter waited to show up until February.  However, she appears to be making up for the delay by giving us some wicked cold.  I made a road trip to Oswego to catch the hockey game with Matthew last night and the temperature this morning was -15 before factoring in any wind chill.

Other than the cold, it was a normal winter week - work, riding on the trainers, and a puzzle.  Steve picked up this one which depicts Niagara Falls with both the US and Canadian sides.  Having seen the places characterized in the picture made it even more fun to do.

"Niagara Falls" by Eric Dowdle from Dowdle Folk Art

Miles for the week are 80, miles for 2016 are 448 and total miles are 16,012.

Take care,

Zelma

This Weeks Update [2/7/16] - Liking Our "Winter"

[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 another week with better than average temps and a smattering of snow that didn't last all day.  I guess this is making up for the brutal winter we had last year.

It was another busy week at work - although there were some changes late in the week on program timing so I hope to have a bit of break from what it has been and actually take a few days off in the coming weeks.

Steve has been picking the next round of puzzles from Amazon - this week's puzzle is a wine theme.

"Wine Country" by Rosiland Solomon from White Mountain Puzzles

Miles for the week 50, miles for 2016 are 368, and total miles are 15,932.

Take care,

Zelma

This Weeks Update [1/31/16] - Hardest Puzzle So Far

[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,

This week Steve tackled his 2nd birthday puzzle.  Definitely the hardest puzzle so far for many reasons.... 1st it was 1500 pieces (500 more than "normal"), 2nd there were a lot of similar detail on pieces, but 3rd - probably the toughest was lots of almost identically cut pieces that would seemingly fit together but weren't actually correct!  

"Tour de France" by Jan Van Haasteren from Jumbo Puzzles

Also, Steve thought he accidentally threw out a piece and was really unhappy (went through the trash to check) - nothing like a 1499 piece puzzle.  [I thought the piece may not have come out of the bag when I dumped them out.]  We finally found the wayward piece underneath the couch after we realized it was for sure missing.   Have no idea how it made it to a spot 5 feet away from the puzzle table.  Kudos to him because he decided to start this on Sunday night, and doing a lot of puzzle time and having a job don't work well for me - so he did probably 90% of it on his own.  It turned out great!  My big contribution was to fix the last pieces of sky to fit together.

I also got to do one of my favorite things which was to catch an Oswego hockey game with Matthew on Friday night.  The Lakers had a strong game - winning 3-1 and we had a great time.

Miles for the week are 71, miles for 2016 are 318, and total miles are 15,882.

Take care,

Zelma

This Weeks Update [1/24/16] - Back to College

[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,

It was a busy week with Matthew winding down his time at home and getting ready to head back to school.  Apparently after the 8th time you get pretty efficient with packing, so today was fast and uneventful.  Fortunately, the weather also cooperated.

We definitely have hit the winter routine - work, biking, puzzles, repeat.  This week's puzzle is attached. 

"Olde Cape Cod" by Charles Wysocki from Buffalo Games & Puzzles

[And here is a fun video I made with this puzzle.]

 We are taking a big step up this week and have started working on a 1500 piece puzzle with a Tour de France theme.  Let's hope we have it finished by next week. :-)

Miles for the week 64, miles for 2016 are 247, and total miles of 15,811.

Take care,

Zelma

This Weeks Update [1/17/16] - 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,

I was traveling for work this week, so Steve got his birthday presents a day late on Friday.  Probably not surprising but we now have 2 more puzzles with bike themes.  Steve appreciates the cards and well wishes he received.  Best is a video of Olivia wishing him Happy Birthday!  He has a copy on his Facebook timeline if you want to see it. :-)

Matthew has one more week at home before heading back to school next Sunday.  He had made relatively good progress on his Honors thesis over break, but to get to ~ 90 pages of content his adviser is recommending, it will be make for a busy semester.

Our puzzle skills must be improving as we completed one on Friday and one on Saturday. 

Birhtday Present - Puzzle with Vintage Bike Ads

 Matthew has been helping us when he is on breaks from writing - so that may be improving our efficiency.

Another Charles Wysocki Puzzle from Buffalo Games

Miles for the week are 67, miles for 2016 are 183, and total miles are 15,747.

Take care,

Zelma

This Week's Update [1/10/16] - Back to Work

[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,

This week went quickly.  Not sure if it was because I was back to work or if there was just a lot of stuff going on.  It was nice when Friday arrived.  We did another Christmas present puzzle from Sarah and Mike.  This one was a series of different bikes.  This is probably one of the most enjoyable puzzles we have done so far - challenging - but not crazy hard.  :-)

I am traveling for a business meeting this week, so we will be celebrating Steve's birthday on Friday instead of Thursday.  The good news for me is the meeting is in Tampa so I will be headed to the warm weather.  We expect to have more "normal" winter weather at home.

Miles for the week are 77, miles for 2016 are 116 and total miles are 15,680.

Take care,

Zelma

This Week [1/3/16] - Happy New Year

[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 enjoyed our visit with Mike, Sarah, and Olivia.  One of our Christmas gifts was a photo puzzle of Olivia.  Perfect to feed our puzzle habit.

The holiday break has been really nice for me to be fully disconnected from the office.  In addition to getting some much needed stuff done around the house, we had time to do two more puzzles this week.  

 [As GJ said, "It's 18 individual Santa puzzles, but the pieces are all in one pile."]

 [This one was complete with green glitter on the pieces of the giant snowflake.]

Tomorrow it is back to the work grind - my enthusiasm will be complemented by what looks to be the first full fledged snowstorm of the season.  We didn't make any official New Year's resolutions - but here's to less work, more riding and more puzzles!  [A couple 2016 cycling goals are in the post linked below.]

We wrapped up 2015 with 3,310 miles - not our highest year but a respectable amount :-) .  [Full 2015 cycling stats are in this post.]

Miles for this week are 65, miles for 2016 are 39 and total miles are 15,603.

Take care,

Zelma

2015 Cycling Statistics

We finished 2015 with just over 3,300 total miles.  This put us ahead of all but 2013, but well below the original goal of 4,000 miles.

We really fell short on the number of outside rides in 2015.  My health was good and the weather wasn't bad, but we spent a lot of time getting the house ready to sell and that really cut into our cycling activity during May and June.

The monthy data in table form:

We took our bikes on vacation and were really looking forward to riding the Dutchess Rail Trail again in 2015, but the weather didn't cooperate and we didn't get any rides in.

The two longest rides of 2015 were about 20 miles each and both were on new-to-us sections of the Erie Canal Towpath.  The first was from Sweden-Walker Road to the Trailside Bicycles in Hulbertson and back.  Previously, the furthest west we had been on the trail was Holley.

The second was from Genesee Valley Park to Bushnell's Basin and back.  The furthest east we had ridden together was to Lock 33 in Henrietta.

During 2015, we spent $1,266 on bike related items.

I got a new Selle Italia Flite 1990 saddle, Zelma got new shoes and a couple pairs of sunglasses for her birthday, and Olivia got a new bike for Christmas.  Also added cable cutters and a JIS screwdriver to the tool inventory.  We added various new shorts and jerseys in 2015 including Cycle the Erie Canal jerseys from New York Parks and Trails and made by Voler.

For 2016, the goal is a more reasonable 3,660 total miles, or an average of 10 miles every day for the leap year.  It would also be nice to get the outside rides to over 100 for the year.  Also, have identified some rides of 18 to 25 miles on more new-to-us sections of the canal path for the coming year.

Keep Moving