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