It has been a while since I posted. I have not been riding as much as I did when I was training for the Tour de Tucson but I am still riding. Last weekend I took part in the Tour de Cure, a fund raiser for diabetes research. The weather was lousy. We had rain and hail. The route was very hilly. I opted for the 45 mile route which I completed. There was lots of support on the ride. The people at the rest stops were very friendly and helpful, the route was well marked and there were volunteers stationed along the route in case of breakdowns. At the end we enjoyed barbecue pork, chicken, beans and potato salad.

One of the other things I have been doing is working on my embroidery. We had a Japanese embroidery class last month and I got quite a bit done on my piece. I have also been working on a Hardanger piece.

On Fridays this past year I have been teaching embroidery to my grandson's kindergarten class. I had the children draw their own design which they then traced onto muslin. They used floss to sew the design using a running stitch. Most of the time I spent threading needles and teaching them that the stitches went in and out not round and round. I also did a lot of unstitching when they made their stitches too long or went around the hoop instead of in and out of the fabric. When they finished I had them sew a backing on and we then turned it right side out, they stuffed it and sewed it shut making a pillow. It has been lots of fun!

Finally made it on the bike again. I tried to ride on Thursday but I could not get the tire pump to attach. I finally went on the internet to try to find out what I was doing wrong only to find a lot of posts from people saying not nice things about that brand of pump because of the impossibility of getting it to work correctly. Friday I bought a new pump.

Today the weather was still nice so I decided to go visit my sister. It is a short ride but I figured it would be long enough to let me make sure I had put everything back together correctly after Tucson. As I was riding I decided the handlebars weren't quite straight but I figured I could fix that when I got to my sister's. I was almost there when I felt my chain go. No problem, I know how to get my chain back on. Then I looked at it. The derailleur had completely sheared off and was caught in the wheel. I couldn't even walk the bike. Don came and got me.

I took it to the bike shop as it should still be under warranty. Apparently they have to send the defective part back to the manufacturer and get their OK before they can fix it. Result: no bike for at least the next few weeks.

New Year

It is a new year and time to get the bike back out. Yesterday I finally put it back together after getting it back from Tucson. I am hoping to be able to go riding this week some time if it stops raining. I have also signed up for the Tour de Cure here in Washington. This ride raises money for diabetes research.

After the Tucson ride I came home to a new kitchen. I immediately started putting things back away in the kitchen trying to get as much done as possible before leaving for Hawaii on Dec. 1. I enjoyed my trip to Hawaii with my family. We stayed on the Big Island and went swimming practically every day. The boys loved swimming with the turtles and fish and going to see the volcano.

After we came home I went back to fixing up the kitchen, washing everything before putting it away. I also had to get the Christmas decorations up as I had a party the next week. Between parties and Christmas shopping there has been no time for bike riding.