Bike The Drive

Bike the Drive happens every Memorial Day weekend in Chicago.  The city closes down the entire length of Lake Shore Drive.... roughly 20+ miles along the lake... and turns it over to cyclists from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and it is a riot.  There are kids with parents, tandems, reclining bikes and people who have their bikes decorated. 

As I sat and watched it from my window in our apartment I thought what a difference a year makes.  Last year, we biked 10 miles with our son and some friends of his and then hosted a breakfast open house for 25.  It was a great way to spend the day.   I love cooking for company.

I wish I was riding today as it is a beautiful day; sunny with no clouds in the sky and the park is filled with green tree tops.  The water looks like there are diamonds shimmering on the surface.   The temperature is in the 70's.  I do not have a doctors OK yet after my surgery to get back on the bike (not that I am well enough anyway, I have been up on and off since 3 a.m. in pain and feel like I will not be better for another couple weeks )  Ken ran out for a quick ride up north to Hollywood and back and our friends Ruth and Jonathon have gone south downtown on Bike the Drive to the museum campus.  The four of us will be here for breakfast, which I am cooking.    




It has been a hectic week, Monday evening while I was just home recovering from surgery,  Ken got ill from a kidney stone and Jonathon took him to the Emergency Room while I sat home and waited.  He finally returned at 4 a.m., on painkillers with lots of interesting stories about cops in the ER, and motorcycle accidents. 

I am surprised by how much pain I have been in.  I thought this surgery would be simple and that recovery would be easy.  I have some nerve damage on one side and am having lots of pain.  I started to have allergic reactions to the pain killers again so I wobble between pain or pain killers combined with Benadryl which puts me straight to sleep.   Then yesterday I got a cold.  Today Ken woke up with one.   Talk about too much drama.



So we are having a quiet holiday weekend, hopefully one with lots of rest and without any trips to the hospital.  I did run out to the store for a roast.  Even though it is warm, a good pot roast with potatoes and onions will make the apartment smell good and will provide comfort food as we look forward to feeling better.