KELZIES SCHOOL NEWS 2013

⇒∞ Kelzie’s School News © ∞⇐
*** 25th Edition --- Adventures in Life Series – 2013 –– Yearly Log ***
Instead of a Christmas note at the busiest time of the year
we write a Log of the last year mailed in the new year
Hoping You had a Happy Holiday and are having A Great New Year
Kelzie’s  Korner
By far the most notable events to be discussed in my update will be covered near the end, in the final months of the year, so please feel free to skip straight to that part. You will find it labeled appropriately.
After 3 months spent in Madison to end ‘12, I returned to Austin just prior to my parents’ departure for Southern Africa. Because I worked there in 2002 for Let’s Go, I was able to suggest some worthy, off-the-beaten-path travel plans. Austin was its usual charming self -winter weather of 70s and sun– and I got right back into training, although I did have to re-introduce myself to a few friends. “Who is this person?  She looks kinda like someone I used to see around town.”  Bringing cheese and Kringle with me helped smooth the way.
In February I took a quick 48hr-long trip to New Jersey to get the majority of my coaching continuing education requirements for the year, out of the way. I took the opportunity to visit friends in Washington, D.C. for less than 24 hours, and spent the night before my flight back to Texas sleeping in my rental car at a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike. Totally planned, but good to know I still have my “roughing it” skills. Shortly thereafter, the friend I had visited announced that she was pregnant. I finally get to be The Cool Aunt!
 
March and April brought lots of little activities close to home. I became the secretary-treasurer of the Harvard Club of Austin, and joined a regional administrative board for masters swimming (“master” swimmers have graduated from college but are not professionals) in order to represent triathletes in the local swimming scene. The annual “South By Southwest” festival whirlwind came to town, during which I practically had to guard my parking spot with a shotgun, and a close trivia friend left town for Harvard Law School.
All the while I prepared for what would be my first race of the season, in Tyler, TX. That race, over Memorial Day weekend, was surprisingly enjoyable. I didn’t seem to have gathered much rust over the winter (can I put on socks while still wearing goggles, e.g.) and blew through the swim completely alone, ahead of the pack. The feeling of control and smoothness during that swim is probably something I will have to work tirelessly everyday for the rest of my life to recapture. My swim set me up to spend the rest of the day in no man’s land, but it was nice to once again be at the pointy end of a race.
The next weekend I was sent to Tampa, FL, by my parents to represent the family at the wedding of the daughter of long-time family friends, the Howards. In fact, while I am not the bride’s best friend, I am definitely her first friend. Our parents met in a birthing class, and she was born two weeks after I was so we hung out as newborns. I got to hear lots of great stories about West Virginia, myself at a very young age, and my parents as nervous newbies.
Only a few weeks later I headed to Colonial Williamsburg (VA) for a race and once again visited D.C. I think there are some people in D.C. who see me more now that I no longer live there, than they ever did when I lived down the street. It was around this time that my blog writing came to a screeching halt, so if you follow me there, sorry!
From D.C. I flew to Madison and stayed through the second week of July. Dad was away on his motorcycle, and Mom and I drove to Hudson, WI, to celebrate the birthday of my cousin’s husband. My uncle had just recently fallen off a ladder and the increasing severity of his injuries became a theme for my entire time at home as he was transferred to a hospital in Madison and the extended family followed.
Back in Austin, Dad visited on his motorcycle trip and the rest of July and all of August was spent hiding from the heat as much as possible. Each summer I am surprised by two things: because the temps creep up day after day, at first Texas summers don’t seem that hot; and then one day long after summer has already settled in, I suddenly realize that it is really dang hot outside. I guess the converse is suddenly realizing in the middle of January that Midwest winters are cold, well after it has turned legitimately cold.
Mom came to visit again this year to celebrate my birthday in early September. I always explore Austin more during the week she is in town than the other 51 weeks combined. For my birthday meal we drove down to Lockhart for Blacks BBQ, a pilgrimage I highly recommend for anyone visiting the area.
START HERE At the end of September I traveled to Branson, MO, for what ended up being probably the most determinative race of my career. Branson was quite beautiful, a combination of what I have nick-named “Hillbilly Vegas” and West-Virginia-In-The-Ozarks. However, the whole weekend was a series of giant billboards pointing to the fact that I no longer enjoy racing and all of the intrinsic processes therein. Wanting to punch the smirk off the ticket agent’s face when she asked how I wanted to pay for flying with my bike should have been the first sign. Somewhere about 5 miles into the bike portion of the race it dawned on me that I really wanted to be anywhere else but there. It sounds childish and naïve because very few people have the freedom to use this as a determinate in their profession, but I wasn’t having fun – and with so few rewards beyond personal enjoyment and fulfilling the intense drive to improve as an athlete, professional triathlon at least needs to be fun.
On top of that, if I am honest, my brain is bored, and has been for a while. Coaching and racing comes with many benefits   –travel, meeting people, a flexible schedule, physical health, helping other athletes reach their goals- but a unique mental challenge is not among them. I need to identify a “next thing” that takes the ol’ neurons out of the mothballs and puts them back to daily use. So, big changes afoot. “Isn’t it funny how day to day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different?” – C.S. Lewis.
I came north in mid-November to again spend an extended holiday period with my parents. During my time in the Midwest I visited several universities to explore graduate programs in sports psychology, counseling, exercise physiology, and/or applied sports science. At the very least I will put my practical experiences of the last five years to good use, and remain among “my people,” meaning jocks and (apparently) former jocks who now use their brains to help current jocks.
I head back to Texas in early January and will be there through at least April, but how long I will remain there after that depends entirely on which schools I apply to and which accept me. I could end up in Austin, Oregon, or some place in between so if you want to claim your portion of Texas BBQ, you better visit soon!  My blog will return to action – http://kelziebeebe.blogspot.com - although with a different bent. The adventure continues!
Kelzie: 617/461-8354
500 South Congress Ave.
Apartment 102
Austin, Texas 78704
kbeebe@post.harvard.edu

Old Folks @ HOME
On 1.6 R/M departed for 2 months in Namibia and South Africa. We went from WI snow to African summer in 24 hours- flying DC-Dakar-Jo’burg before sleeping 4 hours, catching another flight to Windhoek, Namibia, and driving to Etosha National Park. We sighted animals with coaching from our companions/ hosts, the Cowans and their 2 college boys, for 3 days before travelling to the Himba tribal demo village and on to the coastal dunes of Swakopmund. At the end of a week of sightseeing, the Cowans returned to ZA while we stayed to follow Kelzie’s Namibian travel guide and instructions. During our 2nd week we visited Dune 45 in the Soussvlei, and stayed in  Keetmanshoop as a base for exploring Luderitz (in the diamond area) and the Fish River Canyon. We picked up as many riders as possible to hear their stories and see their habitat. Finally we returned to Windhoek for an exploration of the city and the township. We then flew back to Jo’burg and drove to Mashishing Township.
The highlight of our trip was a program the Mashishing high school students and faculty prepared for us. We have been involved with their extracurricular programs (e.g. poetry & debate)  since ‘06. a team of Zulu kids danced, several students recited their poetry, a cappella singing groups preformed, and a special lunch was hosted by the faculty and staff. Many insights -the senior class was composed of 4 classes of 30 “learners”, but the 8th grade was 5 classes of 85 learners each; now each kid gets computer training; and in all of the classes, even when we were not announced, the learners were intently studying. Clearly education is increasingly valued in the Mashishing community.
We then drove south to Robertson to spend time with our friend, Sampie, tour the wine areas, and visit with the foster home children and AIDs orphans we have been assisting in the township. throughout our township visits we saw many housing improvements made since 2006, including permanent houses with a solar water heater and indoor plumbing.
After these 10 days, we were free to be tourists. We went thru a fruit district, Addo elephant park, and Rhodes Univ. In the DeRust area, we visited a country school that had an excellent arts/music program. In Gramstown we toured a school for street kids with many special services (classes are structured by skill-so 2 first graders were 14 year olds, kids get 2 meals a day at school, food is sent home for the family on the weekend, and if losing housing would risk a kid’s attendance, the school pays the rent). We noted the very creative and advanced planning and programming at these two facilities.
Then we travelled onto the Wild Coast – the homelands of dissidents against apartheid and the most beautiful coast on the Indian Ocean. In Barberton we took a much needed rest before entering Kruger Park. In the afternoon we saw 4 (elephant, rhino, buffalo, lions) of the big 5 animals, and the next day at 5am we saw another 4 (no lions but we spent 45 minutes tracking a leopard)  – a near impossible feat of luck. from there we went north to Limpopo near the Zimbabwe border, Mapungubwe NP for more animals, and passed the largest open pit diamond mine in ZA. Back in Jo’burg we joined the Cowans for a trip to Madikwa game reserve and a primitive camp on the Botswana border. here we saw the big 5 plus the most endangered species in ZA- the wild dog.
By streaming with our iPads in ZA and afterwards at home, we were able to enjoy following the IU basketball team. We feel a connection to the team since we lived in IN when the players were freshmen and of “no account”. Wish the kids who turned pro had stayed for another season.
Once home by 3.1 we returned to our daily workouts and twice a week personal training sessions. On the 12th R had his left shoulder replaced – a treatment everyone should try to avoid (8 weeks in a sling). M began cleaning out the overwintered ornamental grasses and Sage preparing for spring (still weeks away). The last week of April we started a 10X20 foot addition to the back of our garage, a project which continued through much of the summer. The result was a very nice motorcycle storage and work area and improved space for cars. The first of May M was diagnosed with right wrist deQuervain’s tendonitis, which is still being treated and will likely require surgery to repair. By mid-May R was rehabed enough to ride his motorcycle. The first week in June he and his brother Paul took advantage of slow construction progress and did a 10-day moto ride to Hilton Head to visit our friends, the Sturdevants, in Sun City, followed by a ride up the Blue Ridge Parkway and a stop at our farm in IN.
The gardens and the construction project were the focus of M’s time through the summer while R went back to riding the Rockies from late June to late July. After resetting G+G Elford’s tombstones in Roscoe, SD, he went to Waldon, CO, where he ended last year’s exploration of the Rockies. He rode WY, ID, MT, and Edmonton Alberta- where he visited an IN friend, Peter Calder. Back on the bike he went thru BC, central WA to Twisp, Mt St Helens, and Portland to visit grad school friends, the Hustons. Finally to the CA coast – Fort Bragg, SF, Santa Cruz before heading east to Ely NV, Moab, UT and Gunnison, CO. Next up was visiting Kelzie in TX and riding the dust bowl area of OK before arriving home.
In June Kelzie came home for a 2 ½ wk visit with M. Late June our brother-in-law, Tom, had a major accident from which he suffered extensive injuries requiring multiple surgeries, lengthy intensive care and long rehab.
By mid-July the gardens were well mulched and in full bloom, M was trapping the rabbits and ground squirrels that were nibbling at buds, and the new landscaping was planted around the completed garage. Rick came home to R&R for a few weeks then was off again late August to ride his moto to the source of the Mississippi, thru SD/ND, and onto MT and WY, thru Yellowstone twice, over/back on Beartooth  Pass and into ID for the Salmon River. In Bend, OR he visited grad school friends, the Downings. Then to the SE to Zion NP, Gunnison, Estes NP and on home. All told – R crossed the Continental Divide 24 times while riding 21035 miles  in more than ½ of the states this summer. while R was on the 3rd trip of the summer, M visited Kelzie in Austin for her birthday and women’s days out. In Sept, we tripped to Lincoln, NE to visit R’s Aunt Mary and cousins, brunched with grad school friends the Dickels in Omaha, and dined with high school friends the Vedders in Des Moines.
On Oct 16 R had his Right shoulder replaced and commenced the second rehab of the year. M started the lengthy process of trimming back bushes and putting the gardens to bed, with assistance from R as his rehab progressed, and K later. Kelzie arrived the 3rd week in Nov to visit thru the new year – leaving the warmer south for the snowy and cold north – but it is home! Thanksgiving was celebrated at the Gillilands as it has been for nearly 15 years. As we celebrate the Christmas season our thoughts and prayers go out to our dear friends/relatives Tom (now on his way to full recovery), Al, Nell Bailey, Bob G, and Janez, all of whom are enduring major health issues. We are grieving the loss of Nelson Mandela. And congratulations to Gladys and Jewel on the occasion of their marriage. Daily Logs of our travels can be found at our blog adrress.
8906 Royal Oaks Drive
Verona, WI 53593
608/334-3342 R cell
608/772-2036 M cell
608/497-1123 hm
rmbeebe@gmail.com
beebelog.blogspot.com