Happy feet

Like a lot of women I have body-image issues. Too much hair here, not enough there ... too fat (really) ... not as firm overall as I used to be ... actually, that's about it. Mostly I'm pretty happy with myself, even though I'm constantly suspecting everyone around me of thinking I have no right to be. To quote the poet, I dote on myself – there is a lot of me, and all so luscious!

Out of all my wonderful parts, I especially love my feet. I even remember the exact moment I fell in love with them. I was about nine or ten years old, and on a green and glorious rainy summer afternoon a boy in our neighborhood, Joey King (I still remember his name!), happened to notice my bare feet and remark, "You have cute toes."

Such a tiny, apparently insignificant moment! And yet when I looked down to evaluate my toes for cuteness, it struck me that he was right. They were cute. Not only that, but my whole foot – both of them, my feet! – were adorable. I thought so then, and I still think so. They're the perfect size and proportion, in my opinion. Mr. A also has really beautiful feet, by the way. It's something I look for in a man.

My inordinate appreciation for my own feet has taken a bit of a blow lately via a strange-colored spot on my left big toenail my doctor diagnosed as onychomycosis – toenail fungus. I went to see him, already knowing what it was, and prepared to demand a prescription that would completely destroy it as quickly as possible. Instead of giving me the prescription, though, he showed me the literature describing its possible dangerous side effects, and also let me know that it costs several hundred dollars a month that my insurance would not cover. He also said he'd had only spotty success with it with his patients who'd decided to go ahead and try it, and recommended using Vick's Vapo-Rub® instead, or any of a number of over-the-counter anti-fungal products.

I consulted with the holistic pharmacy tech, who turned me on to their best-selling brand of anti-fungus product for toenails, Fungi-Nail®. I stood in the aisle of the pharmacy for twenty minutes staring at the shelves and reading the box over and over again, along with the boxes of all the other products ... and finally decided to go for it. It cost almost twenty bucks for a little tiny bottle of it.

[An aside: When I got it home I noticed something I had overlooked during my in-store inspection: a little note stating, "This product is not effective on the scalp or nails." Huh? So why is it called Fungi-NAIL? Further reading revealed that this disclaimer is required by the FDA as of a few years ago – probably not so coincidentally, right around the same time the new toenail fungus drugs entered the market – because somebody determined that the product did not actually penetrate the nail, or something ... even though it's been on the market for decades.]

I've been using it faithfully twice a day for almost two months and it seems to be working. Thank dawg! I have a friend who's in his 60s and his toenails are so infested with fungus they look like those dried up burnt Fritos you throw away when you get to the bottom of the bag. Ugh. And he's super healthy, too – teaches yoga, eats only raw food, rides a bike everywhere, etc. etc. etc. Maybe he doesn't mind having ugly feet because fungus is natural. But I would be so depressed if my toenails looked like that.

In any case, my feet are back on track and I'm very happy about that. Even happier is the fact that I just got some fabulous new sandals! I bought my first pair seven years ago and they're still going strong – super comfortable, rugged and versatile. They're so great that I don't really even need another pair. But I love them so much I wanted more! The only problem was, it's been several years since they've offered any new colors I liked.

Is this the most boring entry ever or what? Do I really have so little to talk about?

Well, yes. As a matter of fact, I really do. Have little to talk about. Well, little that I'm gonna talk about here.

To get back to the point: This year they came out with this über-caliente orange and red double-strapped version, and I am once again in lu-u-u-v. So cute! And since I'm under doctor's orders to give my toenails a rest from nail polish this summer, it's nice to have a little color going on down there.

Also, I don't know if I've ever mentioned this but I can't stand to have anything on my feet unless it's really, really cold. Socks are only for the coldest winter months, and regular shoes are out of the question from April through about October. So it makes me feel all giddy inside to have a new pair of happy orange sandals that I can wear anywhere – on the street, in the sand, under water, on a bike, over a mountain, with a dress, etc. – that are always comfortable, reliable, durable, and did I mention – they're orange!

In other news, we did get a site cleared for the studio last weekend, but the rest of the weekend was eaten up by a mega-monster expedition deep into the wilds of the Emeryville Ikea store and a Father's Day extravaganza at Mr. A's brother's house (both places are air-conditioned, so we spent a little more time with these activities than we usually do). And now I'm reconsidering the site as well. Actually, I feel pretty certain it's the best spot on the property in relation to everything else, but there are no trees on that side and it feels too exposed. Mr. A wants to just plant a couple of redwoods for privacy, since they grow fast and are beautiful, but I hesitate to do that because I don't think redwoods really belong in our microclimate (even though we already have several beautiful 30-year-old redwoods on the land) and I don't like the idea of planting a tree that will have to be removed at great expense 40 or 50 years from now, assuming it doesn't top out, fall over, or drop a huge branch on top of my studio before then.

The other site I'm looking at now is in a protected spot under existing mature trees, which presents other problems – primarily the necessity of removing a 20-foot-long branch that overhangs a large part of the back yard.

One of these days I'll write more about my philosophy of gardens, plants and trees. Not today, though. We're approaching our forecasted high of 109° F, and I must start drinking copious amounts of water now or I'm never gonna make it home.