In the Garden

One of the things I miss most about St. Louis is the opportunity to go to the Missouri Botanical Garden, widely considered one of the best botanical gardens in the world. We had a membership there for many years, and visited frequently as the gardens were always showing off different blooms. 

Here in our area we have the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, which has just been renamed the Daniel Stowe Conservancy. There is no comparison between the gardens, though that is not surprising as the Missouri Botanical Garden was opened in 1859. Stowe, while much larger at 320 acres, only opened in 1999. It has not had a lot of time to mature, nor does it have the funding of the garden in St. Louis. Much of the property has been left to its native state and is not planted in gardens at all.

Nevertheless, we have been to Stowe numerous times, including three years in a row to see the holiday lights. In March we purchased a membership to help support the garden. An added benefit is that the membership entitles us to entry into 300 other reciprocal gardens throughout North America. We recently were able to gain admission to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, which has already paid for the membership.

We went to the Stowe garden last week for the first time this year. We had barely made it through the door when we heard our names being called. One of the gals that works at a pickleball center that we go to was there with her family, and saw us come in. It always surprises me when someone knows us in Charlotte, even though we have been here over five years now.

It was a beautiful day, and a nice time to enjoy the spring flowers and get out in nature.

Daniel Stowe Conservancy

 

Foot Followup

Wednesday I saw the podiatrist for a followup on my foot issue. When he asked how things are going, I told him that honestly I don't see much improvement in the pain despite the toe splint, orthotics, or Voltaren and ice treatments twice a day. He pressed his fingers underneath the second toe a bit, which was not pleasant. 

But surprisingly he said he could tell that my ligament has begun to heal itself. He said the pain is to be expected and is a good thing as it will keep me from doing things I should not be doing yet. I am to continue as before for the next four weeks. Then for the next four weeks he only wants me to wear the toe splint when I am going to be excessively active, such as walking for a long period of time or hiking. I presume that includes pickleball, thought I forgot to specifically ask that. I'll wear it then just to be on the safe side. I return to see him at the end of the eight weeks.

When I last saw him he asked me to bring my pickleball shoes in so he could take a look at them. I had told him that I wear Skechers, and he seemed surprised that they made a court shoe. I explained they are dedicated pickleball shoes. The problem is that I cannot wear the toe splint and the orthotic as there is not enough room in the shoe for both. I have been wearing my Acacias instead, as they can accommodate the inserts and the splint. So I brought in one of the Acacias and one of the Skechers to show him.

Skechers pickleball shoes

He performed a three part flexibility test on each shoe, and the Skechers passed with flying colors. The Acacias failed all three, and he said I shouldn't be wearing them. Visually we could see that the Acacias have more height in the toe box than the Skechers, which is why the added items work in the Acacias. 

My compromise for the moment is that I will wear the splint and the orthotics anytime I am not playing pickleball. For pickleball, I will wear the splint only in my Skechers as that will fit with the regular insert provided by Skechers. I may try taping my toe and not wearing the splint, which is acceptable to the doctor, and see if I can then make the orthotic work in my Skechers.

Overall, I am pleased with what the doctor had to say. I picked up a second splint from the office so I have a clean one to put on instead of always having to wait for the one to dry after washing. I also got a second orthotic so don't have to keep pulling the one set out of one pair of shoes to put in another.

Cousin Time

Last month we flew to Phoenix to see some of Jim's cousins. Relatives from both sides of his family have winter places in the area, and we had never been to visit. One set of cousins put us up for the week, which was incredibly generous of them. They even had a car that we could borrow!

We spent time with them doing some hiking and eating at some really good restaurants. We got a few games of pickleball in as well, which is always a bonus for us. The community they live in has some very nice courts in addition to golf, swimming pools and various amenity buildings for different activities. I also try to compile a list of unusual/cool sites when we travel, so we picked a few of those off my list as well.

Phoenix Sites

The Desert Botanical Garden was definitely on our must-see list. We were lucky with the timing as there was a special show going on. Light Bloom was an exhibit involving geometric light installations. We arrived at the garden late enough in the afternoon to be able to see the plant material, and then stayed through the early evening to catch the lights. It was pretty stunning.

Desert Botanical Garden

We took a couple days by ourselves and drove up to Sedona. Neither one of us had been there before. We didn't think to reserve a room ahead of time, and did not take into account that spring break would be such a big deal there. We got the last studio at the Bell Rock Inn, which is a Hilton property. It was very nice and had a small kitchen area and nice patio. I think they just had one two-bedroom suite available besides our room. We very much enjoyed our time in Sedona, and the weather about 15 degrees cooler than Phoenix. It is certainly a beautiful area.

Sedona

We got back to Phoenix in time to have dinner with another of Jim's cousins, a sister to the cousin we were staying with, at a great Italian restaurant. They were not super busy, so they did not mind us chatting for a couple of hours.

Our time in Arizona was busy and fun, and we enjoyed catching up with family. Now that semi-annual family reunions are no longer taking place, we don't get a chance to see extended family very often. Hopefully we can keep in touch more often in the future.