A visit to the heel healer

As seen in Martha Stewart Living

For a day, the space under the piano was decorated with not one, but two, pairs of goalie pads. I liked the decor enough to take this photo.

There were two because Joe had taken out a pair that he was selling because they were not the regulation size for college play. This afternoon we were back to one pair. Notice that I too am a participant in the living room's sports motif: My green exercise ball is sticking out from the other end of the couch.

Speaking of sports, I am going to play tennis tomorrow for the first time in weeks. On Tuesday, I saw my foot doctor, Ken Holt, who said that my plantar-fasciitis flare-up was probably due to stiffness in part of my foot, probably because I was inactive for so long. He made me a new pair of soft orthotics to take the pressure off my heel, which he said was hitting the ground earlier than it should.

(I'm sorry if this ailment doesn't fascinate you as much as it fascinates me. I think that only people who've had it can understand the pain.)

He also said to do runner's stretches frequently throughout the day and to continue wearing the brace at night, and it should heal quickly.

As I've said, Holt, who is a physical therapist, is a foot guru to many sufferers. He's a soft-spoken Englishman with a home office in Shutesbury, Mass., out in the boondocks. Just driving there through the woods over snow-covered roads, I felt like I was on a healing mission.

Katie came along with me, and afterwards we stopped for a hot chocolate and cappuccino at the nearby Cushman Market and Cafe´on another snowy back road. It was nice to be off the beaten track, the smell of wood stoves in the air...and to be optimistic that soon I might have happy feet.