Shoes, glorious shoes

If you like shoes, nothing could be better than finding a beautiful pair on sale and using your birthday discount of 10 percent off on top of it.

Katie and I went to Northampton yesterday. She was looking for a used book, while I was lured by a birthday discount at Strada and one at Skera, both pricey little places. (Guess who was going to spend more money?"

First I went to Strada while she went to The Raven. I immediately saw a pair of shoes that "spoke to me," and they weren't even black. They are a gray Mary Jane style with little cut-outs in the leather,  a good dress-up shoe for someone like me who doesn't like the more formal strappy kind. And they even had them in my size (11!), which is sometimes hard to find. Sold!

Then I crossed the street to Skera and bought a green patterned jacked with interesting buttons. Katie called it "old lady hip." Thanks for that, Katie.

Let's say this was the end of a week-long birthday celebration. I'm done now. I am very thrifty when it comes to clothes and don't buy anything for a long time, and then when I start I just let loose. It's kind of like staying away from chocolate cake, and then when you take a bite you eat the whole thing.

I have been feeling much more like myself over the past few days. I played tennis on Tuesday, the first time since falling off my bike, and did not get myself in any trouble. Understandably, my tennis was very rusty, and it was nice of everyone to put up with me.

The next day, my arm and legs hurt.

It's almost time to sign up for team tennis. I decided not to play on a team this fall, although I will do the Wednesday night clinic with George and the Friday round robin in Enfield. It's going to take time to get back up to speed. I have broken through my denial and realized that the older you get, it takes longer to recover from injuries.