Reprieve

This morning I was supposed to get knocked out in order to have a crown put on my top right front tooth (#8, in dental parlance). It and its two neighbors to the right got banged up last year thanks to Gomez the horse, and all required root canals. Since then, #8 died and turned a lovely shade of shirt-cardboard gray; hence the crown.

Only after nearly 13 months the tooth is still sore, which isn't supposed to happen. Likewise, my broken nose and arm aren't supposed to hurt anymore, but they do too. (People keep sending me goodwill messages, "I hope you heal quickly!" I thank them for their kind wishes, but tell them it's way too late for "quick.") The dentist never got my message last week that I needed to talk with him, so we had a belated conversation after I'd been anxiously waiting in the knock-out chair for 10 minutes. Result: I have to go back to the endodontist to take another look at #8 before I get the crown.

So I was turned loose at 8:45, a good mile from home, carless and hungry. I could have called a cab or gotten my friend Paula to give me a ride, as she was going to pick me up after the surgery anyway. Instead I decided to walk--it's cloudy and blissfully cooler today--and am I ever glad I did.

The way home lay through the leafy and boutiquey Cherry Creek North shopping area, so my first stop was at Peet's Coffee, where I had a mocha and an apricot hammentash. (Yeah, I know it's a Purim treat, but I'm glad to be living in a place where hammentashen are readily available. There were rugelach too.) I finished off the mocha while strolling and came across an Indian restaurant, Bombay Clay Oven, that I didn't even know was there. (So much for online searching!) Wish I'd known about it yesterday, when I met Paula for lunch elsewhere. Next time.

I hadn't really walked around CCN since last year (I'm not much of a boutique shopper) and I usually avoid it when driving, so I saw everything with fresh eyes. Since most of the stores weren't open yet, I had the sidewalks pretty much to myself and could window shop at my own pace. I sighed longingly over the cunning shoes--many of them on sale!--artfully displayed in one window. A waste of time and breath, though, as my feet are size 12-1/2. (I mostly wear men's shoes.) But a girl can dream...

I deliberately walked up a street I'd never driven on, and saw many houses and gardens to engage my interest. I'm sure that one little cinder-block cottage in a big yard is due to be a tear-down sooner or later. It's surrounded by big, fancy architected houses; the developers must be licking their chops. I imagine the owners as an elderly couple that's been there since the house was built (in the 1950s, judging by its style). I hope they hold out for a long time.

Things I learned while walking around:

• There's going to be an outdoor screening of "Raiders of the Lost Arc"--apparently about daredevil mathematicians--at Fillmore Plaza next week.
• A new Denver health ordinance prohibits any canines except guide dogs on restaurant patios, per a sign on the door at Peet's. After reading it, I petted two Westies and stepped around a golden retriever that were tethered to their masters' chairs on the sidewalk patio. Then I walked around dogs on the patios at two other coffeehouses. So much for the health department. (Why is a regular dog--but not a guide dog--on an outside patio a public health hazard anyway? I'm sure a guide dog has no fewer germs than any other dog.)
  
• The free swim schedule at the Congress Park pool, which I keep forgetting about. It's just a few blocks away and is only $3 a pop for adults. My tax dollars at work! Might as well take advantage.