28 November 03

Mud, Glorious Mud

I went with DocRock of Write Out Loud today to Calistoga for a mud bath. It’s not strictly mud: it’s volcanic ash mixed with peat. Spas are ten a penny in Calistoga, whose name is a combination of Saratoga and California. We chose Dr. Wilkinson’s, where we had both been before.

We got shunted from shower to mud bath to shower to mineral bath to steam room to blanket wrap to massage, where I got my lower left leg worked on for 20 minutes. My achilles tendon is healing well but is still at least twice as wide as the right one.

I wonder how the attendants in these places—almost uniformly Mexican Americans—feel about their mostly Anglo patrons. I wonder whether they ever sneak into the mud themselves (I doubt it). What I don’t wonder, though, is why Degas and Balthus and all the others felt compelled to paint women at the baths: it’s a sumptuous sight, all those glorious bods in complete relaxation. Women focused inward.

Posted by at 04:45 PM in Miscellaneous | Link |
  1. Sounds good to me!

    — Jenny    28. November 2003, 18:57    Link
  2. Did you happen to stop at that darling little clothing store a few blocks away? I forget the name. Kudos to you gals!

    — tattler    29. November 2003, 15:01    Link
  3. How wonderful. I could just use a warm (?) mud bath right now. I live near Harrogate which is/was a spa town but most of the old treatments are not offered anymore. Othre than the Turkish Baths – an ultra fab Victorian folly I guess.

    — Coup de Vent    30. November 2003, 00:02    Link

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