Even though the air wasn't very cold (the skin on my face disagreed), today's walk in the foggy afternoon was short.

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After having an achey upper right arm since September, a couple stiff fingers on my right hand in the mornings since well before June, and a joint in my right thumb that complained whenever I held a pen, I decided to try one of those magnetic bracelets that wearers swear fixes their every ill. My brother-in-law Gary has one that vanquished his “golf elbow” overnight, and he never goes without it now. So on the way to the Kelowna airport in October, Joan and I stopped at the place he’d bought it.

There was a good variety of the bracelets but only two or three (thankfully; I was in a hurry) that were small enough for my wrist, so that narrowed the possibilities. I purchased a silver bracelet with narrow but solid rectangular links; something heavy, relatively speaking, and durable, I thought. I usually won't pay much for jewellery because I lose it or break it or leave it sitting in a box, unless I can put it on and forget about it (am I a real girl?). But if it meant avoiding a visit to the doctor to get checked for arthritis or muscular dystrophy, this seemed worth the hundred bucks.

It was two weeks before there was any difference in the state of my arm and hand. By Christmas Day I was not thinking about the arm except to note how much better it was, and only the thumb joint occasionally made itself felt. They were noticeably improved enough not to be an issue. Then on Boxing Day the bracelet, which I wore constantly, was no longer on my wrist. After a week without it, the arm was aching again; soon after, I awoke with stiff fingers once more. After searching (and cursing) high and low, the bracelet finally turned up with a broken link in the pocket of my mink coat.

“It’s all in your head,” Scott says to me.
“That may be,” says I, “but if that magnetic bracelet makes my head do right by me, then I need to get the thing fixed. And soon.”

*

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Down in sunny Californey, Dad and Grace have hit the dusty trail and expect to be back in Kelowna on Saturday. I requested a photo of Grace for all Dad's nosy friends and relatives (you know who you are), and got it, to my surprise ...