This 'n That...

Mike's on the mend, but faces quite a lot of dental work as a result of the funky, anaerobic infection that appears to be under control at last. He had a root canal today on the tooth adjacent to the infected one, and needs a filling on the tooth on the other side; then in mid-July, the endodontist will perform oral surgery to remove the roots of the infected tooth, including and especially the piece of debris that Dr. X left in there.

I've done a little research on this: apparently, it's not unheard of for an instrument to break while a root canal is being done, but the ethical thing to do (according to other dentists/endodontists writing about this topic on the web) is to inform the patient (or in this case, me as his mother, because Mike was a minor when this happened) and give some options...none of which Dr. X did.

Enough of that; it makes me mad to think about it.

I'm busy at work, and the weeks rush by at breakneck speed. In some ways that's good, but in others...well, more and more, I think I might like a simpler life. I'm reading and thoroughly enjoying James Herriot's wonderful book, All Creatures Great and Small. But as I read it, I can't help but think that I really ought to be reading this book in a pine-scented cabin near a lake, sitting in a comfortable chair with mended slipcovers, by the light of an old lamp with a yellowing, stencil cut paper shade, with a worn wooden staircase leading to a bedroom with old sheets that always feel slightly damp in the cool night air...not that such a place exists, except in my head, but lately I've been thinking...maybe such a place does exist...and maybe I should start to try to find it.

Yeats had the right idea:

I will arise and go now,
And go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there,
Of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there,
A hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there,
For peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning
To where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer,
And noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now,
For always night and day
I hear lake water lapping
With low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway
Or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.