I know what you’re thinking – “whenever Sandy is blogging and she starts to discuss swimming, we’re in for a discussion about skinny dipping at the farm pond.”

Your thinking would be correct. The scene of the recent crime.

However, happily, I have another new kind of floating experience to share with you. This is a spa treatment. A sort of sensory deprivation experience where you are floating in an enclosed dark tank that is filled with 900 lbs (not a typo) of Epsom Salts and 10 inches of water. The water is at body temperature. You are free from the confines of clothing. Tibetan chimes are playing softly on the speaker (if you wish). The lights are off (if you wish). Then you step into the tank, relax and float away, with your mind drifting to wherever it wants to run. The Epsom Salts provides buoyancy – once you step into the tank you float effortlessly. It is healing. The water (and you) are neither hot, nor cold. (There isn’t a bug, a snapping turtle or a nosy neighbor driving slowly down the road to worry about!)

How did I find myself and our 83-year-old mother floating in two tanks of Epsom Salts, you might ask? Stay with me here…

While Cindy was visiting earlier in the summer, mom fell down a flight of stairs. Thankfully Cindy was there to assist at the time, but mom has just been hurting ever since. Different aches and pains pop up and we’ve taken her to several doctors, but she is in pain, not sleeping, and getting minimal relief with non-opioid pain killers (opioids being too scary to even consider). Post-tumble, Mom went to Florida to visit our older sister for a few weeks and someone there recommended a regular bath with lavender-scented Epsom Salts. Sue and Mom tried it and she felt better, but the pain in her knee promptly returned.

Last weekend I read an article about floating in an old issue of Life in the Finger Lakes (our version of “Southern Living” magazine). The feature was about Inner Peace Floats in quaint and charming Watkins Glen New York. (You really have to come here and vacation – Watkins Glen State Park has been voted the 3rd best state park in the country! Plus – I have heard that there is lots of wine in the area!!!)

Would you believe that Inner Peace Floats is in a building that used to house a quilt shop that I used to frequent? Now isn’t it true that everything comes back to quilting???

But I digress. What I really wanted to tell you is that my mother, who was brave enough to try something new, experienced profound relief from her knee pain as the result of that 1 hour float on Monday. She still plans to go back to the orthopedic doctor to discuss the root cause of the pain, but she is currently sleeping pain free and she is moving around as normal. Now, I don’t know if it was the floating naked part (which I am certain is therapeutic  <grin>) or the addition of the Epsom Salts, but I would highly recommend “floating” for pain management.

Now back to quilting:

True Blue (from Spice of Life Quilts) has been photographed for posterity and mailed to my friend for her retirement gift.

The tree skirt I planned for my bestie is finally completed. I will deliver it in person in November when I meet her for a fall girlfriend getaway – I bought my tickets to Tampa today!

Cindy and I created a beautiful quilt for our mother as a Christmas gift. I’m working on the binding while I watch Pride and Prejudice (I’ve never seen it or read the book and it comes highly recommended by Cindy). I’m enjoying the costumes and the formalities and the restrained British sensibilities — while I anxiously await season 4 of Outlander LOL!

Tomorrow is a sewing vacation day with my friends/quilting mentors!

Are you imagining fall in the north? Here’s an interactive map that will help you track peak leaf-peeping opportunities.

Float on.