During my forty-five-minute appointment at Quan Yin Acupuncture, I have needles up and down my back, in my arms, hands, legs, the top of my head. After the doctor removes them, I make another appointment and walk to my car.
It’s a “Goldilocks day”—not too hot, not too cold. So instead of heading home, I stash my purse in the trunk of the car and head off down the street.
It’s May, the lovely month of May, and flowers are blooming in street-corner gardens and hanging baskets.
As I walk, I think about the first time I tried acupuncture. We were living in the Philippines then and I was suffering from migraines. It was the 1970s. Back then, acupuncture was rare outside of Chinatown. So when a Vietnamese acupuncturist showed up in Makati, it was an occasion of note. My husband and I went along with some friends to see what he could do for us.
The doctor treated his patients in a large open space with cots, so I was a little scared seeing what he was doing to other people. Needles on the head, face, ears, all over the body. When it was my turn, I found that most of the needles were painless. MOST! The worst were the needles he stuck into that web of flesh between my thumb and forefinger.
And yet, those were the needles that performed the magic. Faster than any pills, those needles totally destroyed my headache. He advised me that the headaches would return. For long-term relief, he said I should meditate every day.
Well, I didn’t meditate every day. Eventually menopause cured my migraines.
Back to my walk:
Going downhill on Main Street, I pass a great little restaurant, Chanterelle.
Turning onto Fourth, I snap a photo of Rick Steves’ travel store, a reminder of a tour some neighbor ladies and I took of Sicily and southern Italy.
Everywhere I look, flowers are blooming.
I could choose to walk uphill, but the waterfront is calling to me.
All along Sunset Avenue, the air is thick with the scent of hundreds of wild roses, the humble flower my grandmother loved to paint. (See her china painted plates and cups and saucers here.)
When we lived in Port Angeles, WA, I had another big success with acupuncture. I hesitate to mention it, because it sounds crazy. Anyway, here goes. I was having trouble with arthritis. In fact, my fingers were starting to look gnarly, and I was too vain to accept having gnarly hands.
So I visited an acupuncturist who had a reputation for “curing” arthritis. Sounds crazy, right? But after ten sessions of acupuncture combined with NAET, I was cured. That was almost twenty years ago, and I haven’t had much more than a twinge since.
Continuing the walk, I take a picture of these two colorful houses. In Western Washington state, people favor dull, earthy tones. So it’s nice to see homeowners willing to buck the trend.
I’m sorry to say that all is not beauty on our waterfront. In the last couple of years, a large number of coal trains and oil trains have started rumbling through town. Can you see the end of this one? I sure can’t.
oil train from North Dakota
Walking back up the hill, I snap a picture of this mural of Edmonds in its early days when it was a small town built around lumber mills.
rhododendrons, Washington’s state flower
I’m not expecting any miracles from acupuncture this time. If I achieve some modest improvement in my asthma and general health, I’ll be satisfied.
Have you tried acupuncture. If so, I’d love to hear how it worked for you.
That’s wonderful how acupuncture worked for you. A colleague of mine successfully did it to get pregnant.
I also love the pic of the waterfront!
Those are some gorgeous hanging baskets through out the town and so many other beautiful blooms.
I have a friend who has had great success with acupuncture in her neck.
I’m not a big gardener, and yet I really appreciate flowers. So when civic groups and even my neighbors have beautiful gardens, hanging or not, I’m grateful.
I’m glad to hear that your friend had success with her acupuncture.
First of all, thank you for the gorgeous stroll through your lovely town. Love the wild roses! We’ve got the same in Maine. In fact the scenery reminds me of Maine.
Then, I’m so glad to read about acupuncture since it is something I am considering myself for early osteoarthritis. I’ve read good things about it but was still debating. Looks like you are a great advocate. So thank you for this great post that serves many purposes.
When I think of wild roses, I think of some of the places I’ve seen them in profusion. There’s a trail just above the Dungeness Spit on the Olympic Peninsula that is lined with wild roses at the right time of year. I also think of my grandma’s china painting, as I mentioned in the post. It’s a humble little flower, but so pretty.
If you try acupuncture, I hope it works out for you.
Wild roses are also used on French old plates as decorations. I have a set at home that comes from my husband’s grandmother. These flowers are really lovely. Thank you for your encouragement for the acupuncture. ??
What a beautiful walk and a lovely tour. Especially love the hanging baskets. My husband has a fascination with trains. We’re always watching them on our many road trips. I’ve never tried acupuncture but I would be open to it if there was the need.
I’m glad you enjoyed my walk. The nicest train that passes through our town is a short commuter train that goes into downtown Seattle. It doesn’t run in the middle of the day. If it did, I might use it to go shopping downtown. But since it only runs in the morning and late afternoon, I’d have to shop all day long. Is your husband mainly interested in watching trains, or does he also like to ride on them?
Watch them mostly. We always talk about riding them again. We headed out to Harvey House in Barstow last year to revisit some history of our local California railroads. Fascinating! Too bad we don’t have more opportunities to ride local commuter trains to help reduce traffic in Southern California.
My friend JP swears by it and goes to see hers every Saturday. I could never bring myself to go no matter how much she urged me. I suppose one day I’ll give it a-go, but for now, no thank you!
You live in such a pretty town!
If you don’t feel the need to see an acupuncturist, no problem. But if you ever think you need to go, don’t worry. It’s not nearly as bad as getting a pap smear or a mammogram. Ugh!
Hahahhaa. I didn’t think it would be. Goodness, those two are the worst.
This is the second post I’ve read this week on acupuncture. I’ve never tried it, but I’ve heard promising things about it.
Thanks for taking us along on a beautiful walk, Nicki. The hanging baskets are so lovely.
I always like walking around Edmonds. In my opinion, the best places to live are those with a variety of good walks nearby.
We do have hanging baskets downtown, but they’re not in their full glory yet. So–I confess–that first photo is from last year.
Thanks for taking us on your lovely walk, Nicki. Those flowers are gorgeous!
The oil trains seem to go on forever, don’t they? We have many, many of them here traveling through Minnesota from North Dakota. They must be everywhere.
I’ve never tried acupuncture but now I wonder if it would help with the arthritis in my knuckles. Hmmm . . .
I just read in our local paper that we have 35-40 trains (oil, coal, and passenger trains) a day, and we could have as many as 100 a day by 2030. The city is in the process of deciding whether to build an overpass or an underpass or to move the ferry terminal to another street. It’s a hard choice because the train tracks are so close to the water and the road is on a hill.
I do notice more solar panels on houses, and when I visit my daughter in Eastern Washington, I see lots and lots of wind turbines. Maybe instead of increasing the trains, we can stop using so much coal and oil.
We can only hope, Nicki.
Beautiful pictures! Your weather is ahead of ours so I am envious of the gorgeous blooms. We won’t see roses for a few weeks yet. My husband had a bad case of arthritis in his thumb. He plays guitar so it was important for him. He went to a hand specialist and had 3 shots. He was put on high fish oil regiment. This was about 5 years ago. It stopped the progression and the thumb does not look quite as gnarly. Better yet, no effect on his guitar playing. Haven’t seen acupuncture locally but then I haven’t really looked.
When I was in college, I learned to play the baritone ukelele. I was a fan of Joan Baez, so I bought a book of folk songs and sang along with my chords and picking. I wasn’t about to buy a guitar. It was too hard to push down on those strings. If your husband has played guitar for a number of years, I expect that is hard on his hands and fingers. Does he sing along? Do you? What kind of music does he play?
He’s played for 65 years. He has callouses on his fingers. He doesn’t often sing along but occasionally. Mostly 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s rock.
Glad you had good results from acupuncture twice.
Hope your third time is also a charm.
BFF and I both did acupuncture here a year ago. It helped my chronic neck pain significantly, but never did assist me to sleep better.
And I enjoyed the tour of your flowering town. Beautiful shots.
Chronic neck pain is–well, a pain in the neck. I’m glad the acupuncture helped. And thank you for joining my little walk.
What a lovely walk. I haven’t tried acupuncture. I’ve heard mixed results. One of my neighbors went to Beijing to see a specialist for ALS without success. She was there for months. Spent a lot of money.
Another neighbor, one who trains service dogs and takes in retired service dogs, had tremendous results with her old dog. She was worried she might have to put her down, but after acupuncture, the dog is prancing again like a puppy. My neighbor reported that it works for some dogs and not others, though.
Those two stories (the ALS patient and the dog) are such good examples. Acupuncture seems to be a mysterious treatment, sometimes successful, sometimes nothing. Years ago, when nobody in the US had heard of acupuncture, news stories came out about people in China and the Soviet Union having operations with acupuncture but no anesthetic. That caught our attention.
Such beautiful flowers on your walk, Nicki. Good to hear that acupuncture has its pros for you. I haven’t tried it as I am no fan of needles. I am sure it’s different to massages, which have hurt me in the past 😀 Apart from needles, there’s the cupping kind of acupuncture too..I suppose different kinds works for different people. I think you chanced upon a good acupuncturist too who understood your needs and knows what he is doing. I’ve had a few Chinese-Malaysian relatives who have tried it and have come out bruised the wrong end 😀
I got bruised from massages, too! If I get one, I have to warn the masseuse in advance that I am wimpy.
In springtime the flowers come and go so fast. I was away for a week visiting my daughter, and now I see that the lilacs have almost finished, but the roses are coming on strong.
Despite the needles and cups, I think acupuncture is relatively benign. Because it’s such a gentle treatment, I don’t think it’s likely to cause serious harm. On the other hand, you never know whether it will do any good or not. Sometimes it’s worth a try.
Speaking of serious harm, a study that came out last week concluded that medical errors may be the 3rd leading cause of death in the United State, claiming 251,000 lives every year.
That is an interesting study, and it is a bit of an alarming figure. Sometimes we are just human, but one would be inclined to think that there must be some solution to make the industry more trustworthy.
I think one problem is, we don’t fully understand the complexity of the human body yet, which makes it hard to make an accurate diagnosis. And surgery and pharmaceuticals are such powerful treatments that mistakes have serious consequences. I’m with you, though. There must be many solutions, large and small, that can make health care more safe.
Thanks for taking us on a walking tour of Western Washington. I enjoyed the tour.
The two colourful houses are of a good size. Is this typical in this part of the States? No fences! I’ve yet to see a house that’s not fenced in, in England and the Irish Republic.
Speaking from my own personal experiences and others including my clinical practice, most conditions can be managed through a change in lifestyle and diet. My homeopath tells me that she has patients with chronic conditions but the ones who can manage their condition best are ones who opt for a holistic treatment. They hardly see her.
I had acupuncture from Chinese teachers from China and students in a student’s clinic in London. In the former, I had a very good one from Beijing but her bedside manners were rather lacking. She had two very good students; one was outstanding.
Hope your acupuncture treatment works for you.
Those two houses are a little bigger than average. One of them may even have a mother-in-law unit on the side. I think most houses here have either no fence or partial fencing to keep dogs in or for privacy around a patio or for decorative purposes. Some also have tall hedges to keep out street noise.
I agree that, whether one seeks other treatments or not, diet, exercise, and lifestyle are the best ways to manage chronic conditions. Acupuncture is a treatment that may or may not help.