Fancy Feet

Freshly inked to badly faded

I know.  I'm so strange - a blog post about my feet.  But look at that nifty henna tattoo!  I really enjoyed the one I got last year at Kripalu, so I decided to do it again this year. 

Since I've been working at home, I'm usually barefoot all day.  I also figured the tops of my feet wouldn't get as much wear and tear as my hands and arms, so I hoped the tattoo would last longer.  One of my friends was concerned that my tattooed feet wouldn't get appreciated - who would see it?  Me!  I would!  I get out of bed in the morning or kick my feet up on my desk in the afternoon and it makes me smile.  But she should rest assured - plenty of people noticed and admired the artwork on the day of the move, at the pignic and at a contra dance.

I loved watching the artist pipe the henna on my feet.  It looked like melted unsweetened chocolate.  She worked quickly and I enjoyed watching the pattern appear.  The upper left picture was taken right after she'd completed her work.  It started flaking off later in the day and I peeled the rest of it off by the following morning.  The henna continued to darken over the next day or so and then stayed that way for two whole weeks.  A bit of the inside arch wore off because of wearing sandals, but the rest stayed pretty much intact until last Thursday.  Into week three, all but the outside edges had faded away.  Ah, well.  I enjoyed it while it lasted; a little extension of my Kripalu weekend.