mlroseplant

The short answer is, "I don't know." The long answer is, "I have a pretty good hunch, but I really don't know for sure." Our application was rejected this year because there were too many vendors selling Asian food, they wanted more variety. Why we got cut instead of somebody else is a mystery. That gig was replaced by other, more sporadic things, where I have far less responsibility. Now that I think about it, a good deal of the reason why I used to see a fair number of heels is because that farmer's market was in the evening, and was in close proximity to several bars and restaurants. Perhaps people do still wear heels in those situations, I'm just not around to see it. Where you don't see heels anymore is at church or at the grocery store, the two places I'm most likely to visit. So here's a thought: Does it even matter whether high heels are actually worn? As long as there is some idle desire to have these shoes, and they are bought, manufacturers will keep making them. There does still seem to be an idle desire among younger women to wear heels, but nobody thinks of wearing them casually at all. They are strictly special occasion shoes. Therefore, there is no need for the cobbler because they don't wear out. Even in my own collection, the percentage that actually sees wear is fairly small. Nowhere near 1000 to 1, but I bet it's like 10 to 1. I should check sometime. That would be another interesting data point.

Man or woman, I am noticing lately that I am the only person wearing heels, period. To be fair, I don't get out much these days. Since we lost the "big" farmer's market gig for this year, I really don't get out much. During the summer by nature, church services are even more casual than they normally are, and they're pretty casual these days. There ain't no such thing as "Sunday Best" anymore. That's pretty much gone to "Easter Best" or "Christmas Eve Best." My counterparts in the other band, who play in the service before me, could always be counted on to wear heels, even if they were only 2 1/2". No longer. At any rate, I have been remiss. I have forgotten to post church outfits for two weeks in a row. Here they are. The pink-ish one features cheap Chinese mules by a company called Bella Marie. Maybe I'll talk in more detail about those later, because there's a story. The purple shirted one features Michael Kors Oksana sandals, which I have owned a very long time, and am barely competent at walking in them now. I wonder how awkward I looked 10 years ago wearing them.

Sounds similar to when one has just gotten off an overseas flight. Ain't that the worst?

I am not the king. I'm just the most normal weird guy you'll ever meet. And yes, I do gather all sorts of useless data, like keeping track of how long my razor blades last. One thing I have noticed since I set a goal of 300 miles a year in heels, and in the grand scheme of things that's not all that much, is that other than the occasional blister from walking three miles in a two mile shoe, there is no pain associated with heels anymore. The other thing I've noticed is that despite consuming more grain based beverages than I should, my weight has remained under a certain mark much more easily than it has in the past. It is quite true that, unlike either @Jkrenzer or @Cali, I am not in heels really all that much, even though it might seem like it. That is because you have to subtract out at least 10 hours every weekday for work and 6-7 hours for sleep. The rest of the time is mostly domestic stuff, and I'm not really walking anywhere. I cannot think of too many times when I've spent what I would call a full day in heels. Therefore, I must purposefully walk to get the practice I desire to maintain my endurance. I just happen to keep track of that, being a completely normal yet weird guy.

I don't know that I'd want to be out there for 11 years, though. It even seems a little bit ridiculous that under the best of circumstances, it would have taken me about 6 years to accomplish the same. Which is why when somebody says they have walked "hundreds of miles" in heels, I kind of take it with a grain of salt. I have no way to prove it, but I get the feeling I have walked many times farther in work boots over the past 11 years than I have in heels.

It's quite amazing how different people react to changing conditions. My feet do not much seem to care what temperature it is as far as their physical size, but rather they seem to care much more about what time of day it is. You know how they always tell you to buy shoes in the afternoon when your feet are bigger because of activity? Well, mine are the opposite. My feet are at their biggest the moment I roll out of bed. Go figure.

That's definitely an interesting way to spend 30 minutes. That's really neat that they do that every week. I sometimes wonder how one learns to play the carillion--I mean, there's nowhere to practice in private when you're really bad at it! I do not mind grocery shopping, it's the meal planning I hate. I feel like I've got about 12 dishes in my arsenal, and I keep doing them over and over again.

The other thing I've noticed is that on more than one occasion, 2 miles is not enough of a test. It seems I have several pairs that are perfectly fine for 2 miles, but in that third mile, they turn on me, almost without warning. Since I rarely encounter a situation where I'm wearing heels for an extended period, like if I worked in an office, it makes me wonder if these 2 mile heels would be ok for all day with only incidental walking.

In advance of today's services, I want to say that I have finally reached 2,000 documented miles in heels! It's taken me 11 years to get there, but I've finally made it. At the pace I have set these days, it should only take another 3 years to get to 3,000. I had a few bad years in there, particularly 2017, where, according to my records, I walked only 35 miles the entire year. Looking back at it, 2017 was a significant turning point for me in many ways.

Have you ever had heels you thought were your friends suddenly bite you in the foot? I thought about starting a whole new thread for this question, but this one is going pretty good right now, and it's not totally off the subject. Friends, I've had this happen to me a few times over the years, and now just recently. I called 2023 "The Year of the Band-Aid," or sticking plaster, or if you must, adhesive bandage. Since I have a lot of shoes, I don't always remember what comfort aids each of them needs, so I have made a list in my mobile phone of such. When I notice that a certain pair of shoes rubs in a certain spot, I'll make a note for next time where I need to apply a bandaid, or whether I need to use a pair of ball-of-foot cushions, and so on. I know, I know, I've said many times, if I can't walk at least two miles in reasonable comfort, forget it. However, if the simple addition of a cheap and readily available bandaid solves the problem, it's just part of the game. Many times, shoes will "grow out" of their silliness, and those that rubbed a little harshly in certain areas eventually stop and thereafter require no comfort aids at all. But sometimes, shoes that have been friends for a long time, and can be counted on to be comfortable all day, suddenly eat a hole in the side of one's foot without warning! Anybody had this happen to them?

Very nice! Something I would definitely wear. . . only I couldn't. I would have those white pants stained in half a minute less than no time. How do you do it? What sort of concert did you go see?

I must be passing part of my sensibility down to my 15 year old son. No interest in heels, but knows how to tie several different necktie knots. It seems that we have been on this subject off and on for the past 10 years, but we'll drag it out again for the new guy. Otherwise, we're back to talking about lawn mowers and stuff. We have several factors at work here, pun intended. Somebody, at some point, for some reason, made up a rule that you can't wear more than a 4 inch heel to work. In fact, I think I've heard in some cases, 4 inch is really pushing it. Somebody made up that rule, and people began to believe it. There is some logic in that, because few people can actually function normally in 4 inch heels. That's just a fact. When your shoes are preventing you from doing your job, they're too high. And by preventing, I mean if when you get up to walk across the room and the first thing people notice is that you're walking funny. For some people, that's 3 inch. For some people, they just walk funny anyway and 2 inch is too high. Those hard and fast rules are somewhat dated. I mean look at what's happened with hair, ink, and piercings. It may seem odd to us shoe guys, but most people do not notice your shoes right away, first thing. Nobody is going to notice an extra 1/2 inch, except when the wearer can't carry them off naturally. That's why I brought up this whole subject of hitting a wall somewhere shortly above 4 1/2"--that's the point at which even the most casual observer will notice that there's something wrong with me. Therefore, my Steve Madden black pumps are completely appropriate for the office, but actual Loubie So Kates would not be. Nobody but us will notice the 10 mm difference in height, but they will notice as soon as I take more than a few steps. I believe that those of us who have taken the trouble, sometimes years of trouble, to learn how to walk and live in this silly but attractive footwear get to make up our own rules about what's appropriate for the office.

I can't say that it's all about heel height for me, but it's a major factor. Every once in a while, I see something that catches my eye and has a low heel, or even no heel. I have learned to resist the urge to buy, unless there's a very specific reason to do so. The reason is not that I've got anything against the lower heels, but I find that they just don't get worn. A prime example of this is my so-called "farmer's market" sandals. I have several pair of low-heeled wedges, and several pair of effectively 3 inch chunky heeled sandals, which I used to wear to work my wife's vendor stand at farmer's markets. All of them are very attractive sandals, and I have gotten numerous compliments on them, but I find that I never wear them these days because I don't have to. The reason I don't have to is because I can wear 4 inch heels just fine without really thinking about it. Three years ago, possibly even two years ago, I would worry, "I wonder if these shoes are a mistake?" And yes, sometimes at the end of the night, my feet would really be feeling it. That just doesn't happen now. Ironically, three out of five of my last shoe purchases were sub-4 inch.

I have a fairly defined limit, which is in an amazingly narrow range. Below 4 inches has become very easy and natural for me. 4 plus change feels like a heel enough to where I'm not able to zoom around in them. Somewhere right at 4 1/2, I hit a wall, and cannot wear anything higher. Not that I can't walk in them at all, I just wouldn't want anyone to see me walking in them. I have very little idea why I would ever want to wear such shoes, but I find the desire to work toward that goal attractive. Perhaps it is because the gold standard for designer shoes, most notably Christian Louboutin, is 120 mm. I have one pair of black pumps that emulates the style, but is actually a couple of mm short of that. I assume that in my size, U.S. 9, that the heel height would exceed five inches, or approaching 130 mm. In order to do that, I feel like I'm getting into ballet territory, and I simply don't know if I'm capable of it. Although this photograph shows a 140mm heel from Maison Ernest, far exceeding my goal, my ankle would need to be able to do something like this. I'm not even close.

I think most of it has to do with ankle flexibility, of which I still don't have any amazing amount. I don't take shorter steps than I used to, if anything I take longer steps. It has been so long now that I don't ever remember learning to walk in high heels, or how I went about that, I just started putting miles on, and shortly after that is when I got to know the cobbler very well. What I do remember is that traditionally, even in flats, I would always wear out several heels before I would go through a sole. Guys were always talking about getting their work boots resoled, I just never had that issue. The first thing everybody says when walking in heels is "walk heel to toe." As if you could really do it any other way. What they don't say is that the heel part of it, especially in stilettos, shouldn't really be a structural part of the stride, it's there as an aid to guide you down as you put all of the weight on the ball of your foot. Keeping this in mind, I found that the life of my heel tips, no matter what the height or style, has increased dramatically across the board, including work boots.