mlroseplant

I don't know the entire story since I walked in on the middle of a conversation, but there was some discussion about slight hue variation in these light colored booties. This conversation went on long enough that I actually sat down to wait, as my old bones were weary from working outside in a ditch for eight hours. And it was really over nothing that could be seen without the aid of a microscope. I am guessing it couldn't have been anything Marty (the cobbler) did, because she wasn't angry or irritated, she just kept agonizing over whether the shoes needed to be thrown out. They didn't. Marty convinced her to let him try to even out the color, and she went on her merry way. That is all.

I haven't got a lot this week, as I've been absolutely exhausted from my new job, but I did make it over to the cobbler on Thursday, which is the one weekday I don't have to cook supper. I brought him two problem children, and it was half good news. My oldest pair of heels is still savable, but the ankle boots I brought him are landfill material. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask him about @Cali 's issue with the hollow molded plastic heels, and how he handles that. I'll have to ask next week when I go to pick the shoes up. When I walked into the shop, there was another customer already there to pick up a pair of ankle booties in a light beige with pointy toes and block heels of about 3 1/2 inches. She was wearing very similar booties in black. I could tell that she is a regular, like me, but that she is a much more difficult customer than I am.

I have occasionally seen a man in slightly higher than normal heels, but it's been a while. I have never personally met another man (with the exception of @HappyinHeels) wearing anything more elevated than what you described. Not counting the 1970s, of course.

It will be soon once again time to visit the family in Vietnam. It has been 5 years for me, thanks to the pandemic. Could I get away with wearing heels in Vietnam, at least in the city? Probably. Will I wear heels? Absolutely not. Although the time is long past when my wife has even bothered saying anything anymore, it goes without saying that she is there for the purpose of visiting her mother, not for answering stupid questions about her silly husband.

Another high school band concert last night. Amazingly, there were lots of heels! Of course, they were all low- to mid-heels, but it was pleasantly surprising, especially when the band director put, and I quote, "Flats are preferred over heels" right in the email reminding students of the dress requirements for the concert.

I have come up with a temperature guide for myself. If it's at least 40º (5º C), I can and should wear sandals, regardless of the wind speed. In calm conditions, sandals are fine down to 32 (0 C). Colder than that, and I'd better wear a closed toed shoe of some sort. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15º (around -10º C), I'd better wear socks, which does limit my choice of footwear. This guide only applies to walking. It does not work well for standing. Nothing works well for standing in cold weather. It also does not take into account any precipitation that might occur. Cold AND wet feet are double-plus ungood.

Haha, if the recipe calls for 3 cloves of garlic, I'll put 6. Haven't gotten any complaints so far! The general size of arteries still does not explain why I can get by with uninsulated boots at work, while everybody else is freezing their feet off. Meanwhile, I have to dress more heavily than everybody else to function properly, and thank goodness for those chemical hand warmers that you can stick in your pockets.

The concept of this blog seems very simple, but how to begin? At least I managed to come up with a wacky title. I have been meaning to feature the following shoes for a long time because they are among the first heels I ever purchased with a serious intent to wear them in public. They have also turned out to be, thus far, my most durable pair of heels. Though I have mentioned them many times in passing over the years, let me formally introduce you to my Nine West “Sizzle” oxfords in plain black leather. I purchased them on January 4, 2013. Going back through my records, I evidently paid $99 for them from Amazon. This was probably pretty close to full price, which is something I never do anymore. However, in retrospect, I can’t say that I didn’t get my money’s worth. My motivation for buying these particular shoes has been lost to the sands of time, but I can tell you that this was my second pair of this model. The first pair I had was black patent, rather than just plain black, and was U.S. Women’s size 9. I always thought that they were a bit too tight, and so I got rid of them and got the instant shoes in a size 9 1/2. I did that often in those days, that is, bought stuff in 9 1/2 or even 10. I am not sure why, but I would never make that mistake today. I am pretty clearly and solidly a size 9. As a result, I have to wear thick socks with these oxfords. This is simultaneously a plus and a minus. I hate how the shoes are really too big, but on the other hand, the cushioning provided by thick socks may be the secret to why they are an any occasion, all-the-time shoe--in the winter, anyway. Just so you know, just so you do not doubt my proclivities, I never wear these, ever, from about mid-May to mid-October. What would a Melrose expository post be without statistics? Here are the numbers: 4 3/4” heel, 3/4” platform, for an effective steepness of right at 4 inches. Diameter of the heels is about 3/4”. I have had them reheeled three times, and am very, very close to needing No. 4. I have walked 191 documented miles in these, plus any number of undocumented/incidental miles. I feel like they are going to fail sometime on the next reheel, and I will be sad when they do. I think I have worn these in every situation that I normally encounter in life, and some that I don’t normally encounter. I have worn these with men’s suits to church, and I have worn them with jeans for my neighborhood constitutionals. I know I have worn them on at least one occasion to work the “big” farmer’s market, which involves standing for five hours. I have worn them on a walk that exceeded 5 miles, 6.1 to be exact. I have only ever done this with 3 pairs of shoes over the past 11 years. After all this use, they still shine up pretty well!

I didn't wear the boots in the snow--I wore clogs. The snow wasn't too deep, so I figured I'd wear my very high platform clogs, and the strategy worked. I did not have a previous picture of my giant Sam Edelman platform clogs, so I had to take one in the time honored location of the washing machine. Then I switched to the boots for church, and wound up wearing those well into the evening, including testing out my son's new-to-him, but very old, motorbike. I still say it's not all that fun to ride a regular motorcycle in heels. Here's something strange about how I'm built. The snow started falling on Saturday afternoon, but none of it stuck to the ground because the temperature was above freezing. As it continued falling overnight, the temperature dropped down to about 25º, or -4º C. I wore my clogs barefoot, and they were high enough that I didn't get any significant amount of snow in my shoes. I also wore medium weight gloves. Not super heavy, but some amount of insulation in them. By the time I got back home, my fingers were like little blocks of ice, but my feet were slightly damp from sweating. How is this even possible?

Sunday's outfit. You can't really see the outfit because of the coat, but it was rather cold and snowy yesterday. It seemed easiest to wear my Vince Camuto knee high boots. The platform clogs I wore on my morning constitutional seemed too casual for church, but they did leave some nice looking footprints in the snow. Edit: And once again, I have no idea why certain random pictures load sideways and can't be turned, at least not by me.

I'm probably headed up to my cobbler this week or next. I will ask Marty how he deals with this issue. Somewhere in my collection I must have hollow heels like that, but nothing that I wear regularly.

And even if you could, why would you? Those stock heel tips are crap! Although I don't do it myself, and after 11 years I seriously doubt I'll start, Vibram or other such material as replacement heels is superior in every way to these little things with nubs on them that come from the factory. One question, though. Why specifically softwood?

I have started my exhibition/blog project, and it is harder than I thought. Since I'm writing offline, I just have to make myself type out some words on the page, and then rewrite it later, or it will never get done. I notice that there is a spot on this website for blogs, but nobody ever reads that stuff. I was thinking of putting it in the "For Everybody" section. I think that's a practical and appropriate place for it to go. What say you?

Last night was the first jazz band concert of the season. My younger entered high school this fall, and for the first time experienced the pressure of actually having to audition to get into a group. I was seated on the very wrong side of the auditorium, but oh well. Good pictures shouldn't be the major part of the experience anyway. I can report that there were at least three girls wearing what you could call heels at the concert. There may have been more, but it's awfully tough to see into the back row, and I didn't hang around any longer than necessary. I would estimate the total number of girls participating in this concert was about 30. There were no boys wearing heels except for me. I managed to capture in incidental pictures, and then zoom in on later, an example of what was the highest of the heels, worn by the vibraphonist, who appeared to be a senior. Pointy-toed suede or faux suede boots. There was another girl in a different band who wore fuchsia mules with 3 or 3 1/2" block heels. The prescribed uniform for all of the jazz bands is "Solid black with a splash of color." I found it interesting and admirable that this girl chose her shoes as the splash of color. I'm gonna guess they were prom shoes, and have only been worn one other time. I guess heels are not completely dead yet, they are just on life support. One could say that during my own high school days, something closer to 15 girls out of 30 would be wearing heels. Yes and no, because the majority of those would have been 1 1/2" or less, and can you really call those heels?

I have yet to summon the energy to start my bloggy thing, but I have taken a few pictures this week. Yesterday's hurriedly thrown together outfit is as follows: Nine West "Versell" sandals, and yes, I am still somehow wearing sandals in the middle of November, and the rest is some hodgepodge of button down shirt, black trousers that may be a little on the short side, and some tie that I selected at the last minute when I realized that my t-shirt was showing through the outer shirt. I have said before that I don't wear these sandals often enough, but oddly, my own mother told me I ought to get rid of them. I asked her why, and she said, "They look so uncomfortable!" I gave her one of those looks like "Where have you been for the past 15 years?" We then had a conversation about the onset of dementia.

I also have a pair of Just Fab sandals which are quite steep, but I find they are designed in such a way that makes it a bit easier than the numbers would suggest. I hope you have luck with these.

The news people here in Midwestern sort of rural U.S. wear heels, but not as high as the news people in the city. And I guarantee you they're not on if the feet are not visible to the camera.

My totally unscientific hypothesis (and I stole this from somebody on here, but don't remember who) is that some people are born with the High Heel gene. I do not believe that this gene is slanted more toward the female side of the spectrum, either. It's just that the addition of a Y chromosome causes the High Heel gene to be latent, or recessive. Sometimes the presence of this gene causes other changes in surrounding genetic material, and sometimes it doesn't. Some of us are in it for the heels only, and some of us like the Whole Nine Yards.

Let's face it--at a basic level, most of the things we do in life are a waste of time. Including visiting this website. Doesn't stop us much, init?

There seems to be no category for "Having a woman's aesthetics." Perhaps that is an artificial construct. Actually, the whole thing seems like a rather artificial construct. I'm not going to be too critical, as I haven't actually read the book, but my basic question is, "Whose body? Whose fashion? Whose behavior?" It's not like there is one sweeping set of characteristics that we can slap on all women worldwide. You have to view this attraction through the lens of your own cultural and personal biases. For example, I do not attempt to emulate the woman I work with at the present time. It's not that I don't like her, it's not that I think she's ugly (I do, and she's not), it's just that my vision of the feminine look/aesthetic does not really match up with the way she presents.

I think there was only one time, and that was only because a salesman at some Big Box store approached me from the back, and I had long hair at the time. I remember having no real reaction to it one way or the other. I do remember thinking to myself, "Dude, quit apologizing. It's not that big of a deal." I notice there is no category for wishing to move like a woman, which is entirely different from "having a woman's body" or "having a woman's bodily functions." Then again, not just any woman will do when it comes to finding motion in the physical world attractive. I have been trying for quite some time to adjust my walk to my preference, with some amount of success. This carries over somewhat to my construction life as well.

I have always said that since I find women attractive, why wouldn't I want to emulate them? It is quite true that I have never tried going full "dress," or even close to it. I suppose if I were younger, I might see things a little differently.

All of those things are still things. Roosevelt, of course. Tasty Tacos is one of our occasional indulgences. I cannot believe how averse I am at driving the 15 miles to get there, but sometimes my son convinces me to do so. Adventureland is still there, and it has expanded/updated somewhat. They've still got that rickety old wooden roller coaster, though. I personally have not had a fun filled day for at least a decade, but up until a month ago, I worked right across the interstate from it.

I don't know if simply riding a motorcycle in your day-to-day life is necessarily all that risky, but I do know that it sucks to ride in heels! Scooters are a whole different story, and I sold mine this year. I'm aware. What do you call Primus, anyway? They're not traditional rock, they're not really proggy, they're not metal. My son came up with a category, Music Theory Rock. Good as any, I s'pose.

So far, @at9 has got my attention with "Confessions of a Heel." I probably won't call it that, but I don't care who you are, that there's funny! I don't think I'm ready to begin. It's Monday, I've got to go back to my real job, and the shoes in question have a lot of stories to tell, some of which involve the police. So it's a question of which to share and which to keep to myself. In other news, the sun is rather low in the sky these days, so I may have to find another time of day to take pictures, if I take them at all. 'Twas a beautiful day, but the sun was right above my head (or at least it appeared to be), so these pictures aren't the best. If you ain't figgered it out by now, right behind me in the usual spot is due South. Today was a little bit warmer than it has been for the past week and a half. So I decided to wear sandals to church. The sandals I chose were a little bit on the casual side, but my feet were too swollen to fit into my first choice footwear, and I didn't feel energetic enough to wear super steep heels today. So this is what you get, my Miu Miu wooden sandals in navy blue, one of the very few slingback shoes I own. I am partial to Miu Mius, they seem to fit me exceptionally well, and they seem to be well made, and not too fragile. The only problem with them is that they are related to Prada (specifically Miuccia Prada), so they don't exactly give those things away. I have managed to find three pairs of them used for a reasonable price, one of which is featured here.