mlroseplant

The subject comes up more and more often lately. I get asked, "Squirrel, how long have you got left?" The answer is I don't know. I can't afford to retire early, being as my ex-wife got half my pension years ago, so the best I can do is hope I don't get hurt or sick in the next 9 years. The good news is, my house is paid off as of this month!

I must disagree strongly with your assertion that tucked in t-shirts are always bad. For those of us who are proportioned with short legs and long torsos, an untucked t-shirt exacerbates this unfortunate defect.

Yes, I miss JeffB also, but I must point out that he was not technically banned. True, much of his content in the latter days was circumscribed, but he could post something today if he wanted to. He is not the only one s0 situated. It's just that for some, confining one's interest to shoes is too limiting, so those people have left voluntarily. Luckily for me, I have zero interest in dresses and makeup and such. Therefore, I am not very tempted to violate "community" standards.

And thus has it always been, at least since I've been alive. We don't need school uniforms here in the U.S., because kids make their own anyway. Except for three. The father, my colleague, I'll call him "Bill" (mainly because that's his name), has actually seen me in the wild. I can't remember exactly what I was wearing, but he at least pretended not to notice, and the subject has never come up.

You can add my name to the list of people who are somewhat at a loss. I do try my best to make things varied and interesting. I don't know if it's a systemic issue with the site itself, or a broader societal one. I think that perhaps the fetish people far outnumber the fashion people. I think in this day and age of social media, perhaps we are just too slow and too boring for modern attention spans. On the other hand, that doesn't explain the 100-and-some people who always seems to be lurking. Who are these people? Are they the same people, or are they a continually rolling audience? Whoever y'all are, howdy there Internet people!

I had a conversation the other day with a coworker. We don't really have a lot in common outside of the trade, except for the fact that we are the two senior members of the crew. I am 56, he is 60. We also both have young children for our age. I have a 15 year old son, he has a 12 year old daughter. We have both been mistaken for grandparents at school. I bring this up because evidently the daughter needed new pants the other week. My colleague took her shopping. He said, "What kind of pants do you want?", thinking she was going to want some expensive designer jeans or something. She replied, "Sweatpants. That's all I need." He asked, "Don't you want something a little bit nicer than sweatpants?" "No, that's what everybody's wearing, and I don't want to stand out." Yup, that's what you see--sweatpants or pajama bottoms. This is what it's come to. I hope it doesn't take too many years to swing back the other way again.

I always thought so myself, but now that I think about it, I have never paid enough attention to fashion shows to track whether little tiny elements of the outlandish part make it to the street. And taking the thought a bit further, if they do make it to the street, which street? Certainly not mine, unless it's prom night or something.

I cannot in good conscience take all of the credit that you have given me, but thanks anyway. I would have and should have given up on this place a long time ago, but for the fact that I really enjoy interacting with the few who are left. We could call ourselves The Normal Guys. I keep hoping that some more normal guys will join us. Men who put fashion before fetish. I never check the statistics function of the site, but you (Bubba) have pointed out a number of times that our visitor stats far exceed our member stats when it comes to those who are online at any given moment, indicating that there is a lot of latent interest out there. . . somewhere. I hope people continue to indulge me in getting off the subject occasionally, because it does become wearisome posting, "Today I wore such-and-such, and nothing at all interesting happened." I wonder how many of our "guests" are people who are loosely like us, and how many are searching for something that we don't offer here. Every once in a while, we'll get somebody new who obviously doesn't seem to understand the nature of this site, and I sometimes idly wonder if they are very disappointed when nobody cares about whatever weird thing it is.

I know, init? For my next act, I'll be wearing cargo shorts with those pumps. 😛 So, to counteract such tendencies, I took my "new" vintage Bakers wedges out for a spin. That was quite possible two days ago. In a weird, yet very normal turn of weather events here in Iowa, the temperature has dropped more than 60 fahrentheit degrees in the last 12 hours to land at 12º, or -11º C. All of this with a 30 mph wind, as well. Lucky us. I didn't do a ton of walking in the Bakers, but enough to know that they are going to work out just fine. I did my weekly grocery shopping in them, which is just enough walking to sort of tell how things are probably going to go. With an effective heel height of just under 4 inches, they are easy to manage. The very narrow wedges, which is one of the more distinctive things about them, do not seem to hurt them in the practicality department, and in fact, their narrowness may be an advantage from my point of view. One of the things that I normally dislike about wedges is that they typically feel clumpy to walk in above a certain heel height. These do not at all. They feel and sound just like normal shoes to me. One thing I did notice is that I may have to experiment with footpads eventually. I noted elsewhere that I was concerned about them being size 40, which is normally just a bit big for me in sandals. I would not say that these are actually too big, but perhaps it is their very open toed criss-cross design, which fully shows four toes, that allows my feet to slip forward a little after a while, bordering on the dreaded toe overhang. We'll figure out something to correct this almost problem before it becomes a serious problem. Overall, I am pleased with the purchase.

Which is too bad, because the rest of this young lady is crazily beautiful. To be fair, I cannot say that with 100% confidence, as this is somebody I've never actually met in person. I feel guilty about that to this day, but that's another story for another time. In other news, it is time for the church outfit of the week. Again, forgive the pictures, I was really fighting with the angle of the sun. I need to figure out something different for the next several weeks until the solar angle changes. I wore my Kut from the Kloth skinny pants with a regular suit jacket and purple shirt (both no-name from Vietnam), and Steve Madden Varcityy D'Orsay pumps. I've had these a while, but had never worn them out before. The left shoe had to spend a bit of time on the shoe stretcher to make it fit without puckering around the little toe area. These have been worn enough by some previous owner to almost need heel tip replacement before I even got them. They're not completely worn, but noticeably worn. Heels are 4 5/8" (117 mm) tall, traditionally curved toward the front, and quite slim at 1/4" or slightly more than 6 mm diameter. Despite this very skinny heel, they are stable to walk in (or is that just my trained ankles?). The only problem I had, other than the sheer height of the heel, which is, if I am being perfectly honest, right in that range that might be too high for me, is that just as I was trying to haul my bass and associated equipment through the back door of the sanctuary, I got my heel caught in a crack in the sidewalk. I was able to extricate it without causing any damage to the heel, but it was a close call.

Yeah, and it's not really something I can pursue. It turns out that this young man is the nephew of somebody's acquaintance at work, or something like that. Not really somebody I can find out about. Too bad.

I just run with whatever thread happens to be active at the moment. At this moment, it happens to be this one. I have little interest in continuing the original idea for this thread. I will continue to post pictures as they happen which simply represent my normal life. Some people would say that part of that life happens to be well-dressed.

I have found a picture of the ugly shoes girls/women in Vietnam are wearing now, plucked off of somebody's social media post, and heavily cropped to protect the guilty. Shown here are Mary Janes in a spectator style, which I've never seen before now. Most of the time, these shoes are plain black patent, in either this Mary Jane style, or in a regular pump/court. Note the flared heel, which is what I find so objectionable. In person, they make a person's foot look much bigger than it actually is.

Interestingly enough, although I still can't see the article on this computer (it doesn't lock me out, it just won't load), I could read the article just fine (with the appropriate amount of magnification) on my phone. Weird, huh? At any rate, I'd be embarrassed to wear heels like they described, too! Chucks? With foam wedges somehow attached to them? Yuck! The comments I made from a position of ignorance turned out to be accidentally correct. I am quite aware that my feet/achilles tendon are affected by regular heel wearing. I try to counteract this by regular stretching in addition to my golf ball exercise, mentioned elsewhere. Overall, I think the results are not only positive, but quite positive. I have no idea about walking efficiency, nor do I care. I do know that on the rare occasions that I wear heels as low as what they used in this study, I can sure zoom. Even in effective 9 cm heels, I am back to not doing too badly after my long trip.

The real question is, can you drum in those boots? If you can, I'd just about have to see that.

The workaround link evidently doesn't work in the U.S., but like a good American, I'm going to offer up my opinion from a position of ignorance. I wouldn't want to break tradition or anything. I, of course, have no idea what the article says, but what I imagine it says in part is right up my alley. Much of what attracts me to high heels is the athletic challenge, and I alone in my world actually walk in high heels. I cannot say that this practice has done me any harm. In fact, I'd say it's quite the opposite. I seem to remember another guy who walked several km in high heels pretty much every day. I want to say he was from Oz, but my memory is fuzzy. Perhaps a former member here?

I have managed to make it through my first work week back. I almost feel normal again. I have gotten back into the walking routine, and my feet are getting to where they tolerate walking in heels again without complaint. I blew out the right heel cap on my good dress boots last Sunday, but Marty the cobbler should be able to fix that right up. Happy Friday, everyone!

Valentine? Who is he? We don't really do saints in the Methodist church. This is my first Sunday of Lent outfit! 😁

Yeah, the color was what sort of got me besides the price--it is definitely not tomato red. What you see on your screen might not be exactly the true color (the angle of the sun this time of year is giving me fits for taking photos after church, overcast days are much better for that purpose), but it's definitely more of a hunter red, with plenty of blue in it.

Good to know you're still around, and still doin' your thang. . . Do drop in from time to time!

The latest up for display are some shoes that I ordered right before I left the country for a couple of weeks. They came in the mail while I was gone. I would not have normally done that, but these red Steve Madden Ronni pumps came up in my Poshmark feed, and I really couldn't pass them up. I don't have any red pumps, and for a mere $18, I thought maybe it was time to try. I have this exact model in beige/nude, so I knew what I was getting. Or so I thought. These roundish-toed single-sole pumps have 4 1/4" stiletto heels, and they are noticeably thicker heels, at 3/8", than most Steve Madden stiletto heeled models, such as the Daisie. They are pretty comfortable for what they are. I wore them about 3 hours yesterday at church. Now for the bad part--they were advertised as being size 9, what actually came was size 9 1/2. I thought it would be ok, but after about 20 minutes, it was obvious that they are too big. They might work well as-is worn barefoot, but with stockings they are clearly too big for me. Both heels were slipping with every step. Luckily, they are of such a design that this is merely an irritant, and not a showstopping embarrassment. If my pants had been a couple of inches shorter, that could have been a bad look, but I don't think anybody noticed. In fact, I got zero comments, which surprised me a bit given their bold color. After getting home from church, I fiddled around with various inserts and techniques. I think they'll be ok in the end, but I sure wish stupid seller had gotten her ad correct. I would never have bought these if I had known they were 9 1/2. Still, I'm not giving up on them yet. I really like the color and style, and it's not like I paid $100 for them.

I am back in the saddle, sort of. Even though I had very odd periods of sleep on Saturday, I had a lot of total sleep. Sunday, I arose very early, but managed to stay up the entire day, with only two 20 minute naps. Today is my first day back at work since returning to the U.S. We'll see how that goes. More importantly to y'all, I spent some time in heels for the first time in 15 days. That time off has not done me any favors. Also, my trumpet playing really sucks after 15 days away, but I digress. I really wanted to hit the ground running, er, walking as soon as I got home, but I know better than that. That first day back is basically wasted. I did no walking on Saturday. I forced myself to go out Sunday morning, and it didn't hurt a thing that the weather was quite a bit nicer on Sunday. Still, it was a shock, being used to temperatures in the mid 20s, and then coming back to minus 10. I walked my "short" loop Sunday morning of 2.2 miles/3.5 km, and I was quite slow and my feet were tired when I was done. I did very little walking at all when I was in Vietnam, so not only was I out of heel practice, I was out of walking habit in general. I didn't have much time to be discouraged, though. I had a church service to play, for which I had zero rehearsal. I went over my music one more time, and finally elected to wear my Zara suit with my brand new (to me) red pumps. They came in the mail while I was gone. I will have to give details in the New Shoes section. The angle of the sun at this time of year just gives me fits trying to take pictures in my usual spot at the noon hour.

And not Constantinople. . . Sorry, I love that song! 😁

Day 2 of being back. I thought I was doing pretty well yesterday, but that was a grand delusion. It's just as bad as any other trip that goes through that many time zones. We'll see how today goes. My State of the Heels address, southeast Asia edition: To begin with, I have always admitted my love for Incheon Int'l Airport (ICN, in South Korea). It is by far our usual transit airport, based solely on usual ticket price. While staying at Incheon, there are any number of shops, eateries, places to sleep, and there are always very interesting outfits and heels to look at. Until this year. The airport itself is under major construction, so the amenities are limited, but more importantly, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE KOREAN GIRLS? Every single girl I saw was wearing baggy jeans and trainers (or worse). This is supposed to be the land where there is no such thing as a skirt that is too short (even in winter), and where women are known for wearing their heels everywhere, even to climb a mountain! I'm not saying things are quite that bad in Seoul, but I used to be able to count on even the airport crowds as a gauge of current fashion. The only people who were wearing heels were the flight attendants, and even the "airport" uniform shoes have never really been all that impressive in Asia. I was bitterly disappointed. However, I can report that in Hanoi, heels are still very much alive and well. It's just that about 80% of them are hideous. The other 20% are obviously shoes that are several years old, and they still look nice. I did not manage to get a picture of what is the typical modern heel, and I had a great deal of trouble trying to find it on the internet. Maybe it's a Vietnam only thing, but the most poplar heeled shoe these days by far looks something like this, but with a round toe. https://www.asos.com/us/raid-wide-fit/raid-wide-fit-maya-block-heel-mary-janes-with-embellished-buckle-in-black-patent/prd/203151762 These seem to be wildly popular in both slip on and Mary Jane styles, 90% of the time in black patent leather. Also very popular is a loafer with a very thick, lugged sole, and a little bit of a heel, but not much. The main feature of these shoes is that the heel is wider at the base than it is at the top. Very, very odd looking. I haven't seen such shoes over here yet. Hopefully never. I also noticed this year that it seems to be a fashion city of extremes with the girls. If you go out to Hoan Kiem Lake, or to a shopping mall, or a semi-nice restaurant, you will see girls dressed nicely. There may be some questionable taste, but they did make the effort. That's about a third. The other two-thirds are girls dressed as unattractively as possible. Shirts and pants that are three sizes too big, worn with either Crocs or super thick soled boots. This "fashion" sure seems to have a grip on Hanoi at the moment. It's everywhere. The boys, of course, look the same as they always did--indifferent. I think that remains the same the world over. Included today is the only picture I manage to capture of heels in the real world on a motorbike. It just so happened that I was waiting at a red light, and somebody with non-hideous heels was nearby. Her shoes must be several years old. They are not flashy or noteworthy, but they're just--tasteful. Just an ordinary woman going to work. Or in this case, probably coming home from work. I will leave it at that today.

Hi everybody, I'm home again! I have no idea how we managed to make it home on time. Every flight was late, and how we managed to make our connections is nothing short of miraculous. It was literally a matter of minutes, and sometimes seconds, in each case. And somehow, all our luggage made it right there with us! Unreal. I will try to get some stories and pictures on in the next few days, but right now I'm dealing with 13 hour jet lag. I need to take a nap already.