mlroseplant

14 hours ago, RonC said:

Wow.  I've never seen anything but heavy looking chunky shoes from them.  I'll have to investigate.

 

Once upon a time, they even tried making stilettos! I'm pretty sure that didn't last very long. I used have a pair of their wedges at one time, which are difficult to find anymore. I believe both of those styles were from their 2011 model year. I was tempted by the oxford style stilettos, but I never found a pair for a price I was willing to pay.

I have noticed that it's becoming more common around here to see construction workers tucking their pants in. What I haven't really seen is guys doing this outside of work. In case you missed it the first time, I attempted my own take on the knee high boot thing.

19 hours ago, at9 said:

One friend of mine complains that some pieces of music have far too many notes in them. Her husband and son are both very musical (mainly classical and vintage 1920s-1950s), she just puts up with it. This is the sort of thing she really hates:

 

Ah yes, good old Mendelssohn! His music tends to be deceptively difficult, and it's not the number of notes, it's how the rhythmic elements all fit together. I have to admit being a fanboy of Tiffany Poon, been following her for a couple years, but she's not a big heel wearer.

My own wife puts up with a lot of stuff she doesn't really enjoy, for much the same reason as your friend. I think that's half the reason why she encourages me to play the organ--I have to go to the church to practice!

19 hours ago, Shyheels said:

The piano videos aren't noteworthy. I like it. 

Believe it or don't, that wording was completely unintentional.

20 hours ago, p1ng74 said:

Now I'm contemplating having a cobbler resole and reheel a pair of heels with felt and use them for my "organ shoes".  

That's actually not a bad idea! Let us know how it works out. I'm truly curious.

19 hours ago, p1ng74 said:

So many guys I have talked to about my heels will make a comment about how uncomfortable it must be, or that I am about to break my ankles.  It makes me think, how do they think women wear them?  Have men really become such weenies that they can't wear heels?  

17 hours ago, Cali said:

Guys? I get this from women all the time.  They try to transfer their experience to me and I wont let them. They don't have the skill (balance and muscle tone) or they make bad choices in the heels they buy. I had a younger (20 something) tell me that she was mad at me because I made wearing high heels look like wearing running shoes (trainers for you brits).

To me wearing the right high heel was VERY EASY. It took less than a minute to find my balance and off I went. Been wearing ever since.

I get this all the time as well, from both men and women, but yeah, mostly from women! There is often some excuse about having had surgery, or some other leg/foot issue. If it's somebody that I know somewhat and it becomes a discussion, I often end up saying simply that you can't wear high heels because you don't really want to, and that's ok!

Unlike Cali, it took me years to perfect walking in heels. Not so much because I had any trouble with balance, but because I looked like hell walking in them. It's just been recently that I can walk up to a storefront, see my reflection in the window, and not cringe a little bit.

19 hours ago, Shyheels said:

The first time I tried on a pair of 5" stilettos I immediately felt it, powerfully, in my calves. I am a guy who cycles a lot and an hour in 5" stilettos was easily the best calf muscle workout I've ever had.

It's always interesting to hear about different people's experiences and perceptions of those experiences. My first impression of 5" heels was not that they bother my calves so much, but rather that I don't have the ankle flexibility to work them properly, and that my ankles become exhausted fairly rapidly.

34 minutes ago, w6ish said:

ah yes the thrill...  a big part of it is the thrill of the chase!  when i go out to a club or an event i know for absolute certain some glam gal (or 2!) is going to come up and introduce herself because she wants to know more, at the start, about my super high heels.  where that leads usually is a lot of fun.  i think the butterflies could be a part of that anxious anticipation.

of course there is the thrill of knowing i'm wearing the highest heels in the city.  and i have to admit i am a bit of an exhibitionist when it comes to the show all outfits, especially the leave nothing to the imagination blue jeans!  (i should have been a stripper!)

mind you there have been some weirdly curious situations too with some gals who are super attracted but admit: i'm way too much for them.  and yet there they are, going out of their way, to see me.  hmmm.  

anyway:  there is a thrill!  and there are the butterflies!  those 2 things have remained with me whenever i wiggle into my super sexy jeans and strap on my super sexy heels! 

Thanks for the reply. I have to guess from your answer that when you're not clubbing or chasing, you evidently don't wear heels. That was really my curiosity. I guess we all have our own reasons and personal motivations to wear heels, and that's ok!

I used Dr. Martens "Clemency" boots as construction work boots for a couple of years. They were all right, but both pairs I had failed catastrophically during cold weather, splitting their soles clean in half. I was never tempted to buy them again because of this, and also the fact that I really don't like that "squishy" feeling when I walk. Some people love it, but not me. I had them in both black and a sort of burgandy color.

On 3/29/2020 at 3:23 PM, Jkrenzer said:

It's always great seeing heels in situations like these but i really don't see it as added difficulty. Most time when agility is foot movements are needed it the toes that do the work. Heels may even help by holding the foot more prone to toe tapping.

No offense to anybody here, all these piano videos are visually pleasant, but not really noteworthy. Like Joe says, and I'm paraphrasing here, anybody can play piano in high heels. It's not a big deal. Playing organ in high heels is MUCH more impressive.

18 hours ago, hiddenheels said:

The skirt looks something like this:

Man, I'd have to do a LOT of shaving to wear that skirt.

16 hours ago, hiddenheels said:

Probably pushing the boundaries a bit, but I'm trying to make a compromise, and do what I can, when I can. My favorite height is 4", that's just what I find most comfortable, but that would have been too much trouble at that time. Would have needed a different pair of jeans and all.

I remember those days. Having different pairs of pants for different heel heights. I've probably got 10 pairs of boot cut jeans that I basically don't wear anymore. I went to a slimmer leg style a couple of years ago, and one thing that is liberating about that is that you only need one hem length whether you are barefoot or in ballet heels!

15 hours ago, chesterx said:

It's mine as well, but not because I find it comfortable. I think its the perfect height to extol that classical feminine grace.... 

Comfort is a strange concept. There are many layers to it, both mentally and physically. My feet can feel tired from wearing my shoes (I won't tolerate shoes that actually hurt), but it's a happy, comfortable feeling. Very difficult to express in words.

12 hours ago, Cali said:

Sweet spot for my body is 3.75 to 5 inch difference between toe and heel.

I like about a 4" difference between heel and toe, 4 1/2" is the maximum I like to deal with in real life. If it's less than 3", I don't even bother. Sometimes, it would be more convenient if I didn't crave the height.

3 hours ago, Shyheels said:

Yes this is overwhelmingly a friendly and accepting site.

I will generally agree, but it hasn't always been! When I first joined, I felt a certain amount of suspicion and hostility. Considering who has come and gone over the years, and who has gotten banned, I know that this is not my imagination. I think we're in a reasonable comfortable place nowadays.

16 hours ago, p1ng74 said:

  Imagine my slow and steady awe as I browsed deeper and discovered that "For the guys" didn't just have mostly guys that admired girls in heels... they were mostly guys WEARING heels.  Honestly, my first reaction was, you guys are weird!

Yup, I'm weird, but I'm the most normal weird guy you'll ever meet!

I am not being as productive as I should be. As far as income, I just found out yesterday that I will be paid for the next three weeks at least, so that's good. I don't see us getting back to work before May at the earliest.

On 3/29/2020 at 12:03 PM, w6ish said:

i am definitely NOT past the butterflies when going out in 6 inch heels!  or 7.5 inch heels...  even after all these years of going out!

 

i'd wear something like this all the time if i had the guts!

or something like this:

 

but i lack the guts and the butterflies sometimes get the best of me.  

So let me ask this question: Is it the butterflies that actually motivate you? If you dialed it back a couple notches, would you even bother? The reason I ask is because I don't see either of your pictured outfits as being particularly radical, except for the shoes. I wear stuff like that every day, but with.  .  . you know.  .  . more normal high heels.

On 3/29/2020 at 5:08 PM, Puffer said:

In one sense your work with moving the mirror reflects well on you - but, on the other hand ...     

Did you get any reaction to your footwear at the supermarket?

Nope. I rarely get any discernible reaction anymore wearing such a tame outfit these days. I guess the only way I could make it any tamer would be to wear wedges!

As far as the actual photographs go, I don't like taking any of them. Perhaps it shows. Now that I look at the last one, it's goofy as hell. I am trying to show off the heels, but it's awkward. I don't actually stand like that in real life.

17 hours ago, hiddenheels said:

That's a nice casual look! I also would be curious about reactions...

I live in a small community. I think after all these years, people just know me, even if they don't "know" me.

18 minutes ago, p1ng74 said:

You don’t play organ in your stilettos?  I’m disappointed :p. 

I love this piece, and the organ playing is fantastic.  It’s a transcription of Vivaldi’s Concerto for 4 violins, which I had the pleasure of playing in high school.  

I play a little organ, and men’s shoes are simply too big and clunky for organ playing, even in size 9.  What shoes do you wear?  I haven’t gotten around to getting organ shoes yet so I’m playing with no shoes.  Organ shoes have a bit of a heel to make heel and toe technique easier, and also have felted bottoms to not scratch the pedal board.  For that reason we would never allow stilettos on our organ lol.  That said, it appears this organist is playing with toe only technique, which I understand is appropriate for the baroque style here.  I also play toe only, but that is due to me being a beginner and I haven’t learned toe heel yet lol.  

No, I don't play in stilettos. I tried that once, and it made my bad playing even worse! My keyboard skills are not that great, but I started on the organ at the age of 50 because there was a need for it. I also started off playing barefoot, but I bought some organ shoes after a couple of months of practice, and it was like I gained six months' worth of skill pretty much instantly. The thin felt bottoms allow you to "feel" where you're at (well, if you're any good, haha), but allow you to play the interval of a third in a legato style. The hollow spot just forward of the heel is barely big enough to clear a white key.

My organ shoes are TicTacToe brand, as I did not care for the styles that Organmaster offers. I wound up buying the female oxford, which not only fits my narrow foot better, but I actually don't mind the look that much. I managed to find a video, and took a screen shot, which just happened to show the shoes I came in on sitting on the floor beneath the organ bench. I know this wasn't done on purpose, because obviously, I did not shoot my own video. I think my wife actually shot this video, which explains why it starts 2 seconds too late and ends before I am actually done.

I have to play exactly once a year (by that I mean I have to cover an entire service) because our organist is so reliable that she never misses. Ever. Except that she goes to visit her mother in Korea once a year, and is gone for one Sunday. So I pretty much have a whole year to prepare. It about takes me that long! Only I don't have to play this year because COVID-19 put the kibosh not only on her travel plans, but also on church services in general.

The more time I spend at home, the more difficult it is to come up with anything to report. I did have to go to the supermarket yesterday, and though it was a blustery, gray day, by golly I was going to wear some sandals outside. I obviously did not dress up at all, sticking to the most basic formula of t-shirt and jeans, but I wore my new pair of BCBGirls "Bonny" sandals, which I bought to eventually replace my old pair, which has been pretty much beat to death. Now it's all coming back to me, how LONG it took to break in the original pair. This is one of those situations where I kept a pair of shoes which was not all that comfortable just because they were super cute and I couldn't bear to part with them. Eventually, somehow, they became not only wearable, but suitable for all day walking, as I proved a couple of summers ago during my trip to Chicago. Now we're back to Square One, and I had better get these slowly broken in before the old pair fails completely, as I'm sure it will one of these days. While the leather on the new pair is still incredibly stiff, I didn't get any blisters or weird marks on my feet even though I had to park far away from the entrance to the supermarket.

Also, I finally repositioned the mirror in my dining room as I had been promising my wife to do for about a year. Good news: It IS better for actual use in real life. Bad news: It is now much harder to take selfies with. I'm going to need to come up with something different. The quality of my selfies has gotten even worse than before. I didn't think that was possible!

I opened up You Tube the other day, and somewhere at the top of my feed was this video. Given the sorts of videos that I usually watch, I didn't really think anything of it. Bach's Concerto for four harpsichords, which, if memory serves, is a transcription of a Vivaldi piece or something like that. This arrangement was for pipe organ. So it's an arrangement of an arrangement. Hmmm, mildly interesting, I thought. I clicked on it. The video started to play. I was listening to it, not really paying close attention to the screen, and was enjoying the recording, when I thought I noticed something out the corner of my eye. Wait just a minute.  .  . Did I just see what I think I just saw? I backed up the video. No way! I did just see what I thought I saw. Check it out:

Yeah, the streets are pretty empty here too, especially first thing in the morning. I know I'm not among the commuters anymore! But I'm long past butterflies.

It's interesting that I sort of vaguely know who some of these girls are. I'm not a huge Instagram user, but I guess due to my viewing habits, there is a certain "genre" of pictures that appear when I do a general search, and I can remember this Brazil on Heels gal. Of course, I never message anyone, nor would I want to, but you have fun with that! I will be content to either enjoy or grimace at what people are willing to share publicly.

1 hour ago, ohnoberty said:

Very nice! they don't look that high from the angle of the photo, but it's obviously just an illusion, as is often the case.

 

Heh, heh, we've had this discussion before on JeffB's page. It may be that the angle of the photograph does have something to do with it, but by the time you get up to size 13, numerical heel heights can be deceptive. A 3 1/2" heel in my friend's size of 5 1/2 U.S. women's is a decent amount of steepness, not crazy, but definitely a "high" heel. The same 3 1/2" heel height in Jeff's size is practically a kitten heel! I think that's another part of what may be going on with this photo.

12 hours ago, KneeBooted said:

With all of this time off I think I may get a few items to try some different looks although I only have khakis and jeans for bottoms. I’ll try to post what I find and will welcome feedback

That's really all I have as well, so let us know if you find something that you really like. I did experiment some while the wife was away n VN, but the reaction was so negative when she got back that I haven't worn hardly any of it since, and now it's getting to where I won't have to worry about it until next winter anyway.

11 hours ago, Cali said:

The trouble is all you have now is on-line shopping. I like to touch and try things on first. However, I have been taken advantage of some of the special offers from Express, DSW, .....

Just remember to quarantine the packages (outside the house) for a few days after you have spray the outside. Then open them up.

Don't be afraid to try new looks things, you can always return things (except clearance items).  I went out to get something today and got compliments on my sherpa. Both women and men love AND want it themselves.  It was a new look for me. last fall, I took a gamble and bought it and it has turned out great. And faux leather pants were another gamble. One fits great, the other just alright. Unfortunately the one that is just alright was a clearance buy, no return.

I too, like to live.  .  . DANGEROUSLY. Remember the line from Austin Powers? Seriously though, since I order most of my stuff online, I am used to the gamble. I guess it's part of the fun. I have been sorely disappointed sometimes, but really thrilled sometimes as well. I have not kept accurate statistics, like @JeffB would do, but my rough estimate is that 75% of the stuff I buy online works well. Another 10% works OK or is marginal in some way, and the rest either has to be trashed, donated, or resold, depending upon the price range. It's not that I'm afraid to go into a retail store to try stuff on, it's just that I don't really want to. I guess you can say that other than church and work, "Shelter-in-place" is not really a huge lifestyle change for me!

I have just made a discovery within the last few minutes. Being as I'm stuck at home, like most of everybody else, I decided I'd better step up my game and at least walk around the house in some steeper heels than what I usually wear at home. So I got out my Steve Madden "Barbb" mules and gave them a spin after a winter of idleness. Now that I'm paying attention to such things, I found that they sound quite wonderful on my wooden floors, sounding crisp with little to no thumpiness.

13 hours ago, Heelster said:

Well - - Nice outfit - - - Not good for anyplace I can get too

VFW, American Legion, The Elks - - - - Yep - - Out in the stick !!

And now we are under lockdown - - - - The bar of George Thorogood.

 

Do you have to maintain a 6 ft. distance between you and both of Johnnie Walker's brothers?

It is interesting to note the similarities and differences between the current situation and the Spanish Flu pandemic. It does seem that the communities that instituted a fairly strict lockdown policy fared rather better than those which did not. And to think that back in those days, there was no way to cross an ocean without getting on a ship for a number of days or weeks!

2 hours ago, SF said:

Bars and Clubs???  ha ha ha.....   I quit going to bars and clubs 20 years ago..  I'm too old and (according to the wife, no fun anymore - smile)....   But, I still do proudly wear high heels when out to dinner, shopping, social events and otherwise having fun.  Except for the past two weeks, ugh.  Of course I'm making light.  Have fun in the bars and clubs, but NOT until we get past this wuhan virus mess.  Stay isolated, Stay safe....  sf  

A man after my own heart! The only time you'll ever find me in a bar is if we're working 8 hour days, and the lads and I stop after work for a quick one (and I mean ONE, we all have families and obligations) after work on Friday. Guess THAT won't be happening for a while. I cannot imagine wearing something that outlandish.  .  . ever. But then, I'm oldish.