The High Heeled Ruminations Of Melrose Plant

[RonC]

3 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

Which bring me to the point of why I sort of like and continue to buy, own, and wear "high coverage" mules, when what I really like, as apparently do you, are the minimalist, barely-there styles. It's practicality. While my Bonny beaded mules have honestly got to be some of the best walking shoes ever (no one ever believes me on that one), if you trip, slip, or even kick your foot moderately strongly, you're losing your shoe. You could never dance in the Bonnys. You have to be very careful if you must run for some reason, like the light just turned yellow, and you're in the middle of a wide street. The higher coverage mules do not suffer from this problem. They stay on your feet quite securely, to the point that you basically can't put them on or take them off hands-free

I can absolutely see that.  I would think the higher coverage versions would be significantly easier to walk in.  Heck, I had a pair of mens slide type sandals and I had a hard time keeping those on my feet!  For some reason I guess my toes don't grip well, which also probably explains why I walk out of pumps as well.

[p1ng74]

On 9/3/2020 at 12:17 PM, Cali said:

The dentist lies you down so your shoes are many times more visible. After seeing sneaker after sneaker, all of a sudden they get a chance to see something very different.  And you know they will talk about the shoes for days.

LOL

Yeah my dental hygienist often expresses compliments on my cowboy boots.  She had also said before that she wishes she could comfortably wear boots all day, which is interesting because I find cowboy boots to be most comfortable.  

Edited September 7, 2020 by p1ng74

[mlroseplant]

@kneehighs

Something messed up royally here. If there are weird replies, just ignore them. What I was trying to write in the first place is that I must be channeling my inner @kneehighs , because I've been getting some compliments through chat lately. The difference is, my aims and intentions in chat are rather different than kneehighs's, as I am uncle/mentor/English teacher to what few chatting friends I have left. I might also add that I have met all of my chatting friends in person on multiple occasions. Anyhow, this is an excerpt from a conversation I had with my friend Huyền, who is very young. I believe she's 24. She's into shoes, nails, and fashion in general. She also tends to ignore my advice, usually to her detriment. That's the problem with a lot of kids these days--they don't really want advice, they want validation. I think that may be part of the reason she hardly ever talks to me these days. I digress, and I'm taking some validation for myself! HA! What do you think about that?

[jeremy1986]

49 minutes ago, mlroseplant said:

@kneehighs

Something messed up royally here. If there are weird replies, just ignore them. What I was trying to write in the first place is that I must be channeling my inner @kneehighs , because I've been getting some compliments through chat lately. The difference is, my aims and intentions in chat are rather different than kneehighs's, as I am uncle/mentor/English teacher to what few chatting friends I have left. I might also add that I have met all of my chatting friends in person on multiple occasions. Anyhow, this is an excerpt from a conversation I had with my friend Huyền, who is very young. I believe she's 24. She's into shoes, nails, and fashion in general. She also tends to ignore my advice, usually to her detriment. That's the problem with a lot of kids these days--they don't really want advice, they want validation. I think that may be part of the reason she hardly ever talks to me these days. I digress, and I'm taking some validation for myself! HA! What do you think about that?

Not 100 percent sure, but I think she likes your legs

[JeffB]

On 9/8/2020 at 6:15 AM, mlroseplant said:

@kneehighs

Something messed up royally here. If there are weird replies, just ignore them. What I was trying to write in the first place is that I must be channeling my inner @kneehighs , because I've been getting some compliments through chat lately. The difference is, my aims and intentions in chat are rather different than kneehighs's, as I am uncle/mentor/English teacher to what few chatting friends I have left. I might also add that I have met all of my chatting friends in person on multiple occasions. Anyhow, this is an excerpt from a conversation I had with my friend Huyền, who is very young. I believe she's 24. She's into shoes, nails, and fashion in general. She also tends to ignore my advice, usually to her detriment. That's the problem with a lot of kids these days--they don't really want advice, they want validation. I think that may be part of the reason she hardly ever talks to me these days. I digress, and I'm taking some validation for myself! HA! What do you think about that?

Yeah, it sure sounds like she's complimenting you.

[mlroseplant]

On 9/8/2020 at 6:05 AM, jeremy1986 said:

Not 100 percent sure, but I think she likes your legs

 

On 9/8/2020 at 11:18 PM, kneehighs said:

Wow, she's gushing with praise for your legs and shoes!  Cool anecdote!

 

29 minutes ago, JeffB said:

Yeah, it sure sounds like she's complimenting you.

This week, it doesn't matter. My legs have been covered up for the last three days. We have had the weirdest weather. Sunday, it was 95º. Monday, it was 72º. Tuesday, it was 50º. That's 35º, 22º, and 10º for youse guys in the rest of the world. It has stayed 50º for the last 3 days, and rainy. It's a shock, even to my system. I hate to admit it as an Iowan, but I'm cold! I'm not wearing shorts, even though I want to. It's only September, for Pete's sake!

[Bubba136]

Just hang in there.  The worst is yet to come!  🙂

[mlroseplant]

The weather has rebounded somewhat, both in temperature and precipitation (or lack thereof), so I was able to take a nice walk last night, wearing some of the best walking shoes ever, My BCBGirls Bonny mules. I know, I know, it's all about the Bonnys. What caught my attention this time is the fact that the stock heel tips on Pair No. 2 seem to be much more durable than Pair No. 1. According to my records, I had to replace the heel tips on Pair No. 1 after less than 10 miles, whereas Pair No. 2's heel tips have been run (walked?) for 21 miles so far, and they've still got several miles left in them (see picture below). This is comparable to the durability of the Vibram heels that my cobbler normally uses to reheel heels of this width. I just think it's so weird how inconsistent mass manufactured products can be.

As an aside: The stock heel tips are quite noisy, giving a strong "tock, tock" sound when walking. Not like the clickety-click sound of stilettos, but definitely attention grabbing. Although I no longer care as much about the sound shoes make as I did when I first started heeling, I think I shall miss the sound these sandals make when I do have them reheeled. They will be nearly silent by comparison.

__________________________________

09/14/20

 

I liked the outfit that I wore to the dentist a couple of weeks ago, that I recycled it to wear to Costco and the cell phone place yesterday. It has finally warmed back up to seasonal temperatures after five straight days of cold, windy, rainy weather, so I took the opportunity to wear shorts again, even though my errand running session started at a mere 58º. I wore different shoes this time, sandals with actual back straps! The horror! I do not have a picture from yesterday. Actually, I do, but my wife took it, so my feet are purposefully not in it. There is no sense in posting it here. I do have a partial picture of the sandals, however. I like how the medallions bounce against your ankles when you walk. It's kind of a fun feeling.

Edited September 14, 2020 by mlroseplant

[jeremy1986]

On 9/13/2020 at 4:37 PM, mlroseplant said:

 

__________________________________

09/14/20

 

I liked the outfit that I wore to the dentist a couple of weeks ago, that I recycled it to wear to Costco and the cell phone place yesterday. It has finally warmed back up to seasonal temperatures after five straight days of cold, windy, rainy weather, so I took the opportunity to wear shorts again, even though my errand running session started at a mere 58º. I wore different shoes this time, sandals with actual back straps! The horror! I do not have a picture from yesterday. Actually, I do, but my wife took it, so my feet are purposefully not in it. There is no sense in posting it here. I do have a partial picture of the sandals, however. I like how the medallions bounce against your ankles when you walk. It's kind of a fun feeling.

Nicely done! Yes, i know what you mean, about the bling's texture on you, and the sound as well. Very pleasing. 

[mlroseplant]

So, today, let's talk about heel wear. As you all know, I have ceased wearing stilettos on walks because the heels wear out too fast. I have made an exception with my latest purchase, the Shoedazzle "Alexa" rainbow colored mules, pictured elsewhere on this forum. They have 4 3/4" or 12 cm heels with no platform, making them among my steepest heels. While I was talking on the phone to a friend, I decided to take a walk in them, just to see if I could manage a mile in them. It was rather easier than I thought. So last night, I decided to give them my true two mile test, which has been my standard for years on deciding whether I'm going to keep a pair of shoes. I'll tell you what, after about a mile and a half, although my feet were perfectly comfortable, my ankles were getting fatigued, just from the height. The shoes themselves passed the two mile test easily, but my body needs some additional conditioning. Nothing hurts at all, but I'm glad I didn't have to walk five miles in those shoes. I'd have been a tired puppy! After a total of three miles, I can observe the wear on the heels, and I estimate that I could get maybe 8-10 miles out of them before they absolutely need to be replaced. That's actually pretty typical, and really quite respectable for stock heel tips on a cheap pair of shoes. Plus, they are just so much fun to walk in! I can't really explain it.

I mentioned a few posts ago that my BCBG Bonny mules (Pair No. 2) were reaching the end of the stock heel tips. Well, they absolutely reached the end a couple of days ago, because one of them came loose and fell completely out. Luckily, this happened when I was back at home. I could have theoretically glued it back in and gotten a few more miles out of it, but I hate to make the cobbler's job harder for basically no reason, so I'm shelving these for a while until I can make it up there.

Edited September 20, 2020 by mlroseplant

[mlroseplant]

Nothing much to report lately, other than I've been trying my best to walk more, so I walked to the grocery store to get a couple of small things. It's not far, only about half a mile away, but it is necessary to cross a busy highway in order to get there from my house. To this day, I still don't like crossing that highway, especially when I'm wearing shorts (and heels of course). Walking across the long line of cars waiting at the stoplight is not my favorite thing. However, on the positive side, I did get an unsolicited compliment on my shoes from the cashier serving me at the grocery store.

[mlroseplant]

23 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

Nothing much to report lately, other than I've been trying my best to walk more, so I walked to the grocery store to get a couple of small things. It's not far, only about half a mile away, but it is necessary to cross a busy highway in order to get there from my house. To this day, I still don't like crossing that highway, especially when I'm wearing shorts (and heels of course). Walking across the long line of cars waiting at the stoplight is not my favorite thing. However, on the positive side, I did get an unsolicited compliment on my shoes from the cashier serving me at the grocery store.

Yet another unsolicited "I wish.  .  ." comment yesterday. I'm on a roll, I guess. Or maybe I've actually learned how to walk after all these years, who knows?

[fashionablefun]

On 9/24/2020 at 4:34 AM, mlroseplant said:

Walking across the long line of cars waiting at the stoplight is not my favorite thing.

Though I've done it, I'm not crazy about that either. It just seems too much of a spotlight. 

[mlroseplant]

The weather has turned colder over the past weekend, and it has done so in the peculiar way of the Midwest U.S.,  where I started off the morning in shorts, and ended the day in clothes with far more coverage. I took my Sunday morning constitutional in these Nine West wedges, which are a bit of a departure for me. For one thing, they're sub-4 inch (though not by much), and for another, they actually have an ankle strap. No way! So that got me to thinking, I ought to do a bit of a shoe inventory, just to see how many mules I really have.

It turns out I currently have 76 pairs of high heels, 43 of which are mules, and 30 of those are open toed mules! So more than half my shoes are mules, which doesn't surprise me, but what did surprise me is that I have only 39 pairs of sandals, which is barely half of my collection. It's not really so much that I think I have too few sandals, but perhaps I have too many enclosed shoes. I bought quite a few pairs of pumps at the beginning of the year because the opportunity presented itself. In nine months, I believe I have worn exactly one pair out in public. I can think of at least half a dozen pairs I could cull, and it would affect my life minimally, if at all. To be fair, much of the time when I would have worn my new pumps was during the "lockdown."

In other news, I had to go to my church to prerecord two weeks' worth of hymns which will be played for the next two online church services. I shall be interested to see if my feet are cut off in the video. I think the people at the church are to the point now where that wouldn't enter into the thought process, but you just never know. I took a picture when I got home (minus my tie), and it's actually not too bad. I am just horrible at posing for photos. I told my friend Binh, who seems naturally great at posing, that she was going to have to help me. Those gray sandals, I'm still not sure about. I like them in theory, but I wish they were less clunky. I will say that for a pretty cheap pair of shoes, they seem to be fairly durable and comfortable. I think they look ok with pants, but I don't think I would ever wear them with shorts--they're just too huge.

Now that shorts season seems to be over, at least where a good number of us live, many of you will be putting away your sandals for the season. I'm going to keep wearing my sandals as long as I want, regardless of my other clothing. I went to the grocery store after I got done with my church duties, thinking that I see chicks with sandals and long clothes all the time these days. At the store, I counted no less than ten women wearing sandals while at the same time wearing a jacket of some sort. Ten. And I wasn't there very long. So I guess this is acceptable now, I'm going with it. Have a nice week!

[jeremy1986]

Those wedges look very nice!

[mlroseplant]

I am sorry to report that my BCBGirls Bonny mules (pair No. 1) have finally yielded up the ghost. It wasn't spectacular, but it was highly inconvenient. At least it wasn't embarrassing. A few short nights ago, I got a wild hair and decided to go for a 5 mile walk in my Bonnys, which is something that I've wanted to do for some time, being as I have touted them a number of times as the best walking shoes ever. Previous to this, I have only walked 5 miles at one clip in high heels twice in the past. Once, in May 2014, was in my Söfft "Belecia" sandals, which these days I consider to be a mid-heel, and the second, in December 2015, was in my Simply Vera Wang "Velma" booties, which are comparable in height and steepness to the Bonnys, but I was in a lot better shape back then, being enthusiastic about racking up as many miles as I could in heels.

As of late I have been walking a lot more than for the past several years, and I decided it was time to award the best walking shoes ever with the 5 mile badge, so I set off sometime after supper, with no particular destination in mind, but I wound up on a bike path which leads to another town about 11 miles away. My plan was to continue walking until my GPS read about 2 1/2 miles, then turn around and head for home. Unfortunately, about a mile and a half in, it became apparent that something was wrong. I was beginning to get this rubbery, squishy feeling in my right heel. I hoped it was just my 'magination.  .  .runnin' away with me, yeah. However, by the time I could get to a place where I could lean up against something in order to inspect my shoe, it was obvious that something was very wrong. I couldn't identify the exact problem because it was pretty dark by this time, but the heel was flexing waaaay more than it should, especially for a wooden heel. I then had a choice to make: Should I walk the mile and a half back home barefoot, or should I try to limp home on this broken heel? I opted for the latter for a couple of reasons I won't get into right now for the sake of brevity.

If I walked carefully, the heel would not flex, but even trying my hardest, every 20th step or so, that heel would flex and go all wonky. I'm obviously not as smooth of a walker as I think I am. Time to eat Humble Pie. It was a long walk home, and the worst part was that I had to cross a busy highway to get there. There was no way I was going to walk in front of a line of cars at a stoplight with a broken heel, so I chose a crossing with no stoplight, waited a considerable time until there was a sufficient gap in traffic, then dashed across on tiptoe, keeping all weight off the heels. At that moment, I regretted not having taken ballet as a kid. I made it back home several minutes later and assessed the damage. As you can see in the picture below, it chomped my heel tip all the way down to the wood, and I had just had those reheeled fairly recently! But alas, it doesn't matter because what had actually happened was not that the heel had come loose, but rather I had broken a shank, something I have experienced several times in the past. I don't need to do an autopsy to determine that. So.  .  . bye bye Bonny No. 1, with a mere 51.7 recorded miles, though I would be willing to bet that if you include incidental mileage, the number would be twice that. I wore these sandals pretty much everywhere, all the time in the summer for the better part of 5 years, as @HappyinHeelscan attest to.

Luckily, I have two more pairs in reserve, both of which are much better looking than No. 1, not having endured years of use and abuse (yet). Bonny No. 2 is now fully broken in and is nearly as comfortable as Bonny No. 1 was, but is currently sitting on a shelf awaiting a reheeling. Bonny No. 3 has only been worn around the house so far, and the leather is still quite stiff and leaves red marks on my feet after a while. As I've mentioned elsewhere, this particular model of sandal requires a considerable break-in period. In the meantime, I have been wearing other shoes, which I suppose is a good thing, being as I evidently have 76 pairs (now 75, sigh).

[Jkrenzer]

Hard to see the shank damage, did the shank split like a log or dislodge from the sole at the top?

[mlroseplant]

19 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Hard to see the shank damage, did the shank split like a log or dislodge from the sole at the top?

I said I wasn't going to do an autopsy, but I'm glad I did. Not only can you see what happened, but I was quite surprised at the stoutness of this shank. All of the other ones I've broken have been tiny and fragile compared to this one. So.  .  . how did I manage to break it? I'm only 140 lbs., or 64 kg, and I'm not particularly hard on shoes of any kind, how did I manage to do this? The memory suddenly comes flooding back.  .  . sort of. I do remember a night in the late winter/early spring when I went to practice the organ at the church. It might have involved snow and ice, I don't really remember clearly.  It definitely involved slipping or tripping on something, but I remember both of my shoes flying off my feet fairly spectacularly. I think that is the incident which probably started the break in the shank, which progressively got worse over the months of walking that I've done since then, until it finally broke completely in half.

I mean, that has to be it. That shank is so surprisingly stout compared to all of the other shanks I have broken over the years. Ha, all of the other shanks I've broken. Wow, I kind of sound like the shop gorilla, don't I? I'm not sure if that's a regional term, but for sure I'd better explain for our non-native-English speakers. A "shop gorilla" is a person who, either because of carelessness or incompetence, is constantly breaking tools or damaging equipment. I've done a couple of things over the years to earn that title temporarily, but walking in high heels surely couldn't be one of them. In this case, I really think this one incident is the root cause of the eventual failure.

In any case, it's been a pretty good year, shoe durability-wise, this is my only catastrophic failure for all of 2020. Last year, I bet I had half a dozen shoes that broke. I know that sounds bad, but I still say it all comes from walking in shoes that were never designed to be walked in. And not only that, I don't walk slowly. I'm sure that puts stresses on my shoes that the designers never even considered. Not to mention unforeseen violent stresses, such as the one that occurred in the early part of this year.

[Pumped]

A few years ago I bought a pair of platform heels, put them on, took two steps and they came apart in the arch/shank. Sent them back and ordered a second pair. I wore them a couple times and they came apart too. I really liked them, so out to the shop! I carefully pulled back the inner sole and saw where the heel and arch was nailed to the platform, yup, just a couple nails to carry a 180 pound guy. I pulled the nails and ran in a couple screws and they have held up fine. I bought a similar pair of the same brand and they had the same issue, repaired them too. My wife has a matching pair but hers have held up fine. I wonder if it is the way I walk, or maybe just the weight difference, she is a whole 100 pounds.

[Jkrenzer]

Ha, i see. Believe it or not I did once too. In my case a pair of Pleaser slitettos. Those shoes are made for hard use, stripper quality and designed for men to boot, yet  I broke one.

A little metal fatigue, like you said heels are not really dedigned for heavy walking.

Missing a screw head, it break too or never installed?

[mlroseplant]

2 minutes ago, Jkrenzer said:

Ha, i see. Believe it or not I did once too. In my case a pair of Pleaser slitettos. Those shoes are made for hard use, stripper quality and designed for men to boot, yet  I broke one.

A little metal fatigue, like you said heels are not really dedigned for heavy walking.

Missing a screw head, it break too or never installed?

HA! I knew you would ask that, should have answered it in my original reply. There were originally three screws holding the heel on. I was simply curious how long they were, so I removed one. It was remarkably long, maybe inch and a half. I think these shoes are actually fairly durably built, I just wore them for years and had that unfortunate incident a while ago. I'll let you know in another 5 years how well the second pair holds up.

[Pumped]

7 minutes ago, Jkrenzer said:

Ha, i see. Believe it or not I did once too. In my case a pair of Pleaser slitettos.

Quite an accomplishment to break a pair of Pleasers! They are built to take a beating!

[Jkrenzer]

6 hours ago, Pumped said:

Quite an accomplishment to break a pair of Pleasers! They are built to take a beating!

I never said i was easy my on heels. I wear them even when doing lumber work, yard work, mason work etc. My neighbors think I'm nuts, but I'm harder on my heels than I am on my sneakers.

[Cali]

1 hour ago, Jkrenzer said:

My neighbors think I'm nuts, but I'm harder on my heels than I am on my sneakers.

My neighbor's friend (dog walking buddy) asked me yesterday why I wasn't mowing my lawn in heels.

[Jkrenzer]

I do that, but it's a rider and i also mow the yard across the street. A rental property I own.

Weed eat and trim in sneakers. 🙂

[HappyinHeels]

mlroseplant,

Ah yes I remember those sandals! You really do run the sandals until the tires (heels) come off. Still, you have 75 other pairs waiting for a walk!! Besides that sandal weather in Iowa will soon be coming to an end. We're headed for a freeze tonight so I went out and harvested all my grapes (Niagara cultivar) and came in with around 15 pounds of grapes. Not bad for a first harvest of 3-year-old vines. I plan to add more vines next year. HinH

[mlroseplant]

8 hours ago, Cali said:

My neighbor's friend (dog walking buddy) asked me yesterday why I wasn't mowing my lawn in heels.

It's been a while since I've been out that way, but I didn't realize you had lawns to mow in California. I always figured you guys just put out green colored throw rugs in front of your houses. 😆

[Cali]

I should have said weeds. I save my water for my fruit trees and vegetables.

During a severe drought year, one of my neighbors spray painted her dried out yellow lawn dark green.

Those green throw rugs make excellent backyard putting greens.

[mlroseplant]

Well, howdy there high heeled people! Well, and then Jeff. Howdy Jeff. The weather here lately has been unseasonably warm, so I have been able to wear some things I thought I had put away for the season. First thing yesterday, which was Sunday morning, for whatever reason, I decided to wear some low heels. Not Jeff low, but they're kind of low for me. I walked 2 1/2 miles in them, at a pretty good clip, and I don't mind telling you that I was pretty pooped out by the time I made it back home. I'm not in the shape I used to be in. I have walked further, and in higher heels recently, but not at that pace. I was movin'. It was kind of fun, wearing lower heels for a change, but I don't plan on making it a habit. As far as the t-shirt goes, you'll often see me wearing this Breast Cancer Awareness shirt, and the reason is because I have about 25 of them. I also have quite a number of rags in the garage that look remarkably like the same t-shirt. I do, in fact, change my shirt from time to time.

I actually wore three different outfits yesterday, but I'm only going to post two of them today, because of the data limit. The second picture is me being thrilled that I can fit into those black shorts again. I have dropped like 7 pounds in the last month. I was so thrilled that I wore this outfit to the grocery store to pick up some Essential Items, such as food. I have been hesitant to wear stilettos with shorts in the past, but I'm over it, I guess.

[Jkrenzer]

Good look in both pair. Plenty of coolers, anything good to drink??

Like the black stilettos and shorts. I did stilettos and shorts on Saturday out and about. Love the free feeling.