The High Heeled Ruminations Of Melrose Plant

[Cali]

Walking on lawn's in stilettos also causes the stiletto to get very dirty.

[Shyheels]

Muddy towpaths wouldn’t do them any favours either 

[mlroseplant]

The 20,000 steps wouldn't bother me too much, as long as it was on pavement of some sort. I have proven that a number of times in the past few years, exploring the limits of my stamina in heels. However, I still don't like to walk more than a few steps on anything soft like dirt or grass.

Not that it has anything to do with anything, but my son and I noted last weekend that our two "big" lawns, and by "big" I mean about half an acre, require substantially more steps to mow than do our four "small" lawns combined.

[Shyheels]

Even in blocky 3.5” heels a lumpy towpath can easily cause you to miss for footing or turn an ankle. 

[Cali]

It's also thick padding under rugs in plush hotels. I had troble in my JS 4+" knee highs and had to switch to my impo 3.5" high calf boots the next day. Several women told me that they had trouble in heels at the convention and asked how I managed to over come the challenge.

[mlroseplant]

Yeah, squidgy carpet can be precarious! Our church used to have such carpet, and I have always thought it was very unfriendly to high heels. Not a big problem now, but it certainly must have been when the carpet was installed originally. By that I mean back in the day when women actually wore high heels. In fact, I once wrote a standup comedy routine which contained reference to the squidgy carpet. I never got to try it out because of our international health issue. The carpet is now gone, replaced with some sort of industrial grade carpet that seems to be installed with little or no padding. This benefits everyone in three ways: 1) Steadier footing, especially in heels. 2) The pipe organ now sounds noticeably more brilliant, due to more effective reverb. 3) No one will ever have to listen to my comedy routine. It was terrible!

[mlroseplant]

I find myself very short on time this week, but I'll make a quick post about last Sunday's outfit, with a teaser/promise of more to come. Shoes are Via Spiga, and I got along with them a lot better than I did the last time I wore them, comfort-wise. Pants are Loft, and shirt and tie are no-name Vietnamese. They are not actually unbranded, but they have some silly, so-very-Asian name like "Caring Known" or something like that.

[Jkrenzer]

Wow, leaving us with a teaser.

Smart look, sharp and clean. The overall lines from the soles and heels upwards is perfectly perportioned.

[HappyinHeels]

Mlroseplant,

Well-done on your whole-hearted JKrenzer endorsement! Practice over time makes just about anyone master a skill whether it’s walking in heels, learning electricity, or delving into amateur radio. Time spent in heels will also tone those calves. Keep it up! HinH

[mlroseplant]

And now, it is time to reveal the week's truly interesting event--my "new" motorbike, which broke down after only having owned it for one week, is now back in service.

Actually, that's not the news. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. I just wanted to see what it would look like. I don't hate it.

[Jkrenzer]

Haha!

The skirted you. Nice, comfortable and great look.

oh yah, don't let Tech get you.

if only I knew why the text underline is on.

Edited May 1 by Jkrenzer

[Bubba136]

On 4/30/2024 at 5:47 AM, mlroseplant said:

I find myself very short on time this week, but I'll make a quick post about last Sunday's outfit, with a teaser/promise of more to come. Shoes are Via Spiga, and I got along with them a lot better than I did the last time I wore them, comfort-wise. Pants are Loft, and shirt and tie are no-name Vietnamese. They are not actually unbranded, but they have some silly, so-very-Asian name like "Caring Known" or something like that.

Great look.  Appearing in Church dressed like that must make more than one woman jealous because everything matches in good taste and, I would guess, not one female would be wearing higher heels than you do.

2 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

And now, it is time to reveal the week's truly interesting event--my "new" motorbike, which broke down after only having owned it for one week, is now back in service.

Actually, that's not the news. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. I just wanted to see what it would look like. I don't hate it.

WOW.  What a great look. Going anywhere wearing that outfit would take a ton of courage.  Especially to Church service .  But, then again, you have been wearing heels to church for a long while, I doubt the skirt would raise many eyebrows.  Any criticism given might be along the lines of the skirt is way to short for wearing at a religious service.  (You should submit the picture of you sitting on the motorbike to the Best Dressed contest.)

Edited May 1 by Bubba136

[bluejay]

Nice look Melrose,

I like to wear skirts too!!!!

Happy Heeling,

bluejay

[Mr. X]

I don't hate it either.  It looks great!

[mlroseplant]

On 4/30/2024 at 3:11 PM, HappyinHeels said:

Mlroseplant,

Well-done on your whole-hearted JKrenzer endorsement! Practice over time makes just about anyone master a skill whether it’s walking in heels, learning electricity, or delving into amateur radio. Time spent in heels will also tone those calves. Keep it up! HinH

I don't believe this should be phrased in the future tense. Haven't I done enough time already? 😆

20 hours ago, Bubba136 said:

Great look.  Appearing in Church dressed like that must make more than one woman jealous because everything matches in good taste and, I would guess, not one female would be wearing higher heels than you do.

WOW.  What a great look. Going anywhere wearing that outfit would take a ton of courage.  Especially to Church service .  But, then again, you have been wearing heels to church for a long while, I doubt the skirt would raise many eyebrows.  Any criticism given might be along the lines of the skirt is way too short for wearing at a religious service.  (You should submit the picture of you sitting on the motorbike to the Best Dressed contest.)

I think I told the story about when the 40-ish woman wanted to compare heel heights at church, and as it turns out, she severely underestimated the general height of my heels. As an aside, her kid is graduating high school this year, my kid is a freshman. It just tells you how old I am compared to most parents.

It is really unlikely that I will wear that skirt beyond the confines of my driveway. The main limiting factor is not the church, but rather the fact that my wife would probably kill me. I know at least one neighbor saw me out there with the tripod capturing the above images, but the wife was working. She has no idea. As far as the length, we are several inches from that being a concern. As a normal congregant, I could get by with wearing much shorter to church. Not that I would, but I could. As the public face of the church via livestream, however, I don't know what the limits would be, and I don't intend to find out.

[Bubba136]

2 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

I don't believe this should be phrased in the future tense. Haven't I done enough time already? 😆

I think I told the story about when the 40-ish woman wanted to compare heel heights at church, and as it turns out, she severely underestimated the general height of my heels. As an aside, her kid is graduating high school this year, my kid is a freshman. It just tells you how old I am compared to most parents.

It is really unlikely that I will wear that skirt beyond the confines of my driveway. The main limiting factor is not the church, but rather the fact that my wife would probably kill me. I know at least one neighbor saw me out there with the tripod capturing the above images, but the wife was working. She has no idea. As far as the length, we are several inches from that being a concern. As a normal congregant, I could get by with wearing much shorter to church. Not that I would, but I could. As the public face of the church via livestream, however, I don't know what the limits would be, and I don't intend to find out.

Over time, there have been several questions that keep popping into my mind concerning your situation as covered by your posts here that I have been hesitant to address.  The comments above present an opertunity to mention two that I have been curious about.  1) given the location where you usually take your pictures and the close proximity of your neighbors house to your driveway, I have often wondered if your neighbors are aware of this activity and give you any feedback?  And 2) while living with a reluctantly supportive spouse — but one that really would rather not have to deal with the situation— for over 36 years, I realize that there is a point where tolerance has been stretched almost to its limit, how do you deal with this situation? ( l learned early on where these limits were and vainly tried never to exceed them, which at times was extremely difficult.)

[mlroseplant]

21 hours ago, Bubba136 said:

Over time, there have been several questions that keep popping into my mind concerning your situation as covered by your posts here that I have been hesitant to address.  The comments above present an opertunity to mention two that I have been curious about.  1) given the location where you usually take your pictures and the close proximity of your neighbors house to your driveway, I have often wondered if your neighbors are aware of this activity and give you any feedback?  And 2) while living with a reluctantly supportive spouse — but one that really would rather not have to deal with the situation— for over 36 years, I realize that there is a point where tolerance has been stretched almost to its limit, how do you deal with this situation? ( l learned early on where these limits were and vainly tried never to exceed them, which at times was extremely difficult.)

Ok, fair enough. 1) The driveway has become a thing now, I guess. It has largely replaced the drainpipe that @Puffer has admired for so many years. I suppose I could turn 90º and have the background be the deck and the back yard, but that is often littered with cast-off motorcycle parts and other junk like used oil bottles. I probably wouldn't take any pictures at all, except for this group. The driveway is a compromise between decent photo quality and spending lots of time to grab a few snapshots. My wife used to make me go to the park almost every Sunday after church and take photos of her there, which she would then post on social media. For a number of reasons, this stopped after our public health issue reared its ugly head.

But I still haven't answered your question. Our neighborhood is fairly static. Typically, houses only come up for sale after a death. Therefore, my neighbors are long familiar with me, and don't question why I have a tripod set up in the driveway. They probably know. Frankly, it's still a little embarrassing to think about a 56 year old man taking selfies, but ah well.

2) As I alluded to earlier, my wife is a bit of a fashionista, or used to be. For reasons I won't get into, that is largely no longer the case. Sometime around 2018 or 2019, I got to a point I wanted to get to, as far as pushing my fashion limits, and have pretty much stayed there. Of course, the public health issue changed everything, and it seems since then, my fashion choices are not a subject of discussion anymore. I naturally know which situations require me to be invisible, and in which situations I can do what I want. The subject has not really come up for a long time. She doesn't even get mad when I occasionally get a new pair of shoes in the mail.

The skirt, on the other hand, that's a one-off. I'm not really being serious. It was truly an experiment, and my wife certainly doesn't need to know about it. It would be foolish to upset an equilibrium that largely works for us. She rightfully has other, more important things to criticize me about.

And now, a question for you. As I recall, one of the stipulations between you and your wife was that the kids never know about your fashion proclivities. How did you manage to wear heels at all during that couple of decades of child rearing?

[Puffer]

Melrose:  can you please clarify what the 'public health issue' refers to, and its impact   Is this to do with Covid?   

[Bubba136]

10 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

Ok, fair enough. 1) The driveway has become a thing now, I guess. It has largely replaced the drainpipe that @Puffer has admired for so many years. I suppose I could turn 90º and have the background be the deck and the back yard, but that is often littered with cast-off motorcycle parts and other junk like used oil bottles. I probably wouldn't take any pictures at all, except for this group. The driveway is a compromise between decent photo quality and spending lots of time to grab a few snapshots. My wife used to make me go to the park almost every Sunday after church and take photos of her there, which she would then post on social media. For a number of reasons, this stopped after our public health issue reared its ugly head.

But I still haven't answered your question. Our neighborhood is fairly static. Typically, houses only come up for sale after a death. Therefore, my neighbors are long familiar with me, and don't question why I have a tripod set up in the driveway. They probably know. Frankly, it's still a little embarrassing to think about a 56 year old man taking selfies, but ah well.

2) As I alluded to earlier, my wife is a bit of a fashionista, or used to be. For reasons I won't get into, that is largely no longer the case. Sometime around 2018 or 2019, I got to a point I wanted to get to, as far as pushing my fashion limits, and have pretty much stayed there. Of course, the public health issue changed everything, and it seems since then, my fashion choices are not a subject of discussion anymore. I naturally know which situations require me to be invisible, and in which situations I can do what I want. The subject has not really come up for a long time. She doesn't even get mad when I occasionally get a new pair of shoes in the mail.

The skirt, on the other hand, that's a one-off. I'm not really being serious. It was truly an experiment, and my wife certainly doesn't need to know about it. It would be foolish to upset an equilibrium that largely works for us. She rightfully has other, more important things to criticize me about.

And now, a question for you. As I recall, one of the stipulations between you and your wife was that the kids never know about your fashion proclivities. How did you manage to wear heels at all during that couple of decades of child rearing?

Thank you for sharing your answers to my curiosity.

 As far as answering your inquirie, I could write a book explaining how I (we) managed this.  The short answer is we used the same technique most parents use to keep their “private and personal lives” separate from their “parenting” lives and duties.  I kept my female items mixed with my wife’s.  My shoes boxes were on the shelf beside hers and we were the only ones that knew which were mine and which were hers.  

The first ten years after our graduation from college I spent in the military. Our three children were all in grade school.  Between my work and family activities, I didn’t have much time by myself. I did, however, indulge in slipping into a delicious pair of my favorite heels whenever I had time alone.  

The second part of your question, one that naturally follows, is “How successful were we.  Did our kids know or ever find out about my heels?  Truly I really don’t know.  Any parent knows how curious a child can be.  And even more so when there are brothers and sisters collectively involved. Leave it to say that as of this moment, neither my son or either of my daughters has ever let on that they are aware of me and my girls shoes.

Fortunately, for those of us that exclusively wear our “girls shoes” openly, over the years there have been many styles originally sold on the women’s side that have “morfed” into styles worn by both men and women and that are still featured as women’s styles, as well.  Penny Loaf an several styles of sandals for example.  Sometimes the only distinguishing feature denoting the intended gender is the thickness or shape of the heel.  Which, in any case, will be overlooked in any casual observation.

 

Edited May 3 by Bubba136

[mlroseplant]

13 hours ago, Puffer said:

Melrose:  can you please clarify what the 'public health issue' refers to, and its impact   Is this to do with Covid?   

The public health issue that made us all stay home for a long while and quit caring much about fashion. It is my habit to name it somewhat cryptically in order to avoid stupid political exchanges. I won't even call them arguments. I was referring to dysentery, of course. 😛

[mlroseplant]

If it was red week last week, I guess it is blue week this week. Part of that has to do with what happens to be hanging in my wardrobe that hasn't been worn in a while. I still haven't got things 100% back to the way they were before I was compelled to move everything when we had to have our sewer line replaced.

So I figured, "All right, let's do blue this week." Then I realized I've only got one pair of blue shoes left. The other, which I sort of had in mind when I thought I'd do blue, disintegrated within a very short period of time and I had to throw them out. I'm still somewhat disappointed by that. The one remaining pair is ok, but I need to wear a bandaid in a certain spot, or it rubs holes in my foot. While I was trying to remember where that spot was, it occurred to me, "Hey, wait a minute. You've got a brand new pair of blue shoes you ain't even worn yet." And indeed, I did.

I bought these Steve Madden Britt sandals a couple of months ago. The only problem was that they were unvetted. I had briefly tried them on when I first got them, but it is risky to wear something like that out into the real world. I threw a couple of bandaids into my pocket, loaded up the car, and headed out. It was fine. Sometimes you get by with stuff.

[Jkrenzer]

I love the look but I just can't wear that shoe. I always get soreness in the area of the strap on top of my foot. All my weight (175 lbs) is reacted in a small area.

[Bubba136]

1 hour ago, mlroseplant said:

If it was red week last week, I guess it is blue week this week. Part of that has to do with what happens to be hanging in my wardrobe that hasn't been worn in a while. I still haven't got things 100% back to the way they were before I was compelled to move everything when we had to have our sewer line replaced.

So I figured, "All right, let's do blue this week." Then I realized I've only got one pair of blue shoes left. The other, which I sort of had in mind when I thought I'd do blue, disintegrated within a very short period of time and I had to throw them out. I'm still somewhat disappointed by that. The one remaining pair is ok, but I need to wear a bandaid in a certain spot, or it rubs holes in my foot. While I was trying to remember where that spot was, it occurred to me, "Hey, wait a minute. You've got a brand new pair of blue shoes you ain't even worn yet." And indeed, I did.

I bought these Steve Madden Britt sandals a couple of months ago. The only problem was that they were unvetted. I had briefly tried them on when I first got them, but it is risky to wear something like that out into the real world. I threw a couple of bandaids into my pocket, loaded up the car, and headed out. It was fine. Sometimes you get by with stuff.

My wife loved that style. She managed to convince my daughters to appreciate that feminine looking style. She also bought a couple of pairs for me. But, I cannot wear that style because the strap across the vamp doesn’t like the shape of my feet. Very uncomfortable for me. 😳 

[Cali]

This is what I refer to as large or thick toe box.  Shoes with un-adjustable straps and pumps cut my toe tendons. I have had a little relief using a strip of dense foam under the strap.  The foam coming from packaging of new shoes. I got this idea from a woman shoe sales associate in a Women's Macy's who was using tissue paper.

I put my heels on early in the morning and go off to work. Many times I have them on until late at night, 9:30 pm, so this method does not work long enough. I will sometimes use this method with adjustable straps.

Edited May 7 by Cali

[mlroseplant]

I have always wanted a single strap, closed heel sandal. All the girls are wearing them. OK, maybe 10 years ago. I did not envisage that my foray into this style would be electric blue velveteen, but there it is.

I seem to have the opposite problem from the rest of youse. The single strap across the toes doesn't bother me, it's the ankle strap that causes me some discomfort. After a time, it starts digging into my skin, but only while actually walking. Part of the problem may be that these are size 9, and I really need an 8 1/2 in this style. Perhaps a ball-of-foot pad might remedy this, but it seems unlikely that I will wear these a whole lot, so it may not be worth messing with. They are actual leather, so it may become necessary to use such a fitment aid in the future if I wish to wear them at all.

[mlroseplant]

This week's church outfit continues on the same theme of button down shirt with a tie, but with different colors. Specifically this time, the whole outfit was based around the shoes, which I wanted to try out because although I bought them at least five years ago, I've never worn them until now. I'm not entirely sure why that is, there appears to be no fault with them. I'll have to post them in the New Sandals thread when I get a chance. They're BCBGirls, by the way.

When I thought about what to wear with these shoes, I could have sworn I had some cream colored pants at one time. Evidently not, or I got rid of them at some point. So I just held a sandal against each of my pants, to see which was the most suitable with the color. The pale pink ones got the nod. I decided to go with a darker, contrasting color for the shirt and tie. No comments, but that's pretty usual.

[Jkrenzer]

The contrast works well.

[Mr. X]

Another winner

[mlroseplant]

Hi all, I'm posting a day or two early because I took some extra pictures this week. They are really all the same picture, but I'm not very creative about posing.

Yesterday, I did a 5 mile (8 km) walk for only the sixth time since I started heeling. As I've probably said before, I have a 1 mile, a 2 mile, and a 3 mile loop that I walk regularly, choosing one on whim or available time. On weekend mornings, it has been my habit as of late to walk the 3 mile loop. On this particular morning, I chose my BCBGirls Bonny mules, iteration No. 4. No. 4 is pretty unused, as No. 3 yielded up the ghost sometime last fall. These Bonnys are not a shoe that feels good out of the box. Every one of them has been very stiff and rather uncomfortable until having been worn for several hours. Then they become pliable and all-day comfortable.

I have never done a 5 miler in Bonnys before, even though I've tried on a couple of occasions. Both of the previous attempts ended in shoe failure of some sort, one of them catastrophic. The fact that these Bonnys only had two miles on them to begin with made them a suspect choice for a 3 mile walk. I had worn them around the house for a couple of hours, but they were still a bit on the stiff side. I took Bandaids with me, just in case. After the first mile, it was obvious that they are going to be just fine, same as the other 3 pair were. After two miles, I began thinking, "Yeah, I remember why I like these so much." At about 2 1/2 miles, I thought, "Hmmm, I've got time, why don't I do a 5-miler today?" So I did. During the 4th mile, the right shoe started rubbing my instep. Luckily, I had those Bandaids with me, so nothing bad happened. A little tender when I got back, but no blister. The rest of me, however, was very tired. You wouldn't think 5 miles would be that big of a deal when you do 3 miles regularly, but those last 2 really took it out of me.

When I got back, I made a list and went grocery shopping, changing my shoes to another pair I haven't worn in a while, blue FSJ stiletto mules. Like last week, I couldn't remember if there was a comfort reason why I haven't worn them. Apparently not. They were just fine, and easier to walk in than I remembered. It is really hard to tell the color in this picture, but they pretty much match the color of my jeans.

Note: Photos are in reverse order of the story, if you haven't already figured that out.

Edited May 19 by mlroseplant

[mlroseplant]

I did something that I rarely do during warm weather. I wore actual enclosed shoes to church. I did so because as I posted in the New Shoes section, I bought some pumps specifically to wear to church (and maybe a few other places). I keep saying that I do not need any more shoes, but I bought two more pair last week. These Steve Madden pumps, and a pair of Frye wooden heeled sandals. Sometime I'll post the Fryes--they're kind of interesting, but I thought the coffee color of the pumps was really beautiful, and the lady offered to sell them for 20 bucks plus shipping.

The rest of my outfit was based around the shoes. I often do that, but it was very particular on this Sunday, because I had decided to wear the shoes well in advance. So I picked out some earth-toney stuff I thought went with the coffee color, and then I realized, "Hey, wait a minute.  .  . It's Pentecost." To some of you, this will mean absolutely nothing. For others, you are chuckling to yourselves right now. Let's put it this way--the red tie is an add-on and an afterthought, but I think it works. I even got complemented on my tie. But not my shoes.