Kick Up Your Heels!

I can always tell who the December tourists and newcomers are.  They're the women in sexy, spike heeled boots trying to run through snow and ice.  It's not long before they're wearing solid, dependable boots just like the rest of us.    

After years of wearing practical, sturdy, manly boots, I finally found a pair of boots that are feminine and practical.  They're black leather, with a solid heel and great treads!  Treads are like snow tires on your feet.  For readers in Australia, and South America, you need treads for traction on snow and ice.  I fractured my shoulder last Christmas, slipping on an invisible stretch of ice on a downtown Toronto street.  It didn't help that the treads on my boots had worn down.  No more slipping on the ice for me! 

I turn over every boot in shoe stores, looking for the price, sure...and the treads on the sole.  Sometimes, they're too wide around the rim of the boot, and you can trip over your own feet.  Sometimes, they're too thin, and will wear out before the season is over.  Sometimes, they're stacked so high even Elton John wouldn't walk around in them.

My little black boots are feminine, and stylish enough to wear indoors, with a dress or mini-skirt; or outdoors with cords, two sweaters, possibly a lightweight vest, a heavy overcoat, scarf, gloves, a hat, and a partridge in a pear tree.  Toronto fashionistas call it "layering", the rest of us, call it survival.  The boots are designed in Montreal, and made in Spain.  They have a decorative and practical leather loop at the back of the heel, which you can use to help pull up the boot, as you play do-it-yourself-Cinderella. 

I've broken-in a few pairs hiking boots, so it was no surprise to experience pain on the very first daywearing the lovely black leather beauties.  The worst of the pain was at the back of my right ankle, just above the heel...just about where that little leather loop is stitched to the inside of the boot. 

The enormous blister, behind my right ankle, just above the heel was a shock!  My years of caregiving came into play, in making a homemade dressing for the blister, covering it with gauze and medical tape before slipping on the boots for a quick trip to the grocery store the next day. 

I walked gingerly up the street, and limped back home.  The bandages had curled up, and come off, and the now exposed blister was rubbing against the inside of the boot. The next dressing was nothing short of a medical miracle!  It was twice as big as the first one, and covered in a waterproof, tear proof medical tape.  It was as if I were channeling Florence Nightengale.   

Stepping into my boots on day three, my right foot came to an abrupt stop.  The uber dressing was too thick!  Like one of Cinderella's ugly step-sisters, I wrestled getting my foot into the boot.  There was no point in searching for a shoe horn, because months ago, I had given them all away...because I NEVER use them!  Then, in stroke of pure genius (hold the applause), I thought of using a plain old kitchen soup spoon.  The spoon slid in behind my heel, and with a gentle grunt, and an oomph, my right foot now matched my booted left one.  Ta-da!

The spoon, however, remained stuck inside the boot.   For three frantic minutes, I fought with the spoon, turning it right, left, up and down, fearing that I'd have to walk with the damn thing up the back of my boots, or worse - sleep with my boots on!  (This is too funny:  I always write with music on...right now...exactly now, Marc Broussard is singing Twistin' the Night Away).  Finally, a few squiggles to the left, and a hard tug upwards, and the little spoon may yet join a Zydeco band!

As I write, I'm wearing my oh-so-comfortable Brazilian flip-flops...the boots will take a few more days to break-in.

If you're wondering about the peignoirs featured in this blogpost about boots, I designed each one from my photographs.  They not only look fabulous in the bedroom, they can be worn over a dress like a kimono jacket.  Wear them with a mini-skirt and high boots!  Kick up your heels, and go out on the town!  Boots and peignoirs - a perfect match!

All of the peignoirs can be found here:
http://bit.do/peignoirs

The marijuana motif peignoirs are sold through Stolbie Brand.  The Stolbie Sisters' company "for the socially a-wear", plants a tree in British Columbia, Canada. for every item sold on their site.  Please support them in the work they do.  Here's the link:
https://www.stolbiebrand.com/

 

Photographs Copyright of Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated