The well heeled lady baring her sole

The other night at an apres mountain biking party, a friend had on a pair of Frye Oxfords.   The wooden heel was starting to wear into the welt (new term I just learned as per Wikipedia: A welt is a strip of leather, rubber, or plastic that is stitched to the upper and insole of a shoe, as an attach-point for the sole).  I shuddered over the potential loss of a lovely pair of shoes and mentioned she needed to have them repaired. (A future posting about the dying art of shoe repair. My local shoe repairman is lovely.  Until recently he resided in a storefront straight out of the 30's. Now he is in this local western shop but his charm is still ever present and old school as ever).

 With the unsolicited comment to my friend Suzy, I officially am turning into my mother. Years earlier, while in high school, a friend stopped by to pick me up for a night out.  Reggie had on a well shod pair of wingtips he had purchased from Goodwill.  My mother not only chastised him for the scuffs, she brought him shoe polish right there and then.   Though embarrassing at the time, now I see the wisdom in the act.  


There is nothing like owning a pair of well crafted leather shoes and finding a certain amount of pleasure in maintaining those skips.  The ritual of pulling out the shoe box filled with the polishes, whether they be waxy in the tin can or creamy in the little glass jars, the soft feel of the flannel rags to wipe the polish on and oh those fantastic wooden backed brushes with long soft bristles to buff on the shine.  I know when I perform this maintenance task, there will be no surprises (well unless I did not seal the lid properly on the tin and the polish is all dried out and cracked).  The biggest hurdle will be not to stain my hands with the polish as I swirl the rag in the cream and after 5 minutes of silent meditation following the methodical brush strokes back and forth, my shoes will be supple and scuff free, providing an immediate sense of accomplishment.  I can now go forth and shuffle in my newly shined shoes to my hearts content, knowing that when I next polish my shoes I will remember the mad cap adventures that caused all the scuffs and scrapes.  

Me in Frye Carson boots at O'Dell's Small Batch Revival having one of those adventures where I actually caused damage to the wood on the heel.   $8 to repair the heel!!!  yippee!! And the shoes will last through a lifetime of crazy fun moments.