Autumn Meadow and My Shoes

If I were a painter I think the scraggly poplar at the left quarter of the frame would have been left out of this scene.  I’m not sure.  Perhaps the poplar counter-balances the rooftop on the right.  I don’t know.  Anyway, I’m not a painter — I’m a cell phone camera guy — and I think this picture turned out nicely.   

I took this photo in Lake Elmo at Sunfish Lake Park.  It is a good place for putting my head in order and I do it when I need it.  Unfortunately, that seems to be taking up a lot of time.  You can’t say with complete certainty that you won’t run into a client while wandering the trails, but I can’t lie about it…that hasn’t happened yet.

It has been a great year for wild grapes though.  I have been nibbling at these for a few days now.  They are starting the shrivel and a lot of the flavor is turning bitter, but I still like to eat them.  I’ll take a small cluster of shriveled grapes and drop them near another fence row or something similar hoping the seeds germinate elsewhere.  They are quite good, even in off years.

We had a trellis of Concord Grapes at home when I was a kid.  Those grapes were much superior to the wild grapes I find now, but the wild grapes bring back nice memories.  For the real thing there are clusters of Concord Grapes high in a trellis at Noerenberg Gardens on Lake Minnetonka.  I don’t get that way very often this time of the year anymore.  Sneaking over there early in on a crisp autumn day and grabbing a few grapes — I hope it is allowed or at least tolerated — packs a lot of nostalgia.  I liked a grape or two before leaving for school in the morning.  Was a private treat and made the idea of spending the day indoors with Mrs. Gee a bit more tolerable.

It occurred to me that I hadn’t taken a picture of my shoes in a while.  So here you go.  Sturdy Shell Cordovan leather, but not enough ankle support for spontaneous trips through woods and fields.  I’m looking for dress boots.  I’ve found some.  They are not cheap.  Shell cordovan has increased in price significantly and it wasn’t cheap to begin with.

My favorite find in shell cordovan boots come in at $795.  That might be pushing it, but shell cordovan can hardly be considered a luxury; it is too damn substantial and practical for that.  You seriously get what you pay for in this leather.  Outlasts regular old cowhide many times over.  I found a pair in regular old cowhide boots, by the way, for $340.  Boots that pull double-duty for dress and play is what I’m after.

You can’t see my socks here.  And that’s a good thing.  I’m big about socks.  In fact it is time to link to my post about the Sock Market.  These are dark days.  Politically the country is a mess and frankly too many of us are beholden to an austere ideology that really hasn’t much historical muscle behind it.  Dull times ahead.  You are invited to scroll down through my posts for more facts about this.

But back to socks.  I have been forced to ration the wearing of my better socks.  Each year I lose the use of more and more due to wear and moths.  Ah yes…there was a time when stores carried bountiful quality.  A guy could get thick, pleasing wool and cashmere socks in a rich array of patterns and practical colors.  Now?  Well, there’s the cheap crap from guys like Ralph Lauren that do the trick for a season or so…but they lack panache of really fine quality socks.  Even Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus suffer from a lack of hefty luxury in the sock department.  You can find some good ones — pricey — at Orvis and I have to put in a plug for fabulous SmartWool products (really, check out SmartWool), but otherwise…since our social and economic order began to decline, the common guy hasn’t been able to buy a decent pair of socks and no one seems to notice or care.  I do!

I’m still looking for my passion, by the way…and I just don’t think socks will be the right fit.

Related articles

• Why SmartWool? (onlineshoes.com)
• How to Rock Your Socks (onlineshoes.com)
• Photo Recipe: Concord Grape Sparklers (lavieenroute.com)
• Autumn’s Arrival: Time to Move into the Toast UK Catalog (apartmenttherapy.com)
• Concord Grape Pie (innatthecrossroads.com)
• A Good Appetite: Focaccia With Olive Oil and Grapes – A Good Appetite (nytimes.com)

My Shoes

I should post something, but I am not really in the mood to call out hypocritical politicians and Bad Parker has received all the publicity he is going to get in a while.  I stayed at home most of the day yesterday so it is all ho-hum.   Talking about my shoes should liven things up a bit.

These, friends, are great shoes.  Sturdy, stylish, and lightly coated with trail dust.  I took this photo after an hour or so wandering off-trail at Kaposia Park in South St. Paul.  I was looking for places I roamed as a kid, like Elephant Hill, which really is a washout in the Kaposia ravine.  I found it and it still is a very steep, sandy scar in the side of the ravine, but mostly healed and grown over with trees and shrubs.  We knew all the stories about that hill.  Kids died there, we thought.  Or at least broke their necks.  Miraculously, we all survived with only sand in our shoes.

But we didn’t have shoes like these!  No sir.  I work these shoes hard.  Sales calls, of course, but they hold up well on the trail.  High quality shell  cordovan leather.  Never skimp on shoes, and what they say about cordovan leather is absolutely true.  A pair of well-made shell cordovan shoes will last for many years and they wear beautifully.  Don’t these look great?  I actually look pretty damn good from the knees down, don’t you think?

Ok, go now and scroll down, read a better post on this blog.  Share with your friends!