Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I went downtown to try on the sandals I'd bought and had delivered to the Clarks store. They didn't fit, so I returned them, which basically meant picking them up, bringing them to the counter, and telling the cashier I was returning the soes.

I stopped at the Copley Square farmers market on the way home and bought a loaf of bread, a few cucumbers, and a pint of strawberries. Part of why I did this today rather than tomorrow was so I could stop at the market.

I've been happily wearing the same style/model of slippers for several years. When I went to order more this fall, I discovered that Clark's is no longer selling them.

I recently went back to their website, found two styles that seemed like they might work, and ordered one of each. Neither fit, unfortunately, both being too narrow. So, those will be shipped back, and I may try looking elsewhere.

Ideally I'd have gone to a shoestore in November or early December, but being sick got in the way, so here we are.

If anyone has ideas, I take a women's 8 wide or extra wide. A size 8 of that one style of Clark's men's slippers fit me; in general a women's 8 is a men's 7 or 6.5, and few shoes seem to come in that size.

I'm in Montreal, visiting rysmiel for a few days. I had vague pre-travel jitters, and people reassured me by reminding me that if I had my passport, prescription drugs, phone, and a credit card, anything else was replaceable, which made sense and was reasuring.

Om the bus into town from the Montreal airport, I realiaed I had forgotten to pack my slippers, which was a problem visiting people who have hardwood floors and a rule against wearing outdoor shoes in the apartment.

I coped last night by taking as few steps as possible once I got there and had removed my shoes, which meant doing things like standing still in front of the electric samovar while waiting for it to boil and then for my tea to finish steeping, and planning to go look for cheap shoes or slippers at Canadian Tire this morning.

Did I mention that I hate shoe shopping, because the shoe industry hates me?

When we got downtown, rysmiel said that they thought the shoes had been at Marshall's, so I looked at racks of shoes/. The women's selection was useless to me--women's medium-width shoes are much too narrow for me. So I looked through the men's shoes, tried a few things withuot success, then spotted more shoes along one wall.

I now own a pair of crocs that are a bit too large for me, but will do as indoor shoes fpr a few days. They're cheaper than most of my shoes, but cost more than I'd hoped to pay. But this is really not how I'd hoped to spend my first day in Montreal.

While I was waiting for an elevator in the mall, someone asked me where I'd gotten my N95 mask. I told her, but also said that I don't know whether they ship to Canada. I had left my daypack at rysmiel's apartment, or I'd have pffered her one of the spare masks I carry around.

I have put new flat shoelaces, and new insoles, in my (quite old) winter shoes, but it's now dark out, and I am not going for a walk and risking stepping in a snowbank in the dark.

I think of these as my boots, because they're the best I have - but they don't come very far up my calves, and if I step in a snowbank snow will get in at the top.

I have, not very hopefully, ordered another pair of boots from Zappo's, after the ones I had delivered in December didn't fit, but in the meantime I have these. I'm not planning on going much of anywhere, because the omicron variant and the current burden on hospitals and health care are scary, but I do want to spent at least a little time outdoors.

I went to DSW this afternoon in search of sneakers, and found a pair that I think fits. "I think" because it's hard to tell much in a few minutes in the store, but the return policy is "within sixty days, as long as you haven't worn them outside."

What I found are New Balance men's size 8; part of why I went to DSW is that I wanted someplace where I wouldn't have to argue with the staff about the gender of my shoes. Before finding these, I tried two other pairs of New Balance sneakers in the same size.

If these fit well, I will look for another pair in a color I like better. These are part white, and part a sort of light gray-green, which isn't what I would have chosen, but it was the only pair they had out in that model and size.

I stopped on the way home at Lizzy's, and got a chocolate orgy cone, and two pints (strawberry and chocolate) for the freezer.

I realized months ago that I need at least one new pair of shoes or sneakers, tried DSW with no luck at all, and then didn't get around to trying again because I didn't know where to shop. And then covid-19 happened, and shoe stores don't count as essential in Massachusetts, so it was either wait for weeks or months longer, or try shopping online.

Merrell's has a website, and some of their shoes have fit me in the past, so it seemed like a good place to look. They had almost nothing in my usual size, but quite a bit in men's 7 wide, which sometimes fits me. I have ordered three pairs of shoes, of significantly different design, in the hope that at least one will fit. (If they all fit, wonderful, I would love three pairs of shoes that fit and aren't significantly worn out.) That was about as easy, emotionally, as I can remember shoe shopping being since I was able to walk into a New Balance store, point at my feet, and say "hi, I'd like these in 8WW," but it still used a lot of executive function.

I also made french toast for lunch, and carved the chicken that cattitude roasted for dinner. Our delivery order from McKinnon's arrived, so we had roast chicken for dinner, and put a package of chicken thighs in the freezer. We are also well-supplied with cold cuts (for Cattitude's breakfast) and ground meat. The plan is to make a large batch of bolognese sauce, some of which we will freeze.

A few days ago, roadnotes suggested that we join her at the Fort Tryon Park Renaissance Festival this afternoon, weather permitting. It did, and we did, and after a little confusion (next time, I want to specify a rendezvous point) she, cattitude, and I were listening to a storyteller. We followed that with watching a falconry demonstration (not very well run, at least not for the 2/3 of the audience, including us, who were in the part of the bleachers that the falconer entirely ignored), a funnel cake that I'd wanted since last weekend, and bits of conversation. Then we wandered back toward the exit.

On our way in, Cattitude and I had been looking at boots. There was a booth set up, with some fancy-looking boots, and I had not very hopefully wandered over and asked whether they came in wide sizes. (So little does.) The cheerful salesman explained that they came in any size I want, because it's all custom-made. We talked briefly, I got an idea of the price, and then told him I'd be back later because I was late to meet my sister. I'm not sure he believed me, but he just told me his name was Joaquin and asked mine, and that he'd see me later; when we returned he greeted me and didn't show any surprise.

We spent some time discussing what I wanted, starting with height of the boots and kind of leather, and going from there to color and a variety of other aspects of appearance (what kind of buttons, other decorations, edgings), and choice of soles. Then Cattitude, who had discussed his difficulties finding shoes that fit him, and gotten Joaquin to call his boss and confirm that they could handle that issue, decided that he would also get a pair of boots, so he went through much the same process. Then it was time to measure my feet, but things had suddenly gotten busy. I got impatient after a while (lack of caffeine probably wasn't helping) and eventually pointed out "Joaquin, it's been 'almost ready' for the last five customers" because he'd interrupted to try to sell boots to a number of other people. A couple of minutes later, he had me take my shoes off and stand on a bench so he could outline my feet, then asked me to put a long white sock on, and stand very steadily for what felt like a long time but was probably less than ten minutes, while he carefully ran tape around it to make a mold of my foot.

Joaquin and the other people who were working there claim that these boots last an average of 20 years with decent care. If they live up to that and to the promise of a very good fit, I will not only have boots that fit me well, I'll have averaged a lower price per year than if I'd gone to an ordinary shoestore and grumbled about them having nothing that would fit my feet and go over my calves. (These aren't serious snow/winter boots, but they apparently will do for damp and chilly days as well as for warmer ones. So a visit to a shoestore is still in my near future, I think.) It feels weird having the money to get these, and to indulge myself somewhat in snazzy buttons and a decoration of green leaves, instead of plain black or dark brown with the least expensive buttons, and I did get a bit fretful in there (the shape of the reaction is left over from when things were very tight for us a few years back, and I suspect was exacerbated by the surgeon trying to balance bill me for money he has no right to, as well as by the legitimate medical bills from that surgery, which I have paid, and likely by reading newspapers over the last few weeks), and went for the cheaper laces instead of the ones I really wanted. I may email them in a day or two and tell them to change that; Joaquin assured me I could do so.

On the other hand, there were things I could have done gaudier and didn't, not because it would have cost more, but because I want boots that will look reasonable with a large number of different outfits: if I'm going to spend several hundred dollars on a pair of really good boots, I want something I can wear regularly without fretting about whether it goes with my shirt. (A second color or layer of leather ornament would have cost more, but bright purple would have been the same price as forest green.)

I think this one is part my fault--including that I was too tired to be shopping in the first place--and partly the shoe company's.

I've been wearing basically the same sneakers for several years. ("Basically" because the company discontinued the model I had been wearing and replaced it with something slightly different.) This means that buying them is a matter of walking into the shoe store, pointing at my feet, and saying "I'd like another pair of these, 8 double wide." They bring them out, I try them on, I pay, I go home happy.

Wednesday evening, I did exactly that, with a brief digression into shoelaces. [Did you know that nobody wants to label shoelaces with what they're made from?] I was replacing a pair that had started to leak slightly, so I went to the shoestore after work despite being tired. I wore the new shoes home. No problem. The next day, I noticed that the left shoe was pressing down on my toes. That isn't a normal "new shoe, need to break it in" pattern for me. It was worse yesterday.

This morning, I got out the new and the previous pair. Both say "US 8" for size. But the old ones are a European 39, CM 25. (A UK 6 or 6 1/2, from memory--that part of the label is faded.) The new ones are a European 7 1/2, European 41 1/2, CM 26. Either the company is doing something really weird and stupid with their sizes, or the salesman misjudged what I was wearing and brought me a similar-looking men's shoe in a men's size 8. (Note for non-North Americans: there's about 1.5 sizes difference between men's and women's shoe size numbers--I'd take a men's 6 1/2, except that the smallest men's size is usually 7.)

I have to go back to the shoe store. I don't know whether they'll do an exchange, under the circumstances. (I do have the receipt, but they have been worn. Briefly, but they've been worn.) If not, I'm going to walk out again and go to the other New Balance store in that neighborhood, rather than give more business to the people who sold me the wrong shoes. But the best case here is that I have to carry an extra pair of shoes with me on Monday when I go to the gym. This also constrains my schedule somewhat--I don't expect them to be open Tuesday (Dec. 25), and I'm leaving for a week in Montreal on the 27th.

Part of the problem with being short on sleep is that not only is my judgment slightly impaired, I lose track of where that applies. Not jaywalking even when there's nothing coming and everyone else is, I can remember. Perhaps I should add 'buy nothing more significant and expensive than lunch" to that list.

I should have known mail-order boots were a mistake.

The subject came up on rassef, and someone recommended a company that had wide shoes at good prices.

I went to the company's web site, and it looked promising. Ankle boots, with zippers, solid, in an 8EE, for $30; $39 or so with "shipping and handling," but still a good price.

The boots just arrived. They look as nice as they did on the Web.

The problem is, they don't fit. They're so narrow I couldn't even get my feet into them.

I checked against the shoes I'm wearing right now. The soles are, indeed, 8EE. But the rest of the boot isn't: it narrows precipitously.

Feh. Back to the boot search, and I'm out the shipping costs, to say nothing of the time and annoyance. I can understand--not appreciate, but understand--if something doesn't come in 8EE. But why on Earth would a company make shoes with 8EE soles and narrow uppers? They're not going to fit anybody.

Now, how late is Selby's open?