Trying to get some balance. Stuff is still going out, but stuff coming in, especially books. I'm becoming more obsessed with old, musty books and papers. The tooth of the stock, the little engravings -- even books that are destined for the trash because their bindings are shot or because there is some staining still have some pages of exquisite typesetting or tipped in prints. There's an artist in Victoria who makes beautiful geometric panels from small pieces of the hard covers of old books. They are lovely. I am getting more ruthless about getting rid of the crime fiction. I've started three books this last week and only read one of them. The others I abandoned after a couple of chapters. Out with them.You'd better give me a good plot and some engaging writing to keep my interest. Also ruthless with poetry. I'll read up to five poems in a book. If none of them intrigue me, resonate with me, off they go to someone who might appreciate them. I ordered a couple of books of poems recently that were so bad I won't even give them away. No one should waste their time reading them. Recycling.

I'll never wear these slippers again -- I've switched to wearing indoor shoes. The clothes were from when my mom was here and we went through my closets. Two large garbage bags full to Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Tags: clothing, shoes

My mom came over for a few days and we cleaned closets. All the shoes out on the living room floor. I gave away 13 pairs. Here are three of them. Went through my clothes too and finally made a big pile of things I will never wear again. Big Brothers Big Sisters will have a truck in my area next week, so they will get a couple stuffed bags full. Am encouraged to put even more in for them.

Tags: shoes, April 2011

We have two tall cat trees and 8 or 9 other places for the cats to scratch. The cat trees are made of driftwood from local beaches -- one has three levels and the other has four. The cats love them. There is always cat hair and cat nip residue on the platforms, but they make a handy place for taking photos. A lot of my blog photos were taken on a cat tree. Anyway, today's discard is a pair of shoes. They were very comfy, but my feet have spread and now they are too tight at the tips of my toes. Shiny too. Not into bronzy and shiny so much anymore.

Tags: shoes, June 2010

Back at it. My mother is here for a few days. We are working on cleaning out the laundry/freezer/treadmill/storage room. Three pairs of shoes on their way out. The black pair is what my husband called his "rat pair." Whenever we had to clean out the old garden shed of rats nests and traps and turds or had to crawl around the crawl space in crawl space gunk, he'd wear those shoes. He purchased a new pair of trainers this fall, so now he can replace these ones with the next rattiest pair. The sandals he doesn't wear any more. The black flats I'm giving to my mother. Had a long break from blogging. Much more to come from the laundry room I hope. It's 10pm and she's still in there with bleach and a toothbrush. I'm going back to help.

Tags: shoes, January 2010

An ex gave these beautiful blue slippers to me. They were comfortable and soft and warm and the blue leather and beads were pretty to look at. I wore them out completely over the years. I kept them for sentimental reasons, but now I have gotten rid of them. Well, mostly all of them. I took the beads off and am keeping them for awhile. I might use them later in a jewellery project. The cats have been playing with the suede ties. The rest of the slippers are deep in the bottom of my big compost pile. Leather and lining will eventually disintegrate. A fitting end.

Tags: shoes, November

Only two more months to go on the official challenge, but I think I will be getting rid of things long past December 31. Took some paint cans to the recycling depot yesterday. Thought the place might take old anti-freeze but it didn't. Nor did it take the fire extinguisher. We have a bigger one now — not sure if this one even has a charge any more. I'll have to research where else in town to take it. Getting more brutal with the houseplants. This orchid hasn't bloomed in a couple of years. We keep the house too cold, and now that it's fall it's going to suffer even more. I believe I have found a new home for husband's geiger counter — the yellow thing in his hand. He has a new computerized one now. Another pair of shoes. The second pair of Rockports I ever bought. The first pair was in 1986. I bought them to work 12-hours shifts at EXPO ’86, walking around the Canada Pavilion. I got rid of them just last year I think, either that or they are in the earthquake kit as my spare shoes. I will have to check. This black pair is probably 15 years old. Here's the story about the rock. A woman in Sooke paints them and leaves them on the beach for people to find. She places them face up; the message is a surprise when you turn the stone over. I didn't find this one myself, it was given to me by a friend who regularly walks on the beach and has found several over the years. I find it mildly disturbing. I plan to leave it outside in a park or along a path for someone else to find.

Tags: paint, fire extinguisher, plants, miscellaneous, shoes, odd, November

I got married in these shoes. In 1988. To my first husband. They were very comfortable to stand in for a whole day. I clipped a white fabric flower on the top of each shoe to fancy it up for the wedding. I can still get them on, but they are too snug. Some sentimental value remains because they remind me of a wonderful time, but it is time to let go. The tomato with the extra appendage is from the garden and was part of my dinner tonight. Delicious. Fried me up some okra too. Wish I could grow that here.

Tags: shoes, garden, September

I know I didn’t post yesterday. Was busy finishing the removal of stuff from two sheds, phoning with the builders of the new shed, and trying to get some work done. Today a three-person crew came to demolish the sheds and take as much as possible to the big wood chipper at the dump, and the rest, well, I’ll have to ask forgiveness for generating some trash. Ever since Christmas Day, when the roof of the big shed collapsed under the weight of uncharacteristically heavy snowfall, there has been a tarp over the big shed and it has not been safe. Having to take everything out, starting with some stuff that was ruined after getting wet in the collapse, has been a good exercise for me. I’ve always kept odd pieces of wood and metal and tiles and windows and screens and pots and containers and so on. After storing these sorts of things for 10 years and not ever using them, it was time for them to go. Some things went earlier and have shown up in previous posts. There will be more posts to come. Here are before and after photos of the shed. A pair of rubber boots went to one of the guys tearing things down. The new shed is being built at the end of next week. We tore down two sheds but are only rebuilding one, and at a smaller size than the larger one we used to have. I think we’ll do fine with less space. It will be dry and rat proof. Yippee!

Tags: garden, August, shed, shoes

I just came back from a trip to Germany. There are lots of shoe stores in Germany with beautiful, stylish, comfortable shoes. I returned with two new pairs. So I have to get rid of some old ones I haven’t been wearing. This is another pair from my mother — she was getting rid of them and instead of letting her follow through, I took them, thinking I might one day wear them. I must have been having a skinny feet day at the time, because they certainly don’t fit comfortably now. Oh, the spreading toes of middle age....

Tags: shoes, August, garden

Might as well continue the trend for another Friday. I wore these for a summer or two. Every one did. Now I rarely see anyone with this style. No arch support whatsoever. We’ve all figured out we need proper casual shoes. Random flowers are from the garden. Pretty little orange wallflowers and a bloom from a red verbena. Putting them in very small vases plays with the scale, makes the flowers look much larger than they really are.

Tags: shoes, July, random flowers

These were $5 shoes in the discount section. I loved them. The dangly bits are faceted glass baubles — sparkly. Wore them quite a lot when I first had them. No support whatsoever, so I only wore them for short periods of time. My feet have grown a full size over the past 20 years, so these no longer fit. They aren’t leather, so there is no stretch. I’d have to be like Cinderella’s sisters and cut off my big toe to stuff my foot into one. Ah well. More space in the closet for new shoes that don’t hurt.

Tags: shoes, July

I love my Hush Puppies. I have many pair; one of my faves is bright purple. I keep looking for a red suede pair — found one shoe at Value Village a couple of years ago but couldn’t locate the mate. I picked up this pair at the Sally Ann I think. They were fine for walking around the store a couple of times, but the right shoe just rubs the wrong way. Not good for walking around town. Back they go. After I clean the dirt off the soles.

Tags: shoes, April

Clean, never been used. Genuine leather handles, made in Italy. I believe this is for buffing shoes. I picked it up at a thrift store thinking I could thread my seatbelt through it to give me a soft edge where the belt rubbed the side of my neck. The mechanics of it just didn’t work and I didn’t want to cut the buffer up to slide it on. Anyone out there still shine shoes? I have a whole kit I use about once a year. But I prefer a good old-fashioned brush to this sort of buffer.

Tags: miscellaneous, shoes, April

It’s lovely having a mom with the same size feet as I have. If I go for a visit and haven’t packed a pair of trainers, I can wear hers. Got this pair from my mom. Have never worn them. Have many other pairs that were hand-me-downs from her; they suit me much better than these. It’s late, I had to take a quick photo — these shoes are on top of the cat scratching post. A lot of cat hair on there. I’ll scout a different location for tomorrow’s shot.

Tags: shoes, clothing, March