Boot Season

Nina Leen, Life Magazine, 1961

These boots are made for walking,
and that's just what they'll do
one of these days these boots
are gonna walk all over you.

Are you ready boots? Start walkin'!

"These Boots Are Made For Walking" (1966)
written and performed by Nancy Sinatra

Who doesn't like summer?

But the end of summer is always an exciting time for me: it means only six more weeks until Boot Season begins.

In the meantime, I need to get through the awkward gap between Sandal Season and Boot Season, and I'm never quite sure what to wear. (There's a similar Awkward Footwear Season in the spring.)

I'm not a big shoe shopper at all. In fact, it would be fair to say that shoe shopping ranks on the Necessary Adult Activity Scale of Enjoyment™ alongside having my teeth cleaned.

I also hate wearing socks. I know, that's usually something said only by those of the five-and-under persuasion. It's just a thing, OK?

I love boots. I don't mean Nancy Sinatra or stripper boots; I mean just regular, comfortable, more or less flat-heeled, knee high, leather boots that keep your feet warm and look good with pretty much everything.

I don't have or need many pair of boots. I have three: really warm ones that are still fine to wear with skirts to work; plain black leather ones that ditto; and microfiber ones I bought in a vegan moment and that I tend to wear when it's raining. These three pair have gotten me through the last two winters and they're still in fine shape.

I know, this is hardly the stuff world leaders stay up at night and think about. I don't have a world to lead, though; I just try to get through every day as comfortably as possible.