These Boots Are Made for Walkin'

It's boot season...

That time of year when it gets so cold that you need to wrap your body in wool and leather from the knees down if you'd like to keep your apendages until spring. Boots are a mostly foreign concept to me. The California climate that I grew up with simply did not necessitate the converstion from open toed shoes to anything else. No joke, sandals at Christmas time.

Talking about California footware always reminds me of a conversation that I once had with my friend Don. He said that in the winter Californians will wear flip flops, shorts and a hooded sweatshirt... and then drive around in their cars with the heat blasting on their feet and the windows rolled down with their hood up. I like that mental image, and it does remind me of high school.

Now that I am in a place with this thing they call seasons, I find it necessary to adjust. In my past, boots did make cameo appearances in my wardrobe, but they were all for show - no tread and heels at least 3 inches high... My personal favorites are stilletto and made of a gold snake skin. Now, however, boots are a thing of necessity, a tool of survival, and a wardrobe staple. In the not-too-distant-future, New York will have ice and snow on the ground, and my half mile walk from the subway to work won't be getting any shorter. No more platform pythons boots I'm sad to say, combat boots will be required.

I think it may be time for a little more Semper Fi and a little less Aldo.