Monday, May 23, 2011

A tale of small shoes

Darling Hazel is walking, and therefore I am seeking out teeny tiny adorable shoes for her. I found the perfect pair at Savers recently, navy fur-lined boots, waterproof, flexible soft sole (can't have her walking like Frankenstein).

The dear girl wore them for about a week, and then on the bike ride to school last Monday, a boot went missing. We retraced our journey over the next few days, but alas, no boot. As a shoemaker who loves the craft as well as the function of footwear, I can say that nothing is so forlorn as a lost shoe. It renders the pair useless, and speaks to me of a sad forgotten abandonment...maybe a little dramatic but you get the idea.

There is a huge amount of Mother grief for Items That Were Turfed By The Child, which friends and I have revisited in light of this incident. Don't get us started on the crocheted cat hat, the Sophie Giraffe teething toy, the patent red shoe.

Sadly I resigned myself to getting her some more shoes, and Savers provided once more, lovely ALL LEATHER boots, sadly plastic croc-alikes (je deteste) to take to Hong Kong on Weds, and an intriguing pair of yellow sandals for next summer, found in Footscray by Paula.

Friday we walked to school, and at a busy intersection, out of the corner of my eye, I saw brown fur lining peeking out from the gutter across the street. LEO STOP RIGHT THERE, I THINK I SEE THE BOOT!

Mad Mother races across the street, and salvages the boot from the gutter. Yes it has spent 5 days in the street, yes it has been run over, yes the zip is broken, but it is FOUND! I held it aloft and commuters no doubt thought I was crazy.

Turns out the zip has to be replaced, so I am lovingly hand stitching in a new one, going way beyond the $4 price of the boots, but they are so perfect. And yet I am not showing a picture of them, how frustrating for you! Here are her other shoes instead.





Oh lucky day, here are some images of her modelling the hoodie I recently finished knitting, and there are the boots too. Actually I think this was the day we lost the darn thing.


Such a strutter!

2 comments:

Sally B said...

Oh Emma how I do love your stories! We have some similar grief followed by overwhelming joy stories of lost and found. The stand out would be a very loved teddy being left in the broccoli at our local supermercado in Madrid, which was still nestled there hours later when we went searching! I am so glad that Hazie's boot found it's way home, albeit a little bruised from it's adventure...

Toru said...

I love this story too.
So true about the despair and fraught search for when a special something gets lost along the way.
I can imagine how stoked you must of been to spot that little boot again. yippee.
...And those yellow sandals do look interesting.