These little sweethearts have been my favorite boots for well over a decade. They’re black lace-up ankle boots with a wingtip toe and brogueing, and are super cute and comfortable, with a low heel and a gently pointed toe. I can dance in them, play the cello in them, be a pixie or a dryad or even an elephant in them. And… I’m really sad, because they are disintegrating and can’t be fixed (being made of fake leather), and they aren’t being made anymore. I’m now in the slow, frustrating process of shopping for real leather boots that both my feet and I like — and I mourn my sweet old boot-babies every time I try on a new pair. (I don’t really want a new pair; I just want my old boots to be young again!)

This piece started out as a semi-melancholy requiem for a dying pair of boots… but I soon found that there was no keeping these boots from dancing, even at this point in their life. <3 <3 <3 (Hmmm… since they’re such good boots, shouldn’t they go to heaven when they die? It seems to me that they should — after all, boots do have soles.)


Cello: Betsy Tinney