Since it's slowly warming up outside, I've been avoiding shoes and walking barefoot more again. I just read a little something about bare feet the other day in The Garden Cottage Diaries: My Year in the Eighteenth Century by Fiona J. Houston, a real-life account of the Scottish author's year of living as if in the 1790's. I was sort of surprised as I thought people wrapped their feet up in leather or cloth or something when it was cold out if they didn't own shoes.
"Few women, even respectable ones, wore shoes. Dorothy Wordsworth, visiting Dumfriesshire in 1803, remarks, 'met two well-dressed travellers, the woman barefoot.' John Ballantyne, who is in his seventies, can even remember women with bare feet and red legs in Glasgow shops in the late 1920's. My quest for authenticity stops short at this point. I shudder at the thought of crossing a snowy yard in bare feet."
Well, me too, Fiona. Makes me grateful for flip-flops even.
Then I saw this video about the health benefits of walking barefoot on Earth, as put forth in the book, Earthing. The term earthing is apparently interchangeable with the word grounding. I haven't read the book yet, but it's on my reading list.
If we walk barefoot a lot more this summer, then we'd probably need regular pedicures and foot massages, right? Sounds good to me.
if i walked barefoot around here i'd be bitten to death.
ReplyDeletegreat video. guess i should go back to walking barefoot in the house. i used to do that until i stepped on a couple of pins.
ReplyDeleteDeanna! What would bite you? I know you're in TX but what are the creepy crawlers there? You don't mean snakes, do you? Yikes. I'd be wearing leather boots in July in that case! I worry about pins, etc. too -- I knew someone who stepped on a needle and it disappeared into her heel and she had to have it removed surgically.
ReplyDeletewe have those big red fire ants that are very hard to control and they are vicious. i try not to use pesticides in my yard. i just treat close to the edge of the house or they come inside.
ReplyDeleteDeanna is right...those fire ants are evil! When my children were small I would not let them go out by themselves because of the fire ants. They were so young and I was afraid they would not see them and they did get bit a few times when my head was turned. :/
ReplyDeleteI can remember when I was a small child and did not wear shoes for the entire Summer! Freedom :)
I grew up in paradise (the Hudson River area of NY) and only wore shoes when they made me. As an adult it always interested me how often one could get away with being barefooted, if people noticed, they were afraid to comment, as if you were a lunatic. At work, in church, the post office, city streets - it was very different barefooted. I wonder how many people could say they rode the NY City subway barefooted?
ReplyDeleteDeb! Hey, being viewed as a lunatic gives an enormous amount of freedom -- I love that you've been so daring and that makes me think differently about it all, too. I mean who says we have to wear shoes all the time. Unless there's a sign on the door. Signs that shoes must be removed before entering, and signs requiring shoes be worn before entering! Where would you rather go? Ha.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I hope we see more bare feet in the future.
Marie, fire ants must be a force -- they're not a problem where I live although it seems like I've heard about them, but have never seen them (I don't think). I remember being barefoot most of the summer, too, and I grew up in a rural area -- getting new thongs every summer was a special ritual! I still remember stubbing my toes constantly riding bike on the gravel roads but evidently shoes just weren't an option!
ReplyDeleteAs soon as it's warm enough I'm barefoot as much as I can be...
ReplyDeleteHi Deb! -- same. Today I'm gardening as much as I can barefoot but put on my garden Birks for the wet areas. Though they'll be turned to hard crust by tomorrow, we're entering a hot & dry spell this week. boohoo
ReplyDeleteIf this were true, I'd be the healthiest human on the plant. I hate shoes.
ReplyDeleteCindy -- hey, ya never know, you may actually be in the healthiest percentile!
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