shoes for an offering

[asakiyume]

wakanomori ran in the Cape Cod Marathon over the weekend--in the teeth of an approaching nor'easter! While he was slogging it out, I wandered the coast, nibbling rose hips and admiring plants like this one, with soft, enticing seed heads. I found out it's called "groundsel bush," also sea-myrtle or saltbush (Baccharis halimifolia)



These patent leather shoes grabbed my attention, tucked just so on the other side of the wall separating the beach from the sidewalk. No one was walking barefoot on the beach except gulls and cormorants.



They look like shiny eggs in a nest.

Or like an offering. In The Snow Queen, Gerda gives her new red shoes to the river, believing that the river has taken her playmate Kay, and that by offering the river her shoes, she can induce it to give him back. But the river hasn't taken Kay.

These black shoes aren't near enough to the ocean to really count as an offering to the waves or tide, I don't think.

So if they're an offering, to or for whom?

Or maybe someone just doesn't like their patent leather shoes and has left them for someone else to claim.

Comments

[f0rrest]

You jumped to every conclusion except the most obvious. Those shoes obviously belong to someone who successfully completed the mermaid transformation ritual.

[asakiyume]

IT WAS STARING ME RIGHT IN THE FACE ALL ALONG.

Someone's traded in their legs for a tail--of COURSE.

[sovay]

These black shoes aren't near enough to the ocean to really count as an offering to the waves or tide, I don't think.

No, but you can leave them above the tide-line when you walk down into the sea.

(Yay, saltbush!)

[asakiyume]

When you're abandoning dryland for good, as f0rrest suggests!

(Of course you already knew this plant--of course!)

[sartorias]

Those are quite lovely!

[asakiyume]

I really enjoyed the wander! I got to a bike trail with all kinds of beautiful plants putting on their fall colors.

[sartorias]

I think the shoes belong to a time traveler whose clock was ticking...

[asakiyume]

Their clock was ticking! All sorts of possibilities there. Do you imagine them pursued, or hurrying to a rendezvous, or something altogether other?

[sartorias]

Someone must have been on a mission in our timeline, got caught perhaps by the fall foliage or just waiting in the water, then had to rush to the time machine lest they get lost in our time, or shift between times . . .

[asakiyume]

Love it!

[osprey_archer]

Lovely photos! How were the rose hips?

[asakiyume]

The ones in the picture, from Rosa rugosa (known as beach roses--I called them dog roses when I wrote the entry, but that's not right--will fix!), were so-so, but the teeny-tiny rose hips from Rosa multiflora were GREAT. 10 out of 10, will gather them and eat them. (They are highly invasive, so there are plenty everywhere.)

ETA: huh; I guess I didn't name the rose hips in the photo--nice save, self! So yeah, anyway: those are from Rosa rugosa

[light_of_summer]

Whoops! I think I accidentally posted the following comment anonymously, the first time I tried:

What fluffy-looking flower heads!

Interesting to see an unfamiliar plant that's native to the other side of the continent—thanks!

[asakiyume]

No worries! Since you also commented here, signed in, I didn't bother unscreening the other comment.

Yeah! I thought the fluffiness was so appealing--I'd never seen this plant before. Apparently it's very salt tolerant, so it makes sense that it grows by the ocean. Very pretty.

[pameladean]

Those look unsettlingly like a pair of my shoes. Most Mary Jane shoes don't have much support, but Propet makes a series of them on a walking-shoe last, and I snatched them up at once when I found this out. (You can walk miles in them, no problem; but if you scuff through them in autumn leaves, the leather will get scratched. Ooops.)

I have no folklorish solution but just wondered if the person had walked further than seemed feasible from a glance at the beach.

P.

[asakiyume]

As a kid I was desperate for a pair of patent leather shoes, but the yearning wore off with time. I still do love the shininess, though. How frustrating (but not surprising) that they scuff.

It's possible! It's a little chilly to be walking barefoot, but if they were a hardy soul, yes: I suppose they could have gone further than I saw at a quick glance. That's probably the most likely explanation, as the shoes were very carefully placed, not like something someone was abandoning.

[pameladean]

I really prefer the mermaid theory, but practicality will keep breaking in.

[asakiyume]

It will!

In the absence of definitive proof we can keep both possibilities alive.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, I meant to mention in response to your childhood longing for patent leather shoes that I had one too, and in my twenties I could not resist getting on deep discount (and no wonder) a pair of black patent leather Earth shoes. They were ridiculous and I loved them.

P.

[asakiyume]

Hurray! I'm so glad you got them!

One day I'll get myself a pair too.

[smokingboot]

I so loved this entry and the comments ❤️ Perfect faery.

[asakiyume]

💛💛💛