Welch on me; Re-sole, 2016; Rocka (your) Soul - 1964

please,

at a time when the forces around us here in the downtown
push more and more alcohol
as something that is cool
and coming
and whuzappnin now

make ours sparkling grape juice!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!



^,^

Re-sole, 

New Year 2016

SINCE 1960-SOMETHING
WE'VE HAD A FAVORITE PAIR OF SHOES
which have logged many miles on our feet.

They were made here in Wisconsin
by the Russell Moccasin Co
of Berlin, near Ripon.

We have mentioned them before
on these pages.

They finally
after all these years
 wore through the bullhide soles.

This is how they looked over a year ago
but we still wore them.

This Christmas Dee said she would give us
a resoling via Russell.

That was no small matter.
These shoes now sell for an impressive  $254.00
 known as 'Russell Oneida Saddle Mocs'.
(look them up)

Just resoling a pair costs more than a third of that..

Dee took some of her hard-earned money
to do this for 'us'!
We didn't want her to do it but she did anyway.
Boxed them up, got them off to Russell in Berlin WI

and now we await their return -
return freight prepaid.






I was introduced to Russell mocs by my dad, Leslie V. Dix I
- there are now three of them -
in the 60s.  Here we are shown on the front stoop
of one of the best cobbling shops in the world,  I say,
and so say quality-shoe-purchasers, globally.

Dad had been a long-established customer of Russell
by then.  Russell had several filing cards of orders
from him in the days before computerization.

Dad said the place was a site to be seen for sure
so we drove up one time when Dad was visiting WI 
from his home in VA.

'Unprepossessing' fits Russell  well.

A simple screen door served as the main entrance
into a small office and fitting room.
The smell of leather was definitely in the air.

In a large attached quonset hut-like building
sat three rows of working leathermen,
 many of them  long-time employees,
with the Russell
heavy old sewing machines and big hand-needles and awls
 a-flying.

They will soon
(if they haven't already)
turn their attention
to my old Oneida mocs which will come back to me
here at the Odd Fellows as good as new
with a well broken-in fit 
- for they are originals.

Dad got turned on to this little shoe company
in distant Berlin Wisconsin by then Supreme Court Chief Justice 
William  Douglas, Dad's friend,
who headed up the Chesapeake and Ohio RR Canal  hiking club
with several other notable DCers.

Many of them swore by the Russell Mocs
as did Dad when he got his,
and so do I, now.

Above are my last purchase, Russell snake boots
which I've called my Ringmaster boots.
They hang next to me at this sewing achine/desk,
gathering dust for some years.

Except for the dust, they good as new.
Other pairs of Russells are on hand here
under the bed or in the closet,
all frequently worn, for many years serving well!

I've not had to buy any more shoes, from then on out.

http://raccoonnews.blogspot.com/2009/11/i-beg-thee-pay-heed.html



^,^


Here
sits my Russell re-sole benefactor
woman of my dreams
having a malt at Sloppy Joe's
sandwich and ice cream shop
 on one of  the downtown Five
Points in Waukesha.

In the background is
the Odd Fellows hall where we live and work.
See the Odd Fellows pediment on the roofline
to the right of the more sterile across the street
National Bank bldg.

An interesting study in architecture contrast;
 there are many in our downtown home district.

Dee Dix, rocker of souls

In this one...

Dee holds and rocks her baby brother,  John Jr., in Pleasant Valley Md
in 1965.

I find this song from 1964
goes with consoler Dee's
healing work, of which I am just one
beneficiary!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdq4iilT-Js

It was a good decade
in many ways -
the sixties

as were the fifties 
when Dee was born...