May 12, 2004

cobblers, haberdashers and fixer-uppers

Donning appropriate-for-walking-lots-and-lots-of-blocks shoes, I left work yesterday and headed down to the Hammerstein Ballroom for C’s art show. The humidity, the heat, the hour of the evening mingled, and one (one!) glass of wine later, I was rocked.

Jabbering like a madwoman, I made totally irrelevant conversation with C’s parents, friends, and even complete strangers. Brilliant.

Dzu (my new friend, by virtue of his not seeming at all put off by my animated chattering) and I had toured the art show floor, both in love with the shoes-as-art.

“Imagine being a cobbler?” Dzu asked as I admired a pair of evening shoes made entirely out of ribbon.
“It would be handy”
“I mean, say one night you’re going out, you have a fan-tastic outfit and all it’s missing is the right pair of shoes. And so you make them. Seriously, good talent to have.”

We wandered some more.

“Or a haberdasher,” he said. “They make hats.”
“I’m going to stick with cobbler. Hats are sort of faddish. Shoes are forever.”
“True.”

We left the event and made our way toward Grand Central; it was nice out and a walk was just the sobering-up I needed. As we were exiting the theater, Dzu stopped and spun around.

“This is where all the hot guys are. Out smoking!”
“You don’t want one of those, honey. They die young and get all leathery.”
“That’s why you lather them in cream. Besides, I consider every smoker a fixer-upper. They all want to quit.”

We walked to the subway, went our separate ways, and when I exited the 86th Street station, it was raining. I kept my umbrella stowed in my bag and walked four avenues in the rain. At home, I peeled off damp layers, grabbed a good book and Kitten II (Sir Halitosis Maximus) for a snuggle, and thought,

This city just keeps getting better.

Posted by This Fish at May 12, 2004 09:10 AM
Comments

What is up with kitty and doggy breath? Ah, well I guess it would be that they don't brush everyday like we do or well, should.

I once slipped a breath strip into one of my dog's food dish with her food.

Sadly, it didn't really help. Though it was hysterical watching her chomp that thing down.

Posted by: GrumpyBunny at May 12, 2004 10:10 AM

Kitty breath is sweet perfume. (If you keep telling yourself that, then maybe you'll convince you.) The alternative? No kitty! I like the kitty breath.

Although, word to the wise-- never, ever, smell your cats paws. (No!!! DON'T DO IT!!) Don't ask me why I did it, but I really regretted it.

Glad to see you're well enough to walk-- maybe the neck/back thing is better? I did send some back pain fairies a note about hooking you up with some curative fairy dust. So hopefully that got through. Those fairies send things by word of mouth, though, so it took a while to get from Texas to NYC. :)

Posted by: Kim at May 12, 2004 01:38 PM

but...haberdasher is such a great word! wouldn't you just love to show up at family reunions with that?

Posted by: shivery at May 12, 2004 02:59 PM

I have two cats...they curl up nice at night. I'm serious! And who's this C? Should we Internet admirers/stalkers of H. be jealous?

Posted by: Michael at May 12, 2004 04:34 PM

I share a dog, joint ownership, I have visiting rights :-)

Posted by: Jonathan at May 12, 2004 04:38 PM

not to be pedantic but a milliner makes hats (my grandmother was one); a haberdasher simply sells the bits and pieces to milliners, seamstresses and cobblers...

Posted by: El at May 12, 2004 06:32 PM

I believe you are mistaken.

haberdasher

\Hab"er*dash"er\, n. [Prob. fr. Icel. hapurtask trumpery, trifles, perh. through French. It is possibly akin to E. haversack, and to Icel. taska trunk, chest, pocket, G. tasche pocket, and the orig. sense was perh., peddler's wares.] 1. A dealer in small wares, as tapes, pins, needles, and thread; also, a hatter.

Posted by: Fish at May 12, 2004 07:04 PM

Although Haberdasher is somewhat accurate, Milliner is the more correct or specific word

Main Entry: mil·li·ner
Pronunciation: 'mi-l&-n&r
Function: noun
Etymology: irregular from Milan, Italy; from the importation of women's finery from Italy in the 16th century
: a person who designs, makes, trims, or sells women's hats

Posted by: Katherine at May 12, 2004 08:00 PM

exactly...WOMEN's hats. My friend, being male, was probably less concerned with making a lady's hat when he went out on the town...

haberdasher was originally given to mean hatter, but later took on the connotation of seller of assundry menswear items.

above all, the fact that it was my friend who said it, and not i, makes this whole correction bit irrelevant, one should think.

Posted by: Fish at May 12, 2004 08:34 PM

i love Dzu. and all-ribbon shoes.

Posted by: julia at May 12, 2004 08:35 PM

ooh, me, too.
he thought i was funny; i thought he was keepable.

Posted by: Fish at May 12, 2004 08:37 PM

I was in "The City" last New Years Eve. I noticed half the bar at each place we visited was outside smoking. Damn the Bloombergs, but praise them too-- it was easy getting into most places :-)
oh, btw, it's houuuuston, not hoston!

Posted by: Jager at May 12, 2004 09:35 PM

Sweet Jesus. I was just about to diss El's definition of a hat maker for the sole reason that I had an unfortunate encounter with a boy whose surname is milliner, when, and I swear to the goddess here - emailed me. I really need to get out of this office.

On another note, The City sounds fabulous. And I so want a pair of ribbon shoes. V jealous, Ms Fish.

Posted by: Dani at May 13, 2004 05:17 AM

On another note... my dog's paws smell like Fritos. What about Kitten II's? Did you smell his paws yet? ;)

Posted by: Sara at May 13, 2004 08:21 AM

oh lord no! his breath is bad enough.
actually, he has pretty fucking adorable paws.

Posted by: Fish at May 13, 2004 08:44 AM

Apologies for my pedantism, t'was not intended to offend or bring up any bad memories(Dani)...but my Oxford Dictionary of Current English does seem to support my claim: n. dealer in accessories of dress and in sewing goods :)

Posted by: El at May 13, 2004 08:03 PM

My cat's breath only smells bad after she's been cleaning herself, although her fur smells almost not at all. Maybe to do all that salivating for cleaning she has to ... ok, you know what, I'm not going to even go on with that thought. I don't think I want to even ponder why. By the way, have we met? Are you friends w/ sidewaysjen and/or ever been to her apt.?

Posted by: craige at May 17, 2004 01:33 PM