Pointe shoes. Dancing through the garden.

At this moment there is a series on Dutch television about the National Ballet. Appropriately it is called " blood sweat and blisters". After seeing several episodes of that series I hardly dare to write this story. Mind you I have really have an infinite admiration for ballerinas. But here is my story .....

At this moment it is time to deadhead the tulips in my garden. As you will know deadheading means removing the faded flower heads. In a border 5 m wide, filled with hundreds of tulips, it is not an easy job. It is almost impossible not to tread on the existing flowering ones.

Whilst doing so I imagine myself toddling through the border on pointe shoes, gracefully bending over whilst deadheading one tulip after another without – because of these small pointe shoes on my feet - damaging the ones still in bloom. Of course this is all my imagination. The reality is that I “carefully” step into the border on a pair of clumsy boots. How is that for carefully trying to avoid damaging existing flowering tulips?

Pointe shoes. I wonder what those would feel like on your feet? Painfully, says my eldest daughter. Nevertheless, I want to try some. Of course, I do not dare to go to a store and ask. They will probably mock me. Garden Woman wants to fit pointe shoes! So instead, I have ordered them on the Internet and a few days later they arrive by mail.

Of course I cannot wait to try them on immediately. Let me describe the process to you. The front of the shoe is very tough and can hardly be bent. It feels as if your foot is pressed into a tiny flowerpot! Next step, I try to stand on my toes like a real ballerina does. I have to support myself by holding one hand on the kitchen counter and the other on the kitchen table. Painfully? That is an understatement, it is just impossible to describe how much these shoes hurt!

Conclusion: Only in my imagination I can deadhead tulips on pointe shoes. In reality, I will have to stick to my clunky boots!

                                        Info about the garden, click here:

Deadheaded tulips in a basket.

Tulip border.

Pointe shoes. I keep dreaming....

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The reality. My work boots.