Yeah I tried soap for cleaning, but I did not think of bringing a brush to the campsite really. I think there are just little cracks in the skin that are taking in the color. But as I said, there was no "clean" place to go anyways, so it did not matter so much. Thouch the forest floor of the forest I was sleeping in was pretty clean actually. It kept dry even after some rain, it consisted of needles and twigs - not much that really "rubs off" - it all could easily be brushed off. Forest floors are neat.
Thunderstorms - yeah they are interesting. I was out sampling in August on a lake. A thunderstorm came up and our hairs literally started to raise. It was quite a bit scary. There were a lot of larger trees around the lake and the lake was small, so I think the risk was not too bad, but still we decided to better just finish that one sampling run and then return to the boathouse...

Well, just like our fingertips and palms, feet have those papillar lines as well (lucky us barefooters, forensic experts don't take toe-print samples on crime sites as yet...), and dust or city dirt will stick to those and linger, leaving bare soles city-colored. I, personally, don't scrub my soles too often, relying on a few steps on grass (Mother Nature's footpad) to get them clean. Like you wrote, natural surfaces, such as forest floors, are way cleaner, indeed.

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

The skin does take in particles to some degree - a lot of effort will get it out, but probably remove some skin as well. I've got used to the bottom of my feet being slightly off colour, as long as I wash them when I get home.

International barefootjoy day - Sept. 28, 2011
 

Kaltxi Na'viyä lukpena venu (hello, barefoot people :D )

I've been pointed to a facebook group called "barefootjoy", who have created a quarterly event to clebrate the joy and fun of barefooting. They celebrate (and invite others to do the same) the international barefootjoy day on the last Wednesday in March, June, September and December - these being the months of the equinoxes and solstices marking the beginning of the four seasons... a neat idea, especially for barefoot beginners, and definitely better than being barefoot for some bogus charity reasons (such as TOMs day without shoes and the like). The general idea of these days is to get rid of shoes, walk barefoot as much as possible and discover, or re-discover the happiness and joy of pedal nudity.

Of course, for a barefooter every day is a day of barefoot joy, and I celebrate every day this way. Even more so, since I have two weeks off... a time of total barefoot freedom. The only downside is, that common cold viruses have been spreading at work, and I'm suffering from a violently runny nose and a cough at the moment. Nevertheless, this won't keep me from being barefoot outside as often as possible - especially with our current nicely warm and sunny September weather.

Ayvenzek alukpen rikx,
(literally: "toes naked move" -> wiggling bare toes :D )

~*Txim Asawl*~

It's raining heavily outside. Time for a walk. :D

That's the spirit! You know you're a barefooter when rain makes you happy - since you can enjoy wiggling your toes in puddles and feeling wet soil and grass underfoot...

http://www.barefoot-spring.net/baref...n040911-11.jpg

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

A barefoot sunrise stroll, with gathering good karma...
 

First of all, it might be a surprise that I did not post any barefoot weekend reports, even though the weather was fine enough with sunny skies and temperatures well above 20°C – perfect barefooting conditions. And since I have a two-week leave at the moment, I should be using every minute I can get to get out and let my bare soles feel Mother Earth's bare skin. However, I preferred to stay indoors, in bed a lot of the time, to sweat out the cold that had developed towards the end of last week, and which was, once again, just in time to hit me at the beginning of a vacation. Such has happened before and so I knew what to do. Weather forecasts were telling me of the warm conditions to stay for about another week, with temperatures presumably dropping lower (to around 15°C – still OK for barefooting according to my taste...) towards the end of my two weeks of barefoot freedom.

So, with the effects of the cold decreased to a minimum, I went out to do some necessary grocery shopping on Monday, trying out my new orange sarong – a wonderful color, bright and cheerful, matching bare feet just perfectly.

http://www.barefoot-spring.net/barefoot/mon260911-1.jpg

On Tuesday morning, my inner clock, still adjusted to the times of the working week, woke me up in the dark – and since I wanted to spend as much barefoot quality time as possible, I got up at around 5 am, fixed myself some coffee, did my usual morning ritual of sipping on that mug of coffee in the nude on my balcony and felt the mild morning air (15°C) on my skin with delight. To make this morning special, I decided to get to the park before sunrise, capturing the special mood of that time and watching the sun lighten up the eastern sky. There were some clouds in the sky, which meant that there were going to be some nice colorful views to be watched and marveled at.

Arriving in the park, the air felt so humid, that I cold almost grasp the dew from the air with my bare hands. I caught a lot of dew on my bare feet, to be sure, together with grass clippings, since the lawns had been mowed recently. Unlike people mowing their lawn who then sweep the clippings together (a barefoot gardening delight, by the way – lawnmowing and then sweeping up the clippings... I've done that in our garden as a kid barefoot, too), the municipal gardeners just left the clippings lying there, turning my feet into grass feet, since they clung to my dew-wet skin. Thus, walking barefoot over the dewy grass was a double delight this morning.

http://www.barefoot-spring.net/barefoot/tue270911-1.jpg

http://www.barefoot-spring.net/barefoot/tue270911-3.jpg

After crossing the lawns and arriving at the western corner of the park, I sat down on a bench, made myself comfortable and watched the sky beginning to light up in the east. A few people walking their dogs in the early morning gave me odd looks – partly because of my bare feet, partly because of the colorful outfit (orange sarong and a red t-shirt with a meditating yogini print on it). I just sat there, having a frugal snack for a second breakfast (a few slices of watermelon) and took pictures of the fiery sky unfolding as the sun rose.

http://www.barefoot-spring.net/barefoot/tue270911-9.jpg

After catching a lot of the mood in pictures, I went to one of my favourite spiritual places in the park – the three alders, my beloved threefold Goddess trees. On one of them, I placed a feather which I had found at the park entrance, a little Ganesha figurine, which I carry with me for good luck and lit two incense sticks, placing them next to the feather... not quite a true pagan altar, but enough for my taste to start a little invocation and meditation. Standing in the middle between the three trees, I planted my bare feet firmly onto the soft and warm soil (the soil always feels a little warmer there – that's why I call it a spiritual hotspot), spread my arms and began the first round of my breathing meditation exercise. Inhaling the sweet perfume of the Nag Champa incense burning while doing so, increased the feeling of taking in positive energy in the process.

http://www.barefoot-spring.net/baref...e270911-11.jpg

After finishing this first round of meditating and energizing, I decided to get a second helping, so to speak, and slowly walked over the cool and wet grass to a little copse of trees, that formed a natural dome between them. This is another of my favourite spiritual places, where I can be really in touch with Mother Earth, since the soil in that dome feels like soft forest floor, replenished with fallen leaves every autumn, adding a new layer of good Earth to feel underfoot. As I entered that place, with the morning sun filtering through the low-hanging branches, I felt elated.

http://www.barefoot-spring.net/baref...e270911-12.jpg

http://www.barefoot-spring.net/baref...e270911-15.jpg


But that feeling of joy was cut short abruptly, when I saw that one corner of that beautiful place had been littered with trash – mostly chocolate bar wrappings, an old supermarket plastic bag (ironically with the message "Der Umwelt zuliebe" - for the sakes of the environment – printed on it... an advice to use plastic bags more than once and not to litter), and even some used condoms...

But at least the people enjoying this place and making merry should have taken their rubbish out of there. The sad thing is, that no more than thirty feet away there is a trashcan... it would have been very easy to pick up that stuff, carry it there and deposit of it the proper way.

I sighed, took off my t-shirt, and barefoot and bare-bellied performed my second series of meditation exercises in that place, this time not only drawing up positive energy from the Earth for my sakes only, but also to send it out and enlighten the poor souls that did not see the beauty of this place and littered there without giving a thought. After feeling energized a bit more, I then decided to make amends by picking up that trash, using the plastic bag to stuff all those chocolate bar wrappings in them, the used rubbers, too, and finally lighting incense sticks to cleanse the place. One might call this a little extra karma service, an act of agape (unconditional love) for our Great Mother, or even doing some voluntary service to keep a nature monument clean. As I saw while cleaning the place, the trees forming this little copse are indeed tagged by the state as a natural monument - „Naturdenkmal“ in German.

So, by performing this spiritual and good karma service, I was also, incidentally, doing service to the state. Sometimes, doing so can be a good thing in many ways...

http://www.barefoot-spring.net/baref...e270911-19.jpg

Namasté,

~*Txim Asawl*~

My friend you are an inspiration to barefoot people everywhere. ;)

Irayo, ma tsmuke :D

well, mostly, I'm just my sometimes weird, wacky, flowerchild self... "weird" and "wacky" in the eyes of the so-called normal people, that is. And, honestly, considering what normal people have done to this world and other people, I'm happy being the weird and barefoot person I am. If I can inspire at least one other human being to be a little "weird" as well, I'm even happier.

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

For all you runners.
Take them damn shoes off.

Celebrating international barefootjoy day - Wednesday, 28 Sept. 2011
 

I had been pointed to the barefootjoy facebook group via another forum. While the group itself seems to be mainly a picture page of young women in their bare feet, with occasional close-ups of toes and soles, thus most likely a page aimed at foot-lovers and fetishists, the idea of a recurring day of enjoying being barefoot wherever possible is a good one. One note about the foot-loving and fetish aspect of the page: whatever floats someone's boat... I don't mind people looking at bare feet in this way and I have my own experience with admirers of my bare feet on the internet, including a very nice and steamy e-mail exchange with a gay male foot fetishist in my college days.

OK, back on topic. In order to celebrate my personal barefootjoy day during my two-week leave, I had contacted Sandra, an old friend of mine, who also joined a German barefooters web forum a little while ago, and we decided to meet in my old home town - where she still lives – for a barefoot visit to a café we used to go to for some hot chocolate in our high school days and a barefoot walk in the city park. Since the train I took to get there was running a few minutes late, I arrived just in time, about a minute late, and she was already in front of the café, looking out for a barefoot hippie person. She wore a flowing summer dress, since it was quite warm at 10 am already, and as she saw me padded over to me on her bare feet, smiling brightly, and greeting me with a hug, saying "There you are, my dear crazy hippie!", cheerfully.

We sat down in the outdoor seating area, ordering our drinks, chatting and letting the world pass by – including receiving "The Look"® for both our bare feet as well as my general outfit... as usual, I was spicing up my pedal nudity with four toe rings, several anklets, painted toe nails and my general buddhaesque appearance, wearing my orange sarong. Since my friend Sandra had always been tolerant and positive about my assorted weirdnesses, she was greatly enjoying the various reactions by the mainstream people passing us. After finishing our caffeine intake, we went for a stroll through the city park, enjoying sun-warmed paved paths and dew-wet grass, alternately warm in the sun and cool in the shade. She has been a barefooter since spring now, since an injury on her left foot has kept her from wearing shoes without pain. We exchanged barefoot experience, our favourite textures, she adored my toe rings and asked where to purchase those... two barefooters enjoying a sunny day. She's fortunate to be her own boss, running a dance studio for oriental dance, being a dancer as well as dance teacher, and therefore is a professional barefooter, too. After spending a very nice time exchanging memories and mementoes, and also telling each other about our different ailments increasing with age (we both chuckled at the old Indiana Jones quote "It's not the age, it's the mileage"), and agreeing upon both living a great life, despite little mishaps, she went off to run her other errands, and I decided to return to the café to play a bit more "culture shock" with the mainstream people passing me on the ped zone. We parted with a hug, and the promise to stay in touch – which will happen quite automatically via the barefooters web forum we're both members of.


After parting, I spent another two hours in the café, lazily letting the world walk past me. After a short while, a man sat down a few tables away from me with his wife, eyeing me several times, as if he had a hard time remembering who I am. Indeed, I knew that man, since he was one of my arts teachers back in high school and also a well-known artist from the region known as Alfred Grimm. He did not talk to me, though, and I did not want to intrude his conversation, but I kind of liked playing his barefoot enigma of the day... I'm sure that he talked with his wife after leaving the café, trying to pinpoint where he knew that barefoot, buddhaesque person from – of course, I looked quite different when attending high school and was only sporadically barefoot in summer back then.

After this very pleasant first half of the barefootjoy day, I went to the station, boarded a regional train back to the town I live in, went home for a belated lunch and later went for another barefoot stroll in the park, this time my usual park near my apartment. Since I went there after sunset, I also made it a bare-bellied and later also skyclad stroll, including nude tree-hugging.
:D

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

A special barefoot walk in the park...
 

My inner clock still runs early, making me wake up around 6 am. Considering the currently glorious weather at the beginning of October, with misty mornings, creating a sometimes eerie atmosphere, swiftly replaced by the sun, still shining with summerly power, I did not mind getting up early, at all.

Even though I had slept only a few hours, the morning coffee woke me up fast, and walking down to the park refreshed me quickly, too.
As soon as my bare feet touched dew-wet grass, feeling cold underfoot, I was wide awake, and the mood in the park was as special as the sunrise, sending rays of orange light through the mist...

http://www.barefoot-spring.net/barefoot/sun021011-1.jpg

Walking around in the deserted park, feeling the mist on my skin, powered me up even before I did my usual energy-gathering breathing meditation... I decided to give some love to Mother Earth, went to my beloved three alders, the Goddess trinity in the shape of trees, stripped naked, and turned to the Mother tree (the one to the right in the first picture below...), greeting Her, then taking Her into a loving embrace.

After sending my love to Mother Earth, I went to another place, still skyclad, and began my nude breathing meditation, drawing up positive energy standing on warm brown soil in the little copse, where I had done the good karma exercise recently.

This meditation, taking about ten minutes, refreshed me, as if I had slept more than six hours instead of just three the night before... My thanks to the Goddess for returning my love with Her benign and healing energy.

I then walked around the park, enjoying the changing temperatures, depending whether I walked on sunlit dew-wet grass or in the shade - the same pleasant variation of textures as I shared last Thursday with my dear friend Sandra, when we shared the fun of barefooting on International Barefootjoy Day (see previous entry).

Walking through the park, I sat down on different benches here and there, enjoying the views at the park in the low morning sun...

http://www.barefoot-spring.net/barefoot/sun021011-3.jpg

Since I had received an invitation to a birthday party on this Sunday evening, I had decided to put on some extra bling-bling... I had purchased some more golden and gold-glitter nail polish, adding an air of richness to my bare feet. Those golden toe nails also added a nice color contrast to grass, soil and leaves.
(I posted the bling-bling photos in my barefoot diary... including the tree-hugging)
;)

Walking around on the beachy-feeling sand paths, grass and soil had left my soles again beautifully earth-colored (I still don't call it "dirty"!), and feeling acorns and chestnuts in the grass provided some extra massage underfoot. In another place, a lonely yellow flower waited for me to compose a nice barefoot still-life with shiny toes.

Before parting with the nice scenery after staying in the park for about five hours - basically the whole morning until noon - a small butterfly fluttered by, almost hitting my face, before settling down on a leaf, doing the same thing I did... basking in the sun.

http://www.barefoot-spring.net/baref...n021011-12.jpg

A funny side note, or rather footnote (pun intended): as I was slowly strolling along the paths, looking like a living Buddha, a jogger came up, wearing only swimming trunks, shirtless, running at a quite fast pace on a stretch of rough gravel - barefoot. Well, that's the first time, I met another barefooter in the park...
And what happened? He gave me "The Look"® as he zoomed by, without a greeting. And I thought, I would only get this from mainstream shoe-wearing citizens, not from an almost nude barefoot runner... oh, well, there's always a first time for everything, I guess.

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txima Asawl*~

Gorgeous.

Haha - maybe there is a difference between barefoot walkers and barefoot runners ;)

Walking barefoot is kind of painful for me. Not for the obvious reason which everyone points out (you never do it so your feet are too soft!) but because I have flat feet. Every time I step on something which would normally be under the arch of my foot, tremendous pain. To my surprise though, toe shoes fit me very well and I wear them all the time :) mine are these http://74.82.161.138/wuzhixie/sites/...Sport-blue.jpg

I love them in all their flashiness :D