Find Pleasure in the Small Things. . .

A calm Norwegian meadow in full summertime bloom.

Average guys who are aware of the need to kick up their everyday style several notches realize that it's about more than clothes, shoes, and how you conduct yourself at the dining table or with colleagues on the job. Being a stylish adult male in the broadest sense also includes slowing down, disengaging, and taking pleasure in small, often overlooked activities as a way of recharging the mental batteries. Here are just a few activities that help yours truly:

1) Doing the wash, folding, hanging, and/or ironing it and taking silent pride in a job well done.

2) Reading the paper on a Sunday morning.

3) Enjoying a quiet afternoon at home without the TV blaring or sitting before the computer.

4) A quiet walk around the park or your neighborhood with your spouse or significant other.

5) Time spent in quiet, calm interaction with your child (or grandchild).

6) A good book and a cup of fresh coffee, or an occasional nip of something medicinal.

7) Preparing and cooking a really nice meal at home (NOT microwaveable food either).

8) Writing a handwritten note, or even letter, to an old friend or close family member.

9) Taking comfort in quiet time alone to reflect, collect your thoughts, or simply allow your mind to go blank.

10) Taking care of a few small errands for the one you love most without waiting for a request to do it, or a thank-you for having done so.

Without a doubt, there must surely be many more ways to slow down and smell the roses, figuratively speaking, but these ten points will help get you started. Be sure to leave a comment or two with additional suggestions that I've neglected to include here. Thank you in advance.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

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Up North Style. . .

Bad Dad makes a friend. YMP and Bad Dad on the shores of Lake Michigan. Or was that Crystal Lake? The Grand Duchess takes a selfie in her kayak. How NOT to impress the girls sunning themselves along the river. YMP and Bad Dad kayaking on the Platte River headed toward Loon Lake. J ust back from a week in Northern Michigan in a charming and spacious house on the banks of the Betsie River outside of Thompsonville. A largely pleasant seven days despite some challenging episodes with the Young Master, who has picked up some very questionable habits and language from his friends in the 8th Grade during the school year just ended. But otherwise, we enjoyed ourselves and contemplated remaining for a few days longer since the house was available. In the end, we decided to return home as planned originally since neither my wife, nor I wanted to spend the remaining days chained to our computers in Zoom meetings from our vacation destination. I actually managed to leave the laptop and ip

Mid-June Thursday Style. . .

A nother pretty typical variation on the theme for late spring, summer, and very early fall. I'm a huge fan of Madras and have several such shirts in the seasonal rotation. Lightweight, exceedingly comfortable, and even dressy when pressed and tucked in, which is the usual way of things here at Totleigh in the Wold. Now, if I had my druthers, I'd still rather be skiing the trails in the upper half of "The Mitten" (of Michigan), in the Upper Peninsula, or Ontario. But summers ain't so bad either, and I'd look pretty funny walking around in cross-country ski attire during June. -- Heinz-Ulrich

A Lazy Saturday at the End of June. . .

A sleepy first half of the weekend here at Totleigh. Warmer and quite humid ahead of an approaching cool front here in Mid-Michigan. Perfect for yet another pair of chino shorts an a seersucker shirt -- tucked in of course -- with the usual leather deck shoes and ribbon belt. Otherwise, not much accomplished beyond a page or so of writing and monkeying around with audio settings for an upcoming podcast episode. However, I was not completely useless yesterday! I made a huge fruit salad for dinner, which the Grand Duchess and I enjoyed a short while later at the table on the back porch. The Young Master, as is his wont on Saturday evenings, took his dinner on a tray in the TV room upstairs where he whiled away a couple of hours on Flight Simulator, flying some sort of commercial airliner to some destination across the Atlantic or Pacific. I would have loved that sort of technology at about nine or 10 way back during the late 1970s, aka The Stone Age. As it is, my sister and

Classic Style

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