Inaugural Outing of AE Schautal Wingtips/Brogues. . .

Here they are. Extremely comfortable. Full leather lining and excellent support as you would expect from Allen Edmonds footwear.

A chilly, sunny Monday in November here today, so perfect weather for tweed jackets, corduroy pants, and suede wingtips/brogues. I even managed to scare up a pair of heavy green laces sent to me by the Allen Edmonds people two or three years ago when they returned a pair of shoes post-recrafting. Glad I kept these in the shoeshine box, 'cause they don't look too bad here. It's funny, but when you've got interesting things to wear, suddenly Monday's don't seem as awful.

Feeling better about oneself and, indeed, whatever life drops in your lap -- via the the hated and feared email inbox -- between late Friday afternoon and early Monday morning (I do not check work-related email at home during the weekends) is an oft overlooked reason in favor of dressing more presentably. If more people dressed even halfway better than has become the accepted norm, I am convinced there would be fewer cases of depression and/or the general ennui that seems to afflict so much of Western humanity in the 21st century. Maybe if we looked better, we'd begin to feel at least somewhat better about ourselves?

I worked that one out during my first teaching job after grad school in the early 2000s when I began wearing a jacket and tie five days a week. We were not required to, of course, by the small Minnesota college where I landed that first job, but I know my chair appreciated it, and quite a few students commented favorably on it during my year and a half there. At the very least, I looked like I belonged at the front of the room. And, one day, I realized that "dressing up" four or five days a week really wasn't the hell that so many people mistakenly think.

My maternal grandmother, who was still alive at the time, agreed wholeheartedly when we discussed this point on the telephone one afternoon. I'm sure my grandfather, a retired executive who worked for many years in Manhattan, chuckled when she related the conversation to him later. He knew the old, long-haired rocker me you understand. It must have tickled them pink to discover that their 30-something grandson had finally arrived at certain conclusions for himself and taken steps to get with the program.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

I also wore some new Merino wool Argyll socks from Dapper Classics today , which were purchased during the recent Halloween promotion, 20% off all socks with orange in them. Couldn't resist. A very nice shot of the shoes too. Gorgeous and just the thing to wear with corduroy pants on a chilly autumn day.

And the very BOLD Southwick tweed jacket. A bit matchy-matchy with the orange today, I realize, but no one actually saw my socks as far as I know. Certainly, none of my students did since I always stand during classes.

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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