Feast of Stephen Casual Style. . .

Modelling a new rugby jersey, a Christmas present yesterday from the Grand Duchess.

Things are relaxed here at Totleigh-in-the-Wold the day after Christmas. . . but they are by no means sloppy. Corduroy jeans and a rugby top are every bit as comfortable as, and a damn site better looking than, ratty sweats and an old t-shirt or hooded sweatshirt. If you don't dress up a bit better than average for yourself, then at least do it for the others around you.

For Christmas Dinner yesterday evening, I wore an ocbd shirt in pale green and white university stripes with a red and white MacDonald tartan wool necktie, a navy double-breasted blazer, a pair of herringbone pants in a mottled brown with black tasseled loafers and black leather belt. The combo was topped off by a very festive red, navy, silver, and orange paisley silk pocket square that I purchased new several years ago just before Christmas in a downtown Chicago department style close to the annual Christkindlmarkt on Daley Square.

The Christmas and New Year's holiday period is a time to have a bit of fun with dressing presentably even though many of us are able to take some time off and remain at home among family and friends. I suggest we men pull ourselves together not because we must, but because we want to, which might require a shift in our general attitude about how we present ourselves to the world. . . and those nearest and dearest to us Would that really be so terrible a thing?

-- 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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