Post-Election Blues. . .

The upper half this morning, featuring a new handmade Italian necktie from Barney's in New York, courtesy of my younger sister in honor of my recent birthday. Yes, "that" birthday.

And the lower half.

A 50th birthday gift from my wife, the Grand Duchess, who presented me with this delightful briefcase from Allen Edmonds last weekend. It replaces a similar 13-year old Samsonite briefcase, which has looked a little long in the tooth for the last four or five years. This one is soft, supple, and the pleasant aroma of leather fills my car and office. Oh, and the car is an almost new Subaru outback with 4-wheel drive. Ok, so it's not the 1963 12-cylinder E-Type Jaguar convertible in British Racing Green with tan top and interior that I really wanted, but I suspect that car would not do well in the winter weather we have here in Mid-Michigan. Call it intuition.

You know, when all else fails, I enjoy thinking of my various interests and hobbies, which bring me joy even when too busy to actually indulge in them. So, let's forget recent events here at home for just a moment and think about things like clothing, toy soldiers, books, cross-country skiing, and jazz for instance in a desperate bid to restore needed mental and emotional equilibrium. Above are photographs of today's attire along with a new briefcase. My aftershave (cologne really) today was a tiny splash of Gray Flannel by Geoffrey Beene. On a normal day, I would have had a spring to my step.

-- 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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