Self-Confidence Is Vital. . .

This photograph is not mine but comes from the Generation Rescue website. Generation Rescue is set up to assist families with children on the Autism Spectrum by providing support and guidance to various resources.

Papataxi was in service this (Saturday) morning, shuttling The Young Master to his weekly piano lesson and Tae Kwon Do class. He was amazing to observe during the 40+-minute session at the latter. Markedly improved coordination, balance, and kicks. He also worked with a partner (A small girl. There are many of various ages in the class.), who helped him with his blocks and punches. I've tentatively scheduled him for his Orange Belt test at the very end of the month! One of the directors and I also have a progress meeting about ten days in advance of that.

The transformation our son has undergone in about two months, thanks to these lessons, is almost head spinning. At times, he is like a different child at school, home, and therapy as well as during Tae Kwon Do. Improved focus, compliance, self-reflection, determination, and physical coordination. His social skills have leapt forward as well thanks to working with various other children and young teenagers in the class. The class is also diverse, with numerous Indian-American, African-American, Latino, and Asian-American kids at various skill levels practicing and working along with their white counterparts. It's really kind of nice to witness the high degree of respect and interaction taking place as the children work toward their various and common goals

Best of all, there is plenty of positive talk from the masters who teach at the start and conclusion of each week's class on less concrete concepts like self-confidence, self-respect, perseverance, and putting one's best foot forward in every activity and interaction outside of the studio. Extremely solid advice for anyone in view of the anything goes attitude that seems to prevail across so much of society in 2019.

-- 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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