U.S. Thanksgiving Week Monday. . .

A blissfully quiet, early Monday here at the library cafe where I am checking email and taking care of a few other small things before meeting with (probably very few) students for class at 10:20. Somehow, the four-day Thanksgiving Weekend long ago morphed into a 10 to 14-day vacation, with many students missing in action well ahead of (and following) the holiday break itself.

Inexplicably and imprudently since the end of the fall semester/term comes hot on the heels of the Thanksgiving holiday, and there are always a number of students who can ill afford the self-imposed interruption in their work and focus. But, as the saying goes, you makes your choice, and you pays your price. Forethought and planning ahead no longer seem to be part of the genetic code.

Otherwise, an easy couple of days early this week before The Young Master and I bake a pie or two and prepare a few other dishes on Wednesday for the big day Thursday. Since our respective families are spread around the United States and far from Michigan, and we long ago decided to avoid chaotic holiday travel, it will just be the three of us. But we make it nice with a fully set table, special family dishes that we don't have often, and we get dressed for the occasion. As is right and proper.

Without a doubt, there will be "a coupla three" (as my much missed maternal grandfather used to say) such photographs shared right here later in the week. Stay tuned.

-- 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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