Solstice Tuesday Style. . .

Well, ok. Maybe not quite Minnesota cold, but markedly colder here in Mid-Michigan the last couple of days with, possibly, a significant snowfall in the next few days. We will see what actually transpires.

Besides the usual items (corduroy jeans and Rugby pullover), today's attire includes a very heavy wool duffel coat that I've had for quite a few years, and a long woolen cap, purchased in Røros, Norway way back during February 2000. It comes out at this time of year, and I embarrassed my son by wearing to it to take him to Tae Kwon Do classes this morning -- Like us, he is home on Christmas Break now. -- plus a few additional errands once we finished there.

Røros is inland, close to the Swedish border, and I visited with a few friends for the annual winter festival, held each year in February. A snowy, scenic, and historically interesting town,, but NEVER have I been as cold as I was on that day. I purchased the three-foot long stocking cap as an added layer to have atop my head, over my ears, and wrapped around my neck.

When worn with a Norwegian sweater, the stocking cap makes one look like Julenissen or Tomten, the Norwegian and Swedish elf-like figures that live in the barn, bring good fortune to the farm, and deliver gifts to children on Christmas Eve. To keep your nisse or tomte happy, it is imperative to leave a bowl of porridge in the barn for him, so that good fortune continues in the coming year.

If I can convince my wife to stop laughing long enough to take a few photographs, I might just share a picture here that illustrates what one of these Scandinavian figures looks like.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

Comments

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

Search This Blog