A Sunday Tae Kwon Do Gala Event. . .

While The Young Master needs to retest for his board breaks in two weeks before he can advance officially to Black Belt Recommended status (testing was midday Saturday), we are still attending the special late Sunday afternoon Tae Kwon Do gala event in a little less than two hours at a hotel in East Lansing near campus.

I finally decided to save the evening wear for a little closer to Christmas and New Year's Eve, opting instead for a festive version of blazer and tartan trousers along with a recently acquired Robert Talbott self-tie bow tie, which I managed to nail on the second attempt after almost a year since the last time I wore a similar piece of neck wear.

And I've gotta say that I kind of like it! A nice change from the usual long necktie. Now, don't worry. I'm not about to go all George F. Will, or Irving R. Levine on you, but I might just shake things up in 2023 with the occasional bow tie. They aren't that hard to tie, and the slight asymmetry adds visual interest to any ensemble.

-- Heinz Ulrich

Sunday Evening P.S.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the incredible positivity during this evening's gala dinner and recognition of various Tae Kwon Do students of various ages and abilities. And I preface the following as a confirmed pessimist and cynic. But it really and truly brings a smile to one's face cheering for all of these adults, teenagers, and children about to attain their black belts, or who have moved on to a first, second, third, or fourth degree black belt.

Often in the face of various physical, emotional, or other "life" challenges.

The Young Master and a few others, who must retest on their board breaks in a couple of weeks, still received their special black, gold, and red belts, signifying their Black Belt Recommended status, because, as their lead instructor, Master Fayette, told the room, "In their hearts, they are already black belts. They just have to demonstrate that they can do what they already know." Once they do so, they have the honor of wearing their new belts, the most attractive one yet.

It was a very special evening all around, and our son mentioned how much he enjoyed it as he climbed into bed a short while ago. Clearly, there is still plenty of good in the world. We just have to find it beneath all of the unpleasant stuff clouding our vision.

And as a sartorial aside, there were even a few men and boys in suits, or sports jackets and odd pants combos, and neckties sprinkled around the room, including a few bow ties, among them a family sharing our table. And one man, bless him, in full black tie.

H-U

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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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