Pastry Style in Ann Arbor. . .

The Grand Duchess and I enjoyed a grand day out on Saturday, when we drove about a hour southeast of East Lansing to Ann Arbor for brunch, some tooling around various favorite shops, and stop at our favorite patisserie-cafe before heading home late in the afternoon. As we walked along hand in hand toward our first destination, shortly after parking the car, a passerby remarked that we were a striking couple.

I don't know about that, but it was nice of the woman in question to say so. The Grand Duchess, by the way, wore a navy dress with a navy cardigan over her shoulders, a pair of low black heels, and pearls. She was certainly the more striking of the two!

It was, we discovered, graduation weekend for the University of Michigan, and there were actually many male graduates and family in suits or sports jackets with neckties milling around along with tastefully attired women of various ages dressed to the nines. Great to see actually, and an indicator that many remain aware of and dress for special occasions.

A stark contrast to most of the student body and family I observe here in East Lansing for similar occasions. One of several clear differences between a flagship and a land grant university I suppose. Location, location, location as the saying goes.

In any case, Sonja and I had a wonderful day just the two of us and consumed far too many culinary treats of one kind or another, but just such a getaway sans child was looooooong overdue. About 14.5 years to be exact. Not that I'm keeping track or anything.

Speaking of which, the Young Master returned from his whirlwind class trip to Washing, D. C. very late last night. He apparently saw a lot and had his own nice time away with classmates and teachers. God bless Mrs. K. and Mr. R!

Escorting and safeguarding approximately 30 8th Graders through airports on the way to and from another city several hours away is certainly not a task I would ever consider. Thank goodness for those with the patience, tact, and kind nature necessary to do so however.

-- 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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