Autumn Is Underway!

The bottom half today. These shoes by Allen Edmonds are by far the most comfy of my four such pairs of long-wing brogues. Time to donate or sell a couple of the others I think.

Cooler weather is here, and I actually managed to get out the warmer attire for the fall and winter months yesterday and brush down and stow the lighter weight clothes in the hall closet at the top of the rear staircase. Today is mostly sunny, cool, and breezy, perfect for a tweed jacket, wool necktie, corduroy pants, and a pair of brogues. Here's a breakdown of the various items worn today:

* Gray and Charcoal Herring Bone Harris Tweed jacket w/real leather buttons -- Thrifted
* Land's End OCBD shirt with light blue and yellow tattersall pattern -- Thrifted
* Navy Wool Necktie w/mustard yellow and green foulard pattern -- Thrifted
* Brown, Dark Green, and Yellow Italian Silk Pocket Square -- Thrifted
* Land's End Forest Green corduroy pants -- Purchased On Sale
* Brown and Charcoal Argyll pattern socks -- '' "
* Land's End Brown Braided Belt -- " "
* Allen Edmonds "MacNeil" Wingtip Brogues -- Ebay

Who says you've got to spend a bundle to look halfway decent? I felt pretty good in any case since I prefer cooler weather, and Fall is my favorite season. It must have shown on my face and movement, because a student whose face I recognized, although I could not place her name, smiled as we passed each other on The Quad this morning and said, "You've got an extra spring to your step today, Professor von Boffke!"

Best of all, I finally made it to my tailor Mrs. V. with all of that stuff that has been hanging in the backseat of the car since last Friday, and tried on the various items for her to make notes for the necessary alterations. It seems, she will be able to let out the side seams of the double-breasted coat, part of that amazing flannel suit in a muted cream and charcoal Glen Plaid pattern, so that it does not pull at the buttoning point. Hurrah! I feared there might not be enough material left in the shell to do so, but Mrs. V. seems to think there is more than enough. Hey, she's the expert, right?

With any luck, I ought to have the suit back by midweek next week along with the other recently acquired cool/cold weather items! Stay tuned for a photo or two here.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

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Comments

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

The Power of Ideas. . .

T he end is nigh! The autumn semester/term approaches. And while we still have almost two months of summer left according to the calendar, "Summer is over and gone," as the crickets sang in Charlotte's Web . At least for those of us who head back to the classroom in less than a month. In advance of a meeting with my program director late Monday morning, I spent about 40 minutes total during the weekend to jot down several ideas about planned workshops and related activities for the coming 2024-2025 academic year. At an opportune moment, I mentioned "I have a few ideas," and opened my leather portfolio. My director was highly receptive to almost everything I suggested, and we had a very productive planning session for just over 90 minutes. Just about everything I sketched out on Sunday aligns with his own ideas. It's nice when meetings go that well, and two related things occur to me in hindsight. One, it pays to exercise...

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 19...

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