Letter from Berlin. . .

Yours truly earlier today, sporting a new haircut, courtesy of a small Turkish-German place five minutes away.

We've been here in Berlin for a bit over three weeks, where my wife is teaching a summer course at The Frei Universitat on German films and Berlin, with three weeks left before we return home to East Lansing. The weather here has been warm enough to keep things pretty casual where my son and I are concerned.

For example, I brought several pairs of chino shorts, and couple of knit short sleeve polo shirts, a madras, a seersucker, and a poplin shirt for example with my pair of Sperry dock-siders. Truthfully, these have sufficed most days. I did have the chance to put on some chinos, loafers, and a blazer last Friday evening to meet some colleagues of my wife's from The Frei Universitat.

Sadly, I have not yet had occasion to wear either my maroon knit silk tie, or my Madras tie. The few men I see in suits are usually poorly fitted suits with shoulders that are far ttoo boxy and sleeves that are far too long, but I'm nitpicking I suppose. Most young men around here are pretty trendy, or stuck in the early 80s punk scene along with some ugly 90s tats and facial piercings. Sorry for not being sorry about that, but there you are.

I did spot a very nicely dressed young couple about two weeks ago on the U-bahn one warm afternoon. Both were tall and blonde, but not excessively so. He was very handsome and looked like a 1930s movie star with khaki shorts, a tucked in blue oxford cloth button-down, and (surprise) something akin to leather dock-siders. She was stunning in a sleeveless black top, black shorts, and heels and two, or three understated pieces of silver jewelry. They certainly stood apart from everyone else and were Germans (I heard them speaking). So, there are people here in Berlin who get it.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

Cool enough today for tan Land's End cords and my Chucks!

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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