Post-Election Blues. . .

The upper half this morning, featuring a new handmade Italian necktie from Barney's in New York, courtesy of my younger sister in honor of my recent birthday. Yes, "that" birthday.

And the lower half.

A 50th birthday gift from my wife, the Grand Duchess, who presented me with this delightful briefcase from Allen Edmonds last weekend. It replaces a similar 13-year old Samsonite briefcase, which has looked a little long in the tooth for the last four or five years. This one is soft, supple, and the pleasant aroma of leather fills my car and office. Oh, and the car is an almost new Subaru outback with 4-wheel drive. Ok, so it's not the 1963 12-cylinder E-Type Jaguar convertible in British Racing Green with tan top and interior that I really wanted, but I suspect that car would not do well in the winter weather we have here in Mid-Michigan. Call it intuition.

You know, when all else fails, I enjoy thinking of my various interests and hobbies, which bring me joy even when too busy to actually indulge in them. So, let's forget recent events here at home for just a moment and think about things like clothing, toy soldiers, books, cross-country skiing, and jazz for instance in a desperate bid to restore needed mental and emotional equilibrium. Above are photographs of today's attire along with a new briefcase. My aftershave (cologne really) today was a tiny splash of Gray Flannel by Geoffrey Beene. On a normal day, I would have had a spring to my step.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

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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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