Winter Sports 1935 Style. . .

An interesting vintage winter sports poster from the mid-1930s. Can you tell where my thoughts are this morning?

Well, we've had four or maybe five inches of crunchy snow on the ground since Monday here in Mid-Michigan. Not quite enough for cross-country (Nordic) skiing, but we are certainly thinking in the direction. The Young Master is due to receive some new skis, boots, and poles from ol' Saint Nick this Christmas since he has outgrown his inaugural pair from Christmas 2014, which he has used the last four winters (he's actually a pretty good skier at this point). Time for some longer waxless Fischer skis with normal step-in NNN bindings.

I too have a pair by Fischer that are really fast, but my go-to skis are a pair by Madshus that I purchased in Norway many years ago when I learned how to schuss-schuss-schuss through the snowy forests outside of Trondheim. These got a bit slow last winter, so I've just ordered some Swix base cleaner to remove almost 20 years of dirt from the kick zone and old glide wax from the rest of the ski bases.

Naturally, we are supposed to have somewhat warmer temperatures and rain for a few days before another cooling trend with the possibility of more snow, but we have almost a month before Winter begins in earnest. Plenty of time to clean my ski bases and those of the Grand Duchess, apply some new glide wax, and wait for the Young Master's new gear to arrive. Come on Winter!

-- 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

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