Valentine's Day Skiing Style. . .

Part of the trail system in the vicinity of Lake Lansing here in Mid-Michigan.

After a 9am meeting this morning on campus -- a very pleasant meeting by the way thanks to the personalities involved -- I had the day to myself and decided to hit the trails given our cold and snow here.

Just 10 minutes from the house, I enjoyed a wonderfully invigorating 90-minutes skiing through the woods and across fields at a leisurely pace. Besides brief and happy chats with two or three other skiers going in the opposite direction and two different couples snow-shoeing through the woods, I had the place to myself. I arrived home tired, relaxed, content in the way that only extended physical exercise permits, and with a clear mind.

If only I could manage this sort of thing three or four times a week, my stress level would be considerably lower. Hmmmm. . . I might have to purchase some of those fancy roller skis for dry land training during the summer. Now, THAT would give the neighborhood something to talk about!

That goofy observation notwithstanding, there are those little bits of magic all around us everyday if we simply take the time to stop, look, and listen. Today's magical ski tour was a fine example thereof. At the risk of sounding like a certain Hugh Grant movie, magic is all around us. Sometimes, we just have to find it.

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The Young Master has a special Valentine's 'Parents' Night Out' event at his Tae Kwon Do studio this evening for three hours, so The Grand Duchess and I plan to try a new Indian restaurant and then enjoy relaxed cups of coffee (for me) and tea (for her) after dinner before retrieving Paul at 9pm for the trip home. As the song by ABC used to intone way back in the early 1980s, "Shoot that poison arrow into my heart!"

-- 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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