Saturday Skiing Style. . .

The Grand Duchess and Young Master clown for the camera mid-ski this afternoon.

Following The Young Master's usual late Saturday morning and midday Tae Kwan Do training online, the three of us had a quick lunch, and then suited up for some family cross-country skiing. We've been lucky the lest several weeks and have managed to hit the trails often, sometimes daily for at least an hour or so, either separately, in pairs, or as a family.

Today was no different, and conditions were ideal once again. Silky groomed trails, slippery "just glide waxed" skis, temperatures in the mid-20s Fahrenheit, mostly sunny, and quite a few families with children or teenagers skiing classic diagonal style as well as others employing the more physically demanding skate skiing technique.

Many people in Michigan know how to enjoy the winter. The parking lot of our local ski area was actually full, and everyone we met along the trails was having a delightful time regardless of their skill level. If you'll pardon my use of the term, happiness is contagious.

The three of us finished our afternoon jaunt with mugs of hot cocoa topped by loads of small marshmallows back at home (less than a ten minute drive). A pizza delivery just after 6pm and the second Harry Potter movie on DVD followed before The Young Master's bedtime. As awful as the the last year has been in so may ways, today was a much needed slice of pretty darn good. More winter fun outdoors is planned for tomorrow with tobogganing and additional skiing.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

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Up North Style. . .

Bad Dad makes a friend. YMP and Bad Dad on the shores of Lake Michigan. Or was that Crystal Lake? The Grand Duchess takes a selfie in her kayak. How NOT to impress the girls sunning themselves along the river. YMP and Bad Dad kayaking on the Platte River headed toward Loon Lake. J ust back from a week in Northern Michigan in a charming and spacious house on the banks of the Betsie River outside of Thompsonville. A largely pleasant seven days despite some challenging episodes with the Young Master, who has picked up some very questionable habits and language from his friends in the 8th Grade during the school year just ended. But otherwise, we enjoyed ourselves and contemplated remaining for a few days longer since the house was available. In the end, we decided to return home as planned originally since neither my wife, nor I wanted to spend the remaining days chained to our computers in Zoom meetings from our vacation destination. I actually managed to leave the laptop and ip

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

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 1970s, aka The Stone Age. As it is, my sister and

Classic Style

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