How to Handle Compliments. . .

Mavis: "Oh, Percival! You dance marvelously. Almost as though you are moving on air." Percival: "Why, thank you my dear!"

As a man who dresses and presents himself to the world with intent, sooner or later you will receive a compliment about your general appearance. Or a particular item that is part of your overall presentation.

Strangely, compliments make a lot of people uncomfortable. Daily kindness to each other has become so rare in 2021 -- even among people living in the same dwelling -- that many are left unsure how to handle unsolicited pleasant remarks or observations about attire, eye glasses, well-shined shoes, an interesting pocket square, one's smile, or a firm handshake for instance.

Just one more sign of the graceless age in which we live. Once common niceties of the (fairly recent) past, it seems have been relegated to the social dustbin of history.

The sad result is that we have been left unable to navigate what used to be fairly easy social interactions. As a solution to potentially awkward moments, however, let's take a page from my late maternal grandfather's book.

If and when someone pays you a compliment, simply reply like this.

"Thank you!" See? That didn't hurt.

After you have responded graciously to said compliment, continue through the rest of your day with a tiny spring added to your step. Rest assured, there are still people who appreciate and "get" the well turned out man.

As I have mentioned before here at Classic Style, compliments are never necessary, but people appreciate them when offered. Little, seemingly insignificant utterances that nevertheless make others feel good about themselves. Occasional compliments also pick up our own flagging spirits if and when something nice is said to us about our appearance or demeanor.

And goodness knows after the year or so all of us have endured, that is nothing to sneeze at. To paraphrase the inimitable Nick Lowe (with a little help here from Elvis Costello), what's so funny about presentation, grace, and complimenting?

-- 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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