Minimalist First Sunday in Advent Style. . .

We take a relatively understated approach to seasonal decor around Totleigh. Best to keep clutter to a minimum so that we aren't sick of Christmas by the time it actually arrives. Know what I mean?

And we have had a few inches of snow here in The Grand Duchy! The next three weeks or so will, invariably, be a bit busy as the semester winds down. However, probably like many people, I am looking very forward to Advent and the Christmas season.

In the meantime, it's back to the salt mines tomorrow (Monday) as my much missed maternal grandfather used to joke. We have not been entirely inactive since Thanksgiving Day. This year's Christmas wreaths have been hung on either side of the front door, and the icicle lights suspended from the eaves along the front of the house (our sole concession to seasonal exterior illumination). Most of the leaves have been sucked up from the lawn by now, and the snowblower even started on the first try this morning.

You know. Just to be sure it works when we actually need it. January through early March can be quite snowy here in Mid-Michigan in a good year.

On that note, and most important, the cross-country skis stand waxed and at the ready in the garage. Winter can begin in earnest.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

24+ hours of very light by steady snow yielded this delightful scene from the rear of our house this morning. Many people dislike winter and complain endlessly about it, but we look forward to and enjoy all that the season has to offer time and weather permitting. It's just one of those many small bits of joy that are all around us everyday if we bother to notice.

Comments

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...

Classic Style

Search This Blog