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.

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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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