Ski Vacation Style. . .

A few photographs from our recent weekend skiing getaway to Northern Michigan. Amazing conditions. And amazing cold. -17 degrees Fahrenheit one morning. But cross-country skiing warms you up fast and keeps you comfortable all day long.

On Day #1, we skied at Cross Country Ski Headquarters outside of Roscommon, Michigan, just about five minutes from the charming little house we rented. Beautiful groomed trails and rolling terrain through the woods. Excellent for kids and people new to the sport although we saw our share of hard cases with their waxing benches set up in the parking area, applying appropriate glide and grip waxes for the day's snow conditions.

We use universal glide wax on so called "waxless skis" (a misnomer), with a fishscale grip pattern in the kick zone of the bases. The Grand Duchess, bless her, also has a pair of new skate skis (a recent Christmas gift from yours truly), which have no kick zone given the different technique used to propel oneself forward.

Day #2 and Day #3 saw us at the more challenging and extensive Forbush Corners Nordic Ski Center just north of Grayling, Michigan. Top notch conditions, more varied terrain, and, on some trails, pretty technical skiing .

Best of all, The Young Master can now tackle advanced hills, so there was almost nothing we could not do during our three days of skiing followed by comfort food for our evening meals -- tuna casserole, macaroni and cheese, and pizza -- and evenings by the fireplace with coffee, hot chocolate, wine that featured the most delightful conversations with my wife. I cannot recall when I have felt so relaxed and at ease. It has been a long, long time.

We had such a nice time, that we have booked a second VRBO rental in the same general area for a weekend in mid-February. This time, we'll explore the Hanson Hills Recreation Area, another extensive network of groomed trails outside of Grayling, and return to Forbush Corners (Yes, it's that good!). Looking very forward to our next ski getaway in February!

-- 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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