Blustery Saturday Errand Style. . .

Wife and child are away for a few days visiting grandparents, so yours truly has been left alone to run wild. In keeping with that theme, I headed out to run a few errands on Saturday midday, including dropping off a couple of warm weather things -- a beige suit and tan sports jacket with brown windowpane overlay -- at the tailor. These were left for later last fall.

Well, we have come to later, and warmer weather will eventually reach Michigan, so time to have a few last things seen to as part of The Great Alteration.

My other Saturday errand included a visit to the supermarket to pick up a few things. Most important was a new loaf of cinnamon raisin bread. Living out there on the bloody edge, I realize, but it is my favorite breakfast food, toasted or right out of the bag, and a couple of pieces go wonderfully with fresh, strong black coffee.

Otherwise, the wild abandon the last few days has included binging on various 21st century neo-noirs during the evenings, movies that are too psychologically dark for my wife to enjoy, including the Chinese film Long Day's Journey into Night (2018) by Bi Gan. A bit slow in places at 2+ hours in length, but definitely in the film noir camp, so right up my ally.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

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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

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