Casual July Style. . .

In full summer mode here a few days after the 4th of July holiday. Here's the attire for the day, an old (almost 25 years) cotton twill shirt from L.L. Bean and a chino shorts from Land's End that are at least 10 years old. The shirt is actually more orange than it appears here.

Frayed in places and no longer suitable to wear away from the house, but but still works for some light yardwork outside late this morning and a large glass of mango juice over ice on the back porch afterwards. Tucked in, of course. A navy and orange ribbon belt from Leather Man or C.C. Prep completes the picture although it is not visible here.

In other news, The Young Master earned his red belt in Tae Kwon Do last Saturday. The Grand Duchess and I are so proud of his focus and determination over the last 3.5 years. With any luck, we will have a black belt in our midst this time next year. And possibly (hopefully) assisting his instructors when he turns 14 in the fall of 2023. Cross your fingers and toes.

-- Heinz-Ulrich.

The Young Master and The Grand Duchess after the new belt ceremony last week.

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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

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

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