More Advent Tweed and Plaid. . .

Thought about a suit today. But since I must meet with a few different students to, essentially, tell them "No" to requests for extra credit, or that making up 15 weeks' worth of missed work in just a few days before the term ends is neither realistic, nor possible, I need to appear less threatening.

That might seem funny were it not the case.

So many people view suits negatively now, and most undergraduates in Michigan are not used to seeing men attired thusly, so I decided to go with tweed and cords once again. You know. To appear more approachable and friendly as I tell them, "Sorry, but no. Students have enough to do already without throwing something together in a hurry at the last minute for a few points."

After two Covid years, students are suddenly coming out of the woodwork in great numbers with these kinds of requests. If they would simply a) do the work, or b) produce stronger work to begin with, these kinds of predictable discussions would not happen. We really are doing our best as a society to raise young people who cannot plan ahead, self-regulate or otherwise cope with their lives.

Sigh. But let's talk clothes instead!

A combination of items today that seem to gel better than yesterday's various pieces did. You cannot go wrong with a herringbone pattern grayish tweed jacket and tan cords. Snow, rain, or a sloppy mix of both predicted for tomorrow (Wednesday), so this will probably be the last time for a while that suede shoes are part of the mix.

The Grand Duchess and I are playing hooky tomorrow (Wednesday) and driving down to Ann Arbor -- once the Young Master boards the school bus -- to visit a cafe, pick up my skis with newly mounted bindings, and do a bit of shopping/looking around. Should be fun!

I'm thinking a navy vintage 'Made in Norway ' L.L. Bean Norwegian fisherman's sweater (Two of mine have been in the rotation for 30 years or so) and -- Wait for it! -- a pair of tan corduroy jeans along with ski socks and my venerable L.L. Bean duck shoes.

-- 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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