Saturday Farmers' Market Style. . .

The Grand Duchess and I ventured out to our local Saturday farmers' market late this morning for a couple of hours sans the soon-to-be-14-year old child. It was bliss.

Layered items for this chilly mid-autumn days included a vintage L.L. Bean Norwegian fisherman's sweater (from when they were still made in Norway), corduroy jeans, navy and orange ribbon belt, and flannel shirt, plus a the Classic Anorak shell from L. L. Bean, which I've had for over 20 years now.

And, of course, my Phi Kappa Phi ball cap since my hair needs a trim and would not calm down even after the usual morning brush before I headed downstairs for that first mug of coffee about 9:30am.

Of the hair, the less said, the better. Something between Ricky Nelson, Yahoo Serious, and Leonid Brezhnev. But back to the farmers' market!

Locally produced and grown items purchased included apples, fresh apple cider, maple syrup, and various traditional Chinese buns, with sausage and hard-boiled egg inside, plus deep-fried turnover dumpling thingies. A fresh coffee for me and tea for Sonja were also on the agenda. We then made the quick trip to a local orchard for apple cinnamon doughnuts and an apple slushy for the Grand Duchess. The doughnuts were still warm, which was an added treat.

Finally to the paint store and then home again as the rain resumed. Overall, a nice morning and midday out. And as the photographs illustrate, although it might be the weekend, one needn't dress like an 'urp-slop' to be comfortable and cozy.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

Comments

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

Search This Blog