Keep It Simple, part 3

At long last, the sun shines bright and temperatures soar into the balmy regions! Only one thing to do: pack up the wife and kids and head for the seaside. I love to visit the ocean. And I don't just mean trips to the beach involving coolers and swim suits. As long as I'm not wearing socks and can roll my pants up I'm set. The act of walking barefoot into the sea for the first time every year is always a profound experience for me.

It is, however, still April. If it were June, I could pull all manner of madras and seersucker craziness, but how does one remain appropriate and stylish in the heat a full month before Memorial Day? The answer (as usual) is : keep it simple.

A white tennis shirt,

Some khakis and a surcingle belt,

boat shoes without socks.

As far as I'm concerned, its classic and easy "no-brainer" looks like this that make all that crazy pastel stuff work so well. This outfit is all about warm weather, and yet I don't find any of it terribly inappropriate for late April.

I chose to top it off with vintage glass-lens Ray-Bans and a Red Sox cap. Let the anti-baseball cap comments roll, fellas! Just remember, I'm from Boston and the Yankees are in Fenway Park tonight. Say what you will, but if wearing a Red Sox cap and listening to ball games on am radio isn't American traditional, then I don't know what is. As for keeping it simple, I will only wear a navy cap with a red 'B' on it...no t shirts, no bumper stickers, no team logos on my atm card...just a proper fitted official cap...on Saturday at the beach, or for a trip to the supermarket, or at the playground with the kids., orfor a picnic of fried whole-belly New England clams, served on a cardboard beer tray, from Woodman's of Essex. No trip to the seaside is complete without fried clams for lunch. I am truly a man obsessed when it comes to this. This stuff will destroy your heart and arteries, but it's one of the most compelling arguments for living in Boston. Today I looked at my seven week old daughter and said to her "One day when you're my age, I hope you tell a story that begins 'I f my Dad didn't get his fried clams every time we went to the beach...' "

So remember, keep it simple: put on some clean clothes, take your kids to the beach, gorge yourself on fried food, develop a mild sun burn, and finish it off by drinking wine on the front porch with the wife. What else is there?