As I've also previously noted, I have a foolish and perhaps even dangerous predilection for plaid trousers.
And so:
Heavy wool flannel, soft as cashmere, $3.99. ( Go ahead, who will be the first to say "sometimes you get what you pay for, buddy."?) I simply couldn't resist. They went straight into the winter storage box, but come September, after the tailors shortens and tapers the legs, they'll really be something. 
Anybody know anything about Spotwood? My search came up cold.
Mrs. G. looked more than a little worried. My father said "You get it from your grandfather, he always wore crazy stuff like that." But the cloth was so damn nice.
Trust me, with the right blazer or a white cable knit sweater, I know I can pull these off. I've got six months to figure it out. I think I may be forced to host a cocktail party in December, complete with egg nog, mulled wine, and port wine cheese ball.
I admit I have a problem....
p.s. as for my recent absence: not only to I tend an infant and a toddler, but I have also deemed it fit that this should be the year I finally read Ulysses by James Joyce. My friend, and sometime commenter here, Pasquale, a fellow product of Jesuit high school and Irish half-breed who attended college in Dublin, has tried to get me to read it every June for the past 14 years or so. This time I swear I'll do it. 'Tis a bit time consuming, though...
