Question for the Community: Who makes the best tea kettle?

Photo by Salt Water New England

Who makes the best tea kettle?  Do you prefer using an electric tea kettle or stovetop?  

Bill Bryson on Small Pleasures

Photo by Salt Water New England

Wrote Bill Bryson <https://amzn.to/43tfza6> in Notes from a Small Island  <https://amzn.to/4qUrHe7>:

One of the charms of the British is that they have so little idea of their own virtues, and nowhere is this more true than with their happiness. You will laugh to hear me say it, but they are the happiest people on earth. Honestly. Watch any two Britons in conversation and see how long it is before they smile or laugh over some joke or pleasantry... 

And the British are so easy to please. It is the most extraordinary thing. They actually like their pleasures small. That is why, I suppose, so many of their treats - teacakes, scones, crumpets, rock cakes, Rich Tea biscuits, fruit Shrewsburys - are so cautiously flavourful... Offer them something genuinely tempting - a slice of gateau or a choice of chocolates from a box - and they will nearly always hesitate and begin to worry that it's unwarranted and excessive, as if any pleasure beyond a very modest threshold is vaguely unseemly...

All this is completely alien to the American mind. To an American the whole purpose of living, the one constant confirmation of continued existence, is to cram as much sensual pleasure as possible into one's mouth more or less continuously. Gratification, instant and lavish, is a birthright...

[G]radually I came round to their way of thinking and my life has never been happier. 

New Sweater Arrival from Bosie - This One is For the Men!

Photos by Muffy Aldrich

Fresh from Scotland, four new Men's sweaters from Bosie.  Two, above, are familiar styles.  

• Blue Mogganer North Sea Chunky Seamless Supersoft Shetland Sweater - Pineshadow Green <https://bosie.co/products/blue-mogganer-north-sea-chunky-seamless-supersoft-shetland-sweater-pineshadow-green>

• Blue Mogganer North Sea Chunky Seamless Supersoft Shetland Sweater - Heather Purple <https://bosie.co/products/blue-mogganer-north-sea-chunky-seamless-supersoft-shetland-sweater-heather-purple>

And the two below are brand new.  All are from the Blue Mogganer Collection.

• Blue Mogganer Ganjey Heritage British Breed Gansey Sweater - Cheviot Ecru Undyed <https://bosie.co/products/blue-mogganer-ganjey-supersoft-shetland-sweater-ecru-white>

• Blue Mogganer Explorer Extra Chunky Seamless Supersoft Shetland Sweater - Oceana Blue <https://bosie.co/products/blue-mogganer-explorer-extra-chunky-seamless-supersoft-shetland-sweater-oceana-blue>

The familiar, the North Sea Shetland, the four-ply version of the favorite standby.  For those who love their Shetlands but need a wee bit more warmth.  Shown here in particularly good colors of Pineshadow and Heather.  

And the new, the Ganjey, in their own unique dialect, Bosie's take of the classic but obscure Gansey, a style worn by the fishermen from the old herring fleets from the Northeast of Scotland.  Offered in three colors, this wool is from a hardy British Breed of sheep,  read that not as soft as other wool.  But not super rough either.  Shown here in Cheviot Ecru White.

The other new style is the Blue Mogganer Explorer in Oceana Blue.  A 6-ply chunky Shetland, the bad boy of Shetlands.

While these are for the lads, they are eminently abscondable by the lasses.  All made in Scotland.

Blue Mogganer Explorer in Oceana Blue

Blue Mogganer Ganjey in Cheviot Ecru White

 

The Dartmoor Tweed Field Coat for Men from Cordings, Made in England

All Photos of Muffy Aldrich

Cordings of Piccadilly has a fantastic new tweed for their already fantastic tweed field coats for Men.  100 % wool, Made in England, and all of the superior shooting details you could ask for.  Nobody does it better.

Perfect for shooting, or here, just keeping me warm while I try to remain upright in the fierce wind coming in off the open Atlantic.

• Dartmoor Tweed Check Field Coat <https://www.cordings.co.uk/us/dartmoor-tweed-field-coat.html>

Shown with their Navy Douglas Rollneck, 100% wool, Made in Britain.

• Navy Douglas Rollneck <https://www.cordings.co.uk/us/navy-douglas-rollneck.html>

Past season Cordings cashmere lined Nappa Leather Gloves for Ladies, available now in Red or Navy, Made in Italy.

• Navy Cashmere Lined Nappa Leather Gloves <https://www.cordings.co.uk/us/navy-cashmere-lined-nappa-leather-gloves.html>

• Red Cashmere Lined Nappa Leather Gloves <https://www.cordings.co.uk/us/red-cashmere-lined-nappa-leather-gloves.html>

Past season silk Chasing Scarf, Made in England.

• Classic Men's Scarves <https://www.cordings.co.uk/us/menswear/accessories/scarves>

And

• Galway Ladies Country Boot - Mocha <https://us.dubarry.com/products/ladies-country-boot-mocha-galway>

 

A Reader Question: How do you give, donate, or sell garments you no longer want?

 A reader question:

Hi Muffy,

I wonder if I may ask the readers a question please.

I regularly clear items from my closets that for whatever reason I have stopped wearing. They are always in excellent clean condition with lots of wear still in them. Currently I am having a more serious "cull".

I always take these garments to our local cancer charity shop (Yorkshire Cancer Research - I live in the U.K.) and never consider selling them myself despite them being high quality items in excellent condition. I have got to know the married couple who manage the shop on a voluntary basis very well and they always tell me they're pleased to see me because of the quality and condition of the items I donate, on which they make good money for the charity which is very close to my heart. (This morning I took in a number of knitwear items for which they were very grateful)

I would like to ask the readership what they do with their garments if they decide they no longer need or want them. Do they sell them or do they donate them to charity as I do?

Kind regards

Autumn Shirt Promotion at Cordings of Piccadilly

Photos by Muffy Aldrich

Cordings of Piccadilly is once again having their "Buy Two Shirts, Get One Free" promotion.  They have a slew of new tattersalls along with the old favorites, both made of 100% brushed cotton (middle and right in top photo) as well as 80% cotton, 20% wool (left in top photo).  

But it is not just tattersalls.  They also have shirts in Chambray, Linen, Poplin, and Oxford.  And in solids and ginghams and stripes.  A great time to stock up.

• Men's Country Shirts <https://www.cordings.co.uk/us/menswear/shirts>

Shown in order:  

• Green Wine Medium Check Tattersall Shirt <https://www.cordings.co.uk/us/green-wine-medium-check-tattersall-shirt.html>

• Green Purple Large Overcheck Tattersall Shirt <https://www.cordings.co.uk/us/green-purple-large-overcheck-tattersall-shirt.html>

• Brown Blue Small Tattersall Shirt <https://www.cordings.co.uk/us/chestnut-navy-small-tattersall-shirt.html>

• Blue Brown Fine Tattersall Shirt <https://www.cordings.co.uk/us/blue-brown-fine-tattersall-shirt.html>

• Green Purple Fine Tattersall Shirt <https://www.cordings.co.uk/us/green-purple-fine-tattersall-shirt.html>

• Sage Cresta Tattersall Shirt <https://www.cordings.co.uk/us/sage-cresta-tattersall-shirt.html>

• Blue Cresta Tattersall Shirt <https://www.cordings.co.uk/us/blue-cresta-tattersall-shirt.html>

 

Going Minimalistic with my iPhone

A Screenshot of my iPhone

As social media and news becomes increasingly more toxic, where what you see is controlled by algorithms rather than your preferences, it makes sense to throttle one's exposure.     

Yesterday I decided to streamline and minimalize my iPhone, getting closer to a Light Phone approach.  This included: 

• Eliminating scrolling apps, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Google News.
• Eliminating color and subtle animations.
• Eliminating pop-ups and notifications.

I even took weather and tides off. 

Technically, I did the menu using the free (wonderful if not quite perfect) app called Smile App Launcher.  I customized the text and used it as a widget on my home screen.  Then I set my iPhone to dark mode, with large icons set to clear, and a black background.   This is just an experiment, so I did this as a focus mode, which gives me the ability to go back and forth between my Light Phone aesthetic and normal iPhone effortlessly.  In the short time I have run this experiment, I have found that I want this Light Phone focus to be the default. 

Is this "The Thing Before Preppy"?  Is this "Salt Water New England-y"? I will leave that to others to mull.   But it is part of a welcome trend to balance the conveniences and necessities of technology (such as, for me, this blog) with the realization of not letting it go to far. 

 

New from Cordings - The Navy Portsmouth Peacoat for Men, Made in England

All Photos of Muffy Aldrich

A Peacoat should be 100% wool and 100% Made in England.  

The Navy Portsmouth Peacoat from Cordings of Piccadilly is precisely what I am talking about – a pure coat made the way they are supposed to be made.  At a time when so many wool garments are being watered down with synthetics and production is being moved to "imported," this peacoat jumps out.  

• Navy Portsmouth Peacoat <https://www.cordings.co.uk/us/navy-portsmouth-peacoat.html>

Robust is an understatement when talking about this fabric – 24 ounces of pure and heavy wind-defying British wool, with a collar that stands up properly.  

It is not necessary for a Peacoat to have a very snappy red tattersall wool lining.

But it is awfully fun when they do.  

The sleeves are lined with the Cordings gold satin, and the buttons are made of real horn. 

 

Preppy Style: A Modern Guide to Timeless Fashion.

Thank you Rosalyn Gomersall for the lovely reference in her new Preppy Style: A Modern Guide to Timeless Fashion.  And thank you to Quartro Publishing for sending it along. (Some may know Quarto as the publisher of The Bible of British Taste.)

Preppy Style: A Modern Guide to Timeless Fashion

By Rosalyn Gomersall

Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group

Hardcover | ISBN: 9781577155461 | $22.99

Release Date: October 14, 2025