Sporting birds and a sporting dog

As I write this, sleet is clicking off the windows, and while the temperatures weren't bone-chilling today, it looks like we've locked into a cold-weather cycle that isn't going to crack any time soon.

During these winter patterns, I often find myself going without a true jacket at work. Unless the temperatures are going to be warm enough where I can get by with something lighter (and by lighter, I mean a heavier tweed or my favorite camelhair herringbone), my cold weather uniform usually consists of a shirt and tie with a sweater of some sort over the top, with a heavier coat (like the pea coat mentioned in this post) to get me through the outside elements.

True enough, I could get an overcoat that I could then layer over the sweater combo and a regular jacket, but alas, I haven't yet found anything in my budget that fits my ape-arms.

At any rate, there's still plenty of ways to make things work.


This combo features the great pheasant tie I found recently paired with a Land's End pinpoint dress shirt and a Brooks Brothers cotton v-neck knit sweater. The red Pendleton scarf makes another appearance as well. If one can believe it, each of those previous four items were $2 each from a thrift store. Down below is a pair of black wool pants and some newer Florsheims that I wear when I think the weather is going to turn to muck (as it now has).


Minus the jacket, the outfit doesn't turn too slouchy, although it may be a bit on the Mr. Rogers side (but really, who isn't a fan of Mr. Rogers?). Elsa the sporting* dog enthusiastically agrees with my tie choice, and makes me look positively sleepy in comparison.

*If "sporting" is defined as an insatiable urge to chase tennis balls and any small toys that squeak