Birthday Bow Tie o’ the Day is proud to present its party balloons to Mom today, on her 89th self-anniversary! This photo of Mom and Dad was taken at a Ruby River dinner for Dad’s 75th birthday party, in 2005. I chose it for today because I know Mom’s only real birthday wish is to have Dad with her every minute of every day. Together, Mom and Dad are an authentic, original, complete set. But for now, the family will do our best to fill in for Dad. We want Mom here for as long as she can stand to put up with us.
Skitter’s Bow Tie o’ the Day offers this photo as proof that I don’t always have to create a many-paragraph set-up to give you a guffaw. Nope. The title of this photo is Skitter Spends Time With Her Peeps, as in “people.” Groan over that pun.
BTW I bought these Peeps the Monday after last Easter. I’m saving them for a top secret TIE O’ THE DAY post activity this coming Easter. Stay tuned.
You are correct, if you think I gifted Gracie her Tie o’ the Day bib. Bishopette Collette sent me this photo of her and Bishop Travis’ Wonderment Girl a couple of days ago, along with an explanation that the little darling is wearing her tie bib to eat her very first peas. I think Gracie looks like she’s enjoying them. Or maybe she just puts on this gorgeous face for the camera when she knows she’s gonna be starring on TIE O’ THE DAY. Honestly though, I know for a fact she never takes off this endearing face. It’s the only face I’ve ever seen her wear. How can I not show her off, peas and tie bib and all?!
Face it, folks. Gracie is the newest part of my wild, neckwear-y, spectacular life. She fits right inside my bow-tied heart. Expect to see her here from time to time. If you are tired of seeing her pix here already, you should probably go ahead and unfriend me; unfollow me; and/or unsubscribe to the TIE O’ THE DAY tblog now. Oh, and then you should immediately go visit a therapist, cuz something is surely kaput with The Adorable-osity Detector in your brain. Just sayin’.
Because I had my mind stuck on Mom a few days ago, Bow Tie o’ the Day woke up Saturday morning and declared we were off to MCR. So we all got in Suzanne’s car and she drove us to the land of Deltabama, where Mom seemed mighty glad to see us.
Skitter did her usual curling up right by Mom, and Mom did her usual constant petting of Skitter. Mom and I did our same old Two Helen’s Telling Stories and Snort-Laughing routine. After a while, Suzanne left us and drove over to see her other Delta mother: Mom’s Crafts. When she came back to MCR, Suzanne showed Mom her new fabric, and then she lotioned Mom’s itchy legs. When it was time to leave, even Skitter wanted to stay with Mom.
It was such a simple day. And it was pretty much the same as every visit we make to Mom at MCR. We even laughed at a lot of the same ol’ family jokes and tales for the thousandth time. I am always amazed at how a day so “the same” and simple can feel like a kind of high Heaven.
Both times I’ve sat down at my desk to write TIE O’ THE DAY posts today, my brain has gone right to Mom. Clearly, I’m missing her bigly. I need to make another day-journey to Deltassippi ASAP. Skitter will certainly tag along. Suzanne will too, I hope.
This photo is from 2015. Again, Mom’s in my old Delta living room– drinking her Pepsi and peering out the window at the neighborhood’s comings-and-goings. It must have been a cold-butt day outside when I snapped this. As always, Mom was setting trends with her lackadaisical, tie-less style. It’s the socks that raise this outfit to a supreme level of Mom-ness fashion.
I can totally see Mom as a commercial fashion designer. She might have to create herself a designer-y name though: Oscar de la Mom-a. Tommy Helenfilger. Gloria VanderHelen. Grandma Klein. Diane Von FurstenHelen. HWNY. Dolce and GabHelen. HUCCI. Helenmut Lang. H. Crew. Heljimmy Choo. Helaxander McQueen. Paco Helbanne. Helentino. Ralph Helen. Yves Saint Helent. One of those could definitely work. If anyone can pull it off, it would be Mom.
I love running across pix of Mom. Here she is, sometime around four years ago, visiting me in my former Delta abode. When I was in town, Mom wandered over to hang with me two or three times a day. Usually, Mom held court on my porch, where we solved the problems of the world. We were laughing so hard about something one summer day on the porch that Mrs. Rowlette—who just happened to be driving by—pulled into my driveway and asked what was so funny. We invited her onto the sacred porch, where she laughed with us for the next hour. Mrs. Rowlette was not the first, nor was she the last, to find out what happened on the porch, stayed on the porch.
When the weather and temperature didn’t cooperate, this bigly chair by the bigly picture window at my place was Mom’s throne. Mom’s style needs no neckwear, although I’d give her the bowtie off my neck if she wanted it. And you can see where I got my basic fashion sensibilities, right?
What makes the splash of this look is the complete clash of forms. The shirt’s organic forms couple fabulously with Tie o’ the Day’s geometric forms. Here’s the design equation: organic shapes + geometric shapes = DANDY CLASH SPECTACLE! See, fashion math pays off once again for anyone who is gawking at it. The impulse toward true clash fashion should result in equal parts pop-up book pages, and basic eyesore. Take your pick. Just enjoy the choice.
Bow Tie o’ the Day pays tribute to the police officers and firefighters of 9/11. They did monumental and incredible work. They did their jobs, and beyond.
As a parent, aunt, and teacher, I have been asked many times why a police officer or firefighter gets all kinds of attention when they die. Kids see them in the newspaper and on the tv news, becoming famous (to a kid). And to a kid, it’s like the fallen get a parade on the way to their burial. One young sprite asked me, “Why are cops and firefighters more special than anybody else who dies?”
My answer is always simple. Police officers and firefighters are not better or more important than anybody else. They are not perfect. Some of them are jerks– as in any profession. But they all belong to us because they serve our communities. We ask them daily to do dirty, dangerous work in our cities, counties, states, and country. When something catastrophic happens, we all take our frightened butts and scram as far away as we can and as swiftly as we can. While our scaredy-cat selves are leaving the scene of the crime, the goal of first responders is to run right into whatever deadly chaos we want to escape. Their aim is to do whatever needs to be done to keep us secure and alive. They aren’t superheroes, but they are probably the closest thing we have to superheroes.
