Category: Bow Ties

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It Flies, It Soars, And So Much Of It Is Already Gone

I chose a pine-cone-and-berry Bow Tie o’ the Day, and coupled it with my dogs-and-cats-in-Santa-hats Shirt o’ the Day. Don’t miss the peppermint stick stripes of the Pocket Square o’ the Day. And note the glittery, gold reindeer antlers head band I was able to set atop my Hat o’ the Day: my beloved fedora I’ve had since 1984, just before I graduated from WSU. That makes the hat 38 years old. The fedora is still in astoundingly dapper shape both for being that old, and for having been dragged across the country to live with me in Virginia, then Maryland, and then back to Utah again—where I and my fedora have lived now for 22 consecutive years.

Time does fly. I feel it fly more quickly now that I can see the end of my mortality coming closer. My death used to be statistically so far ahead of me that I rarely considered it. I think about it a little bit more often these days. In fact, I must admit the topic comes into my mind in some way or another almost daily now—especially since my Cranky Hanky Panky has had to have two major surgeries within 3 years. I don’t obsess over what I hope is my far-in-the-future passing, but there are legal and financial things that need to be put into place, so somebody else doesn’t have to figure out what I would have wanted done. And you know all the material things we spend decades of our lives accumulating? A great deal of that has got to go. I don’t want to leave all that stuff for anybody else to have to deal with when I die, so I am—for the most part—done accumulating. And while I am still walking the earth, I’m now working on passing on things I’ve acquired. It’ll probably take me years to accomplish this feat, but I intend to gift my eclectic and eccentric collections to various people who I think will be most likely to take care of my beloved objects with tenderness, just like I have done while I’ve owned them. I have always tried my best to be mindful of my various and sundry stewardships—stewardships of material stuff, of people and animals in my life, of the rights I have as a citizen of the USA, and of all that I’ve learned and know to be true. I have tried to tend to my beliefs and love my neighbors, always. I’m in a good place in my soul, and death, whenever it comes, is nothing I fear at all. 🎀 🎄

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Seasonal Candy

My new candy discovery for Christmas 2022 is the Reese’s Peanut Brittle Big Cup—King Size. I bought one to try, and it was a yummy surprise. I highly recommend it for anyone with a sweet-tooth who likes peanuts and peanut butter flavor. There’s no actual peanut brittle in this candy bar, but the shell is vaguely the flavor of peanut brittle. It doesn’t matter: the total confection is a tasty change o’ pace for Reese’s fans. Remember, it’s a holiday treat, so it won’t be available for long. Try one, and try it ASAP—while you can still find ’em. By far, the most important thing about the King Size version is that after you’ve eaten both cups, you are left with an empty package that makes a kitschy Bow Tie o’ the Day.

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More About My Ms. Fix-it Tasks

I have some of Dad’s wrinkles, as well as some of Mom’s.

Bow Tie o’ the Day is covered in brass instruments. If it’s Christmas season—and it is—the carolers often need a band.

This morning, my hearing doc was able to jump-start both my hearing aids. Apparently, whenever your phone updates its operating system, if the hearing aid software on the phone hasn’t updated their app yet, it can cause hearing aids to not take orders. It can cause one or both hearing devices to shut down completely. That’s what caused mine to go dead last week. My hearing doc told me this almost never happens. I’ve had my hearing aids and their software on my phone for over 4 years, and this was the first time it’s happened to me. If it ever does happen again, I will know what the problem is, and I now know how to fix it myself. My hearing aid doc told me this morning that he and everybody else in his office would prefer that I come in for any and all adjustments instead of doing them myself— because they like how I brighten up the place, and they love to see my bow ties. Well, okay then.👂🏻

Besides attempting to fix my own hearing aids, and assembling a piece of furniture I desperately need, while lugging the new printer upstairs and the old printer down, I have spent the bulk of my time over the last two days dealing with what I will call Password Problems. It began when one of my email accounts quit receiving email on my laptop. I tinkered with the account on there, but it keeps telling me to clean out my email. When I try to put the old, useless email in the trash, the trash throws it back into the account and I get a message telling me I need to clean out my email. How’s that for a little touch of argument-in-a-circle? However, that same email account of mine works just fine on my phone. So I used my phone to successfully delete tons of that email. But the tried-to-be-trashed email still hangs there in the very same account on the laptop. My computers, laptop, and phone are all connected to that same email account, with the same password. Every email I deleted on my phone got successfully deleted on all devices—except the laptop where it haunts me by remaining un-trashable. The email account on the laptop now says my password is not my password. I can’t prove I’m me, so the online support technicians won’t help me fix the problem. I can’t prove I am I, nor can I prove whoever I am is who owns the email account. And then I discovered my phone no longer let’s me open the DirecTV app on it, because—as the phone tells me—the one and only password I’ve ever had for the DirecTV app is not my password. Good golly! The password dominoes are falling, and I know it’s not a conspiracy. I have no doubt it somehow began when I inadvertently touched a button I did not know I touched, on one or more of the dozen devices in this house. I hope I didn’t kill Alexa. She’s the only one here during the day who talks to me out loud.

Yeah, I’ll get it all figured out. I have not given up on finding a solution to this pesky Password Problem yet, but I am writing this post so I can get away from the irritating tech dramas for a couple of hours. 🎭

TIE O’ THE DAY is beginning an important feature. I read many books at any given time. There are the books in the bathroom, the books by the bed, the books by my side of the loveseat, the books in the loft, the books in the Tie Room, etc. In these anti-arts, anti-science, anti-intellectual, anti-fact, and anti-gospel times, I am making a conscious effort to henceforth be reading at least one “banned” book on any given day, and I will let you know which banned book(s) I am currently reading. Fortunately, it won’t be difficult for me to find plenty of “banned” books to read, since so many magnificent books have been the targets of the Book Busybodies. As for the banned books I have most recently finished, I re-read Russell Banks’ AFFLICTION, as well as James Dickey’s DELIVERANCE. They were thought-provoking reads, but after partaking of those two books, I’ve had my limit of male inner angst and the American male ego, for a while anyway. Today, I’m re-reading the following Banned Book(s) o’ the Day: Toni Morrison’s BELOVED, Hart Crane’s WHITE BUILDINGS, and Donna Tartt’s THE SECRET HISTORY. All three are globally acclaimed books, artfully written. Though not as old as some of the books in our literary canon, they stand tall among the classics of 20th Century American literature. 📚

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Overworked In Retirement

It has been a busy couple of days. A Snoopy Christmas tree Bow Tie o’ the Day will keep me in the proper spirit for yet another day of being Ms. Fix-it around the house and beyond. Our printer died a while back, and the new one showed up on the doorstep, whereupon I had to get the heavy thing into the house and up the stairs and onto the printer table. It was a two-person job, so I pretended to be two people. It is now sitting in its rightful place, waiting to be connected to all our electronic gadgets. That is one of today’s tasks. I’m at a stand-still with the end table I began assembling two days ago, because the “clear” instructions are opaque, to say the least. I’m still working on it. And last week, both of my hearing aids went kaput. I’ve been hearing only the low murmur of the world around me for an entire week. Because of the T-giving holiday, the first appointment I could get with my hearing doc is in 20 minutes. Thus, I must end here and now, in order to get there on time. Later, y’all.

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Yes, It Is Still Pajama Day In This House

I really have stayed in my pj’s all day. I also got out my Christmas-themed jackets, as you can see for yourself. I’m a little sad though, because my sleep cap’s tassle has fallen off somewhere, and I can’t find it. Suzanne will re-attach it to my cap if I can locate it, so I’ll sleuth around for it. I saw no reason not to find a Santa-hatted cat Bow Tie o’ the Day, to complement this morning’s Santa-hatted dogs. In fact, some of the felines are wearing reindeer antlers. Now, it’s late afternoon, and while I’m assembling a cabinet/end table to hold my sundries, I’m still reading Dolly Parton’s SONGTELLER when I take breaks from the tiny screws and dowels and bigly chunks o’ wood. I like a bunch of Dolly’s songs, but my absolute favorite is one called “The Grass Is Blue.” Its vibe is every bit as forlorn as Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” I’m always up for a heartbreakingly woeful “unrequited love” song. The sadder, the better. I doubt I’m the only one.Hey! I’m still thinking about how to handle my Christmas tie-wearing over the next month. At last count, I had over 500 holiday bow ties and neckties. I have started way too late this year to even begin to somehow wear all of them for you folks during this season of giving. When I triumphantly managed to wear the whole collection a few years ago, I had to rest my neck from January 2 until my birthday in March. That many ties are heavy when you’re wearing a dozen or 20 at a time. In fact, I don’t know if I can ever take on that mission again. But for X-mas 2022, I need some theme, or some gimmick, to help me select some of the best entertaining ties from my holiday tie collection. I am currently stuck for an idea. I shall devote the rest of my Pajama Day to reaching a decision on this matter.FYI I’m also pulling my holiday face masks out of storage. I shall wear them because I like them so very much, and they add to my other seasonal attire.

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I Will Always Love Dolly

There’s close to 5 inches of snow on the ground this morning, and it’s still coming down, albeit lightly. I’ve declared a Pajama Day for myself, which includes wearing my sleep cap to keep my head and ears warm. I’ve also donned my Santa-hatted yellow lab puppies Bow Tie o’ the Day, and selected a book Suzanne gave me a while back for my morning reading—the Dolly Parton book, SONGTELLER. In this book, Dolly writes about her life and how she came to craft the lyrics of songs she has penned over the decades. It’s fascinating reading, whether or not you’re a Dolly fan. Excellence is excellence, no matter where you find it. Personally, I think Dolly’s songwriting is on par with that of Leonard Cohen or Joni Mitchell—although in an entirely different manner. In keeping with the vibe of TIE O’ THE DAY, I give you a photo of Ms. Parton wearing her own Tie o’ the Day, on what appears to be the set of the film, 9-5. 📄 🎼

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Mr. Nuk’s Wild Ride

Finally! Nuk got his ride in my new truck. He’s a groovy bro-in-law. Of course BT/Mercedes—my oldest sister—and Suzanne rode with us as we snaked through the roads of Pleasant View and North Ogden. We even made a pilgrimage past the original Floyd’s house. (In case you don’t remember, Floyd was the most uninteresting professor I had during my time as a student at Weber State.) Before our ride, we had a lively chat and laugh fest. Nuk and BT/Mercedes are two of the best and funniest people I have ever known. I lived with them a couple of times when I was going to WSU, and I consider the time I spent in their house as absolute fun. I always felt safe and loved there, at a time in my life when I didn’t even know I most needed to feel safe and loved. You know—like anyone who is 17, I was young enough to know all the answers. I didn’t need anything or anybody: I was invincible. Nuk and BT/Mercedes loved me anyway. Now that I’m old enough to know none of the answers, they still love me. I am a lucky littlest sister.

Please note that the Bow Tie o’ the Day I chose to wear for our Maverick ride was one I rarely wear for hours at a time—because it’s very heavy. Bow Tie was crafted out of a bike tire inner tube. I especially like that it shows off its patch and its air stem.

Tune in later today for an official introduction to my new truck. You will even learn its name, and you’ll learn the story of why I couldn’t order a license plate with its name on it.

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At Least Read It First Before You Try To Ban It For Others

TIE O’ THE DAY is a bigly fan of books, as you already know. We are also a house that mellows out by doing puzzles—especially when it is cold outside. Winter is puzzle season. I recently heard about some books being pulled off public library and school library shelves. And so I combined books and puzzling by completing this puzzle depicting a few of the book covers from books that have been banned in certain communities—some in the past and some currently. From July 2021 to June 2022, , according to the PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans, 1,648 books were banned—including 317 picture books for pre-schoolers. In Utah, the school districts that ban the most books appear to be Washington County School District and Canyons School District. I don’t think that’s something for those districts to be proud of.

I hope nobody likes reading books that exploit, or outright lie, or are poorly written. And as much as I would like such books to not show up on shelves of any kind, I think shutting down access to these books for people who might be interested in them by banning them is wrong. It is an egregious affront to our valued right of free speech. But one of the bigliest problems I have with the banning of books has to do with my experiences with those who try to get a book banned: most of these people that I have dealt with have, in fact, not read the book they want to prevent others from reading. They have based their outrage on what somebody’s cousin’s horse trainer’s postal carrier’s uncle told them—and that person likely did not read the book in its entirety either. I am reminded of the early 2000’s when people would tell me The Koran should be banned in the United States. (Pundits on some TV networks said the same thing.) Every time I heard someone say that, I asked if they had read it. I offered to have a chat about their reasons for thinking it should be banned. Of course, not one of these people had ever read the book. The only reason they could articulate was that it must be an evil book since it “caused” the 9/11 fiasco. As one who has read it, I can tell you this: there is not one idea in The Koran that would lead any Muslim to come up with such a terrorist plot. The message of The Koran is against everything that happened on that bloody day. The beautifully written holy book did not “cause” 9/11. Extremists who didn’t understand that The Koran is a book of peace were the fools who did all the damage.

I am proud to have read most of the “evil” books shown in the puzzle. The three stacks of books I’m posing by are just a few of the banned books I have in my own library. I am re-reading some of them to see if I can figure out more reasons someone would want to ban them in the first place. The top book in the middle stack is John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. And the top book on the stack closest to me is Alcoholics Anonymous—the so-called Big Book of AA. It has been banned merely because its subject has to do with drinking—more specifically, not drinking. As if that’s a bad thing. Go figure.

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And A Good Time Was Had By All—Meaning Me

A few weeks ago I donned my red-white-and-blue paisley, painted, wood Bow Tie o’ the Day for a foray to the movies. I had been looking forward to seeing Viola Davis’ latest acting offering, called THE WOMAN KING—about a woman general who trains a group of all-female warriors called the Agojie to protect their West African kingdom of Dahomey in the 1820’s. I had looked forward to seeing the film, despite the fact that I am not generally a big fan of war/combat/fightin’ flicks. I am, however, a huge fan of Viola Davis’ acting prowess. I knew I’d see brilliant acting in the movie, but I was pleasantly surprised at how captivated I was by the film’s hand-to-hand combat scenes. The fighting was realistic, but without the exploitive blood and gore that usually gets thrown at the audience in movie war scenes. The combat scenes in THE WOMAN KING were gorgeously choreographed, while still graphic and intense. The combat was actually as beautiful as it was raw. Sadly, I was the only person in the theater for that particular showing. That’s how it is sometimes: the better the movie, the smaller the audience. I feel bad that so many people miss out on some of the finest work out there. 📽 🎞 🎥

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The Chia Election Update

Even Bow Tie o’ the Day can see it’s still a toss-up in regard to which of the two major political parties will come out on top in tomorrow’s election. Our very own Chia busts, Mitt and Barry, are sprouting robustly on the sides and in back of their pottery noggins—representing their respective political parties well. However, both Mitt and Barry are sprouting poorly directly on top. What does all this Chia growth predict for the 2022 election outcomes? I’m thinking that it’s a safe bet neither party is gonna run away with all the spoils, which is always a good thing.