Category: Ties

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To Pick, To Choose, Perchance To Decide

When it comes to neckwear, you know I can’t get enough. More is more. And I often get an itch to wear both Ties o’ the Day and Bow Ties o’ the Day simultaneously. Fortunately, I have enough “bow tie ties” and “tie bow ties” in my collection to be able to indulge myself in whims such as this.

TIE O’ THE DAY has been up and running for nearly 5 years (plus another two years before the website was established), and in that time very few ties/bow ties have shown up in a post more than once. That excludes holiday pieces, which I think of nostalgically as I repeat them during each passing holiday season. It is true, though, that as I have naturally slowed down my acquisition of new neckwear, I now occasionally repeat a tie or bow tie. I suspect I’m choosing my favorites. Don’t get me wrong—I love all the critters upstairs in The Tie Room, but I freely admit that I do prefer the company of some of them more than others. And all the ties/bow ties probably feel a similar way about me. I know dang well I am not everybody’s cup o’ tea. I doubt there’s anything wrong with that. I know that as I get older, I find I have less and less patience for spending my ever-diminishing amount of life left dealing with folks who are not in my tribe. To belong to my tribe, nobody has to believe or act like me. That would be uninteresting and unenlightening. However, to be in my tribe, a person does have to value thinking and live in empathy—and have a good time while doing so. I’m not making a judgment of anybody’s worth: there’s a tribe for everybody. It’s just that I, personally, don’t want to waste any more of my fleeting time not feeling at home and content with the people I encounter. I’m done with contention and egos and pettiness. I just wanna be.

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A Trip To Layton

Disco ball Tie o’ the Day was my choice for an outing we took Saturday to R. C. Willey. For Suzanne’s birthday a few week’s ago, I told her to pick out a rug — any rug she wants — for the living room and that would be my birthday gift to her. She knows I am not a rug person, and I know she is very much a rug person. In fact, rugs might be the bigliest topic on which we are divided. I think I can coexist with rugs more easily than Suzanne can live without them, so I will bend on this matter.

Anyhoo… So, knowing that she would want to haul off to the new R. C. Willey in Layton, I went to their website. I scrolled through their whole selection: 304 different rugs (not including shag rugs). I put three rug possibilities in my virtual “shopping cart” for later reference. I thought each of them would “work” with our flooring. One of them was red and had Suzanne written all over it. If I had gone to pick out a rug for her myself, it’s the one I would have brought home. But, hey, it’s her gift, so it’s hers to choose.

At R. C. Willey, we were each going through every hung rug they had. I finished going through them before Suzanne was done, so I was getting ready to wander off while she made her choice. I went to her to tell her I was off to check out other sections of the store, and she said, “I found this rug I want to show you. It’s red.” “Show me,” I said. Oh, you know where this is heading. I looked at the rug, pulled out my phone with its virtual shopping cart, and said, “See. It’s the first one I picked out for you.” Yes, we know each other that well. It’s true that I could have saved a lot of time by ordering the rug and having it delivered when I first saw it, but saving time is not always the point. Spending time is sometimes the point. That’s how you get to know someone so well in the first place.

BTW I will post a pic of the red rug after it’s delivered in a couple of weeks.

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Silliness

Mudflap girl Tie o’ the Day was a have-to-buy for me when I found it, for no real reason other than it was a tie I didn’t already have and it made me chuckle. I never aspired to be anything like a mudflap girl, nor have I ever felt the need to decorate any of the mudflaps in my transportation life with metallic mudflap girls. But it makes me happy that the mudflap girl symbol graces one of my ties. We humans are so easily amused by trendy cultural icons. 🚚 At least, I am.

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Time Flies. And Bends. And Repeats.

Tie o’ the Day based on Salvador Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory” painting seems to capture my feelings today. I feel like I’m experiencing my own personal time warp—of the Groundhog Day variety. I keep having the same day, again and again. For example, my pancreas surgeon and my ERCP doc got together to look at my latest scans. After their chat, they each called me separately to say they’d like me to do one more ERCP (that makes it the third one in the last two months) before surgery. So guess what I’m doing next week. My ERCP doc wants to try one more time to claw out my Hanky Panky stone by sticking a scope and a tool down my throat. I am sick of this. It has taken since February to get this stone dealt with, and I have finally hit my top nerve. I don’t even care what finally solves this. I just want it over with. Surgery is scheduled for Sept. 2. If they haven’t captured my stone and thrown it into the biological waste by Sept. 3, I’m opening my biggest pocket knife, and I’ll dig it out myself. Y’all will be welcome to assist me.

Here’s what I do in my current same-day-over-and-over-again Groundhog Day: wake bipolar self up, curse tinnitus, nurse panky boulder, potty Skitter, send Suzanne to the office, nurse panky boulder, write dark existential poetry, nurse panky boulder, write morning TIE O’ THE DAY post, curse tinnitus, feed Skitter, nurse panky boulder, nurse panky boulder, participate in pancreas/ear/bipolar-related medical procedure/test/appointment at some hospital or clinic, curse tinnitus, curse tinnitus, write afternoon TIE O’ THE DAY post, nurse panky boulder, curse tinnitus, nurse panky boulder, curse tinnitus, have a brush with bipolarity, curse tinnitus, nurse panky boulder, potty Skitter, feed Skitter, feed Suzanne, curse tinnitus, curse tinnitus, nurse panky boulder, and finally—curse tinnitus while nursing panky boulder to sleep.

That’s my day right now. Every day. Believe me, I am more interesting than my current schedule. This rut R not me!

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Suzanne Has A Birthday Today

Every year on this date, Suzanne catches up to me, age-wise. She now joins me in my 57-ness. I kinda like that I get to get older first, so I can scout out the new territory that comes with the next age number. I get to tame the wilds of each year’s age and pave a clear way through it. I get to map out the age by myself for four months, making sure it’s safe for her to proceed. I consider getting there first—whatever age it is—to be part of my job. So far, I haven’t found 57 to be significantly different from 56, so I think Suzanne will easily manage the transition to an older number quite well. Of course, Suzanne manages to do just about everything well. Everything except dancing. Dancing is not in her skill set. We will not be going out dancing tonight to celebrate her birthday. At 57, her old bones are getting too brittle to try something so dangerous for her. I have learned at least that much from being 57.

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The 4th Is Today, Even Though It Was Also Yesterday

Since the 4th of July falls on a Sunday this year, many Utah celebrations happened yesterday on the 3rd. I’m flexible about such things, but in my deep heart, I would much rather honor bigly, date-specific holidays on their actual dates. But like I said, I’m ultimately easily bendy about the whole scheduling of official holiday observances—which is a good thing, because nobody listens to me about it anyway.

We, here at TIE O’ THE DAY, are blessed and proud to add our voices to the Birthday Greetings heard around the world, in honor of our country’s existential and political independence. I am humbled on this day, every year. I am humbled because I know my citizenship here is a matter of nothing more than luck. I did absolutely nothing to earn the rights and responsibilities that belong to me as an American citizen: I merely happened to be born on this soil—into freedom and safety. I see it as one of my life’s jobs to add positive pieces to the America which I inherited simply by being born in it one day in 1964. I want to improve it, to nurture its ideals. My little contribution is so small. So is yours, probably. But added together, our little works can make ringing and lasting statements—giving lifeblood to an ever-living, ever-changing home called the USA. Like my Delta Elementary School librarian, Mrs. Crafts, always said as she greeted our classes in the hall before we could enter the library, “Leave this place better than you found it.” Today—while considering my love for my country—I wholeheartedly second that admonition.

Suave Skitter chose a perfect tie for the 4th.
What we saw from our bedroom deck.

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Day #6 In My Madras Shorts: A Tyvek Suit

I’m glad the pandemic panic is slowly winding down. I’m gladdest to know that if the dang thing lingers and powers back up, I can simply slip into my Tyvek suit and pull on my madras shorts—adding a Tie o’ the Day, of course. While being safe, I can still be as stylin’ as ever.

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Day #4 Of My Madras Shorts

Tie o’ the Day pops out from the otherwise bright colors I’m wearing. I don’t know if this pose says I’m ready to run, fight, or wrestle. But I am ready for whatever approaches. Here’s another fashion hint for y’all: A tie-dyed t-shirt is never out of style. A tie-dyed t-shirt exudes cosmic good vibrations, and evokes a soundtrack of songs like “California Dreamin’,” “Don’t You Want Somebody To Love?,” and “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy.” Now, that’s a dandy soundtrack to have stuck in your head. The late-60’s are not dead, as long as we can hear that music. Personally, I think every summer should be the Summer of Love. I also say that cowboy boots are a must. Keep on truckin,’ and peace out. ✌️

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Day #3 Of My Madras Shorts

Tie o’ the Day is a swell geometric take on red-white-and-blue. Today, I paired my green-striped, old-timey swimsuit top with my madras shorts. I am so ready to find a sandy beach where I can wear my entire old-timey swimsuit while I get sunburned searching for seashells or purty pebbles for Suzanne. Despite it being relatively safe to travel hither and yon again, we are still cooling our heels about resuming our travel adventures, until we get my Hanky Panky taken care of—whatever action that requires. Until the pandemic hit, we were used to flying off to new destinations 4 or 5 times a year. Don’t get me wrong: I love being home. In fact, I am a dedicated hermit. However, I also like leaving home on brief junkets to elsewhere.

Ah, travel! I miss $5 airport Diet Cokes, and renting cars, and taking gastronomic chances by eating in suspect local dining establishments. I miss trying to find parking in cities I’m discovering for the first time. I miss new forks in new roads, and I miss deciding which road to take and why—which always makes me think of Robert Frost. I miss staring out the windows of hotels, watching how the light changes across the skyline of whatever city we’re visiting. I miss the understanding and wonder that a heretofore unknown landscape inspires. And then I like coming back home, where I know exactly where everything is located, where sometimes life is tedious, and where I already know everybody.

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Fun With My Shorts

Since I make it my business to keep myself perpetually amused, I must always come up with new tricks. The neighbors who passed me as I walked to the mailbox yesterday were so gleeful about the outfit I was wearing (as seen in the previous post) that I was inspired to set myself this new gimmick: To explore what shirts and ties I can put together in my style with the same pair of madras shorts for an entire week. Here’s Day 2’s attire, complete with madras Tie o’ the Day. Fret not! I will wash my shorts daily.

FYI For anyone trying to catch me fail in my sobriety, please note that the Bud cans you can see behind me are from my Budweiser Zero, which contains 0% alcohol. I’m still behaving myself.