Month: January 2021

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A Tidbit O’ Wisdom

Floppy Bow Tie o’ the Day gets kinda lost in my shirt, but “lost” is as fun a look as anything else. I’ve actually been lost in books today—moving them into organized-by-author stacks. When organizing your library, it doesn’t matter what organizing principle you use, as long as you use it consistently throughout. I’m toying with the idea of some day arranging the books in order of when I first read each tome. The problem with that organizing principle is that it would work only for me, and Suzanne would be up a creek without a bookmark.

I was also going through magazines so I can toss them. In one of the magazines, I read a simple and yet profound quote in an interview with the Tony-winning, Emmy-winning, Oscar-winning actor, Viola Davis. Speaking about how some people struggle to feel valuable even in their own lives, she said the following: “There are all these tickets into worth. In this culture you’re always showing someone your worth. But the only real ticket into worth is that you were born. That’s it. Over and out.” You are just as valuable as anyone else. You are neither more valuable, nor are you less valuable. To deliberately injure someone in any way is to believe that you are more valuable than they are. I’m here to kindly tell you that you are not.

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Stark Naked At The Mailbox A Second Time

[This is a post from January 2018. I was naked at the mailbox again today.]

I went to grab the mail, and one of my neighbors drove by. (She’s Rocko the Toddler’s mom. I know the names of neighbor-kids and neighbor-pets, but not their parents’ names. That’s how I roll.) I waved to Rocko’s mom, but she was clutching her throat. At first, I thought the poor woman was choking. Nope. That was her way of saying YOU FORGOT TO WEAR A TIE! How embarrassing! I am bare naked with out my neckwear. It’s cool that my neighbors know my tie ways. And Rocko’s mom probably doesn’t know my name either.

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Call Me Icarus

I’m simply feeling feathery this afternoon, whatever that might mean. Bow Tie o’ the Day is made of real peacock feathers. My suspenders are not. I don’t wear this grand Bow Tie too often, for fear I will damage or soil it somehow. Not only is it gorgeous, it is also delicate. At a sale cost of around $250, it is the single most expensive piece of neckwear I own, as well. It’s worth every penny. Sometimes I just open up its little box and stare at it or pet its feathers. My life is so not-like-everybody-else’s. 😁

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A 21-Tie Salute

TIE O’ THE DAY sends a shout-out to Suzanne’s niece, Caitlin Cottrell, one of the soldiers sent to Washington, D. C. to safeguard the Inauguration, and ensure the peaceful transition of power from one administration to the next. Thanks to the National Guard for a job well done. Thanks, Caitlin.

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We, The People, Watching TV

What exactly does one wear to watch a Presidential Inauguration on television? I don’t know what “one” wears, but I wear a red-white-and-blue plaid shirt and a red-white-and-blue houndstooth Face Mask o’ the Day for those who might drop by to join my socially distanced watch party. And most importantly, I wear my United States Constitution fabric Bow Tie o’ the Day. I celebrate my freedom to make my dapper fashion statements appropriate to the historical occasion.

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Make Centerville Less Windy Again

Last night on the news, we heard we would be under a High Wind Warning mid-way through the night and into mid-morning, and I woke up this morning to the sound of solid objects spinning around outside our house. I saw garbage bags flying in the neighborhood, and Suzanne told me she saw hunks of tin flying in our street. I swear I thought for a minute I had woken up back in Delta, where the wind comes whippin’ down the plain 24/7. But no, I was here in Centerville, where bigly winds are not the norm. Today’s winds, however, were interfering with our garbage and recycling pick-up. I decided not to even take our cans to the curb. This windstorm was nothing like the one that came through a few months ago, which uprooted trees everywhere in our neck of the woods, and took out the power for three days. I am at the age that I calculate the severity of any kind of storm based on how much tv I have to miss because the power is out. Flying sheets of tin or not, I judge this morning’s storm to ultimately be a lightweight piece o’ weather, because the television didn’t lose power for even one second. I was not inconvenienced one bit. That’s my kind of weather.

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I Have An Idea

As we get ready to witness our country’s transition from one Presidential administration to the next tomorrow, I propose we all behave like adult patriots—instead of like spoiled brats who exploit their rights without shouldering the ever-present responsibilities that secure those rights. In short, how ’bout we all act like grown-up’s? Just a thought.🇺🇸

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Gracie Knows What’s Important In Life

Gracie is, as her mom says, “puttin’ on all the bows.” She presents our Bow Tie o’ the Day. I am so proud that the Divine Miss Grace is already paying homage to her bow tie roots. I’m sure Gracie will also embrace her redneck roots someday soon.

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Two Helen’s Through The Looking Glass

Look closely! That’s Mom in there.

I threw on my dog bones Bow Tie o’ the Day, and we all took a Sunday drive to Deltabama yesterday to “visit” Mom. We delivered Mom some tasty goodies from us and from BT, and then Suzanne and Skitter and I stood outside Mom’s window in the cold—feeling warmed by the company through the window. As with every visit, Mom said hello to Skitter first. It is odd to be so close to Mom and yet have to speak to her by phone. Mom kept joking that our visit made her feel like she was in jail. I asked her if she had been hiding a prison record from us, because there’s no other way she could know what jail visitation is like. That made her cackle up a joyous storm.

Mom is doing well, despite her pandemic time in solitary. Whenever I speak to her on the phone, she is generally in her normal happy spirits. But I still have to see it for myself on occasion—even if it is only through a care center window.

BTW Mom sends her regards to y’all. She often refers to my TIE O’ THE DAY readers as “the tie people who sent me birthday cards for my 90th.” Thanks again, for doing that.

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Arrow v. Whim? Arrow AND Whim? Follow Your Arrowhim.

[This is a repeat of a photo and its accompanying post from 2018.]

Bow Tie o’ the Day and I are practicing our scary faces for Halloween, even though it’s still January. Clearly, we need to work on more looks o’ horror. We woke up this morning and simply decided we wanted to give in to our whim to wear our orange and black today.

It is said that we should follow our arrows. I agree with that advice, but I also believe in indulging our whims. To me, your arrow is usually a big, abstract, directional kind of concept—like where you want to go in your career; how you want your family to be; your personal goals and values.

Whims, on the other hand, are very specific things that add panache and wonder to your life. They should celebrate your individuality and give you singular joy. It’s usually best if your whims reflect your arrow, but sometimes you need a whim to be so out-there that it knocks your arrow’s arc into a better path than you aimed your arrow in the first place.

Both things matter. I do have to say that, although I’m a dang good see-er o’ the expansive picture o’ The Big Arrow, I’ve become quite wrapped up in committing as many whims as I can at this point in my life. Hey, folks! We’re all running low on years.

The best way I can explain it is that we spend so much of our adulthood making sure we’re following our Big Arrow (family, career, education, etc.), and then at some point we realize our Big Arrow’s traveling just fine without our constant fussing over it. Ain’t really no knockin’ it off its path now. We don’t need to worry quite so much about the trajectory of the Big Arrow we’ve tended so well for years. The aim of our Big Arrow is true. It has become who we are. It is the sum of our lives. We decided its path long ago and adjusted it as needed. We can now use the auto pilot we’ve achieved through decades of living true to our Big Arrow. Our autopilot can do its job to get us to our desired cosmological destination.

Now’s the time for whims. We should “whim around.” We should have whimsical attitudes. We should do things in a “whimmerly” way. We should exercise our “whimmers.” We should expand our “whimmerosity.” We should do “whimmerrific” activities. I could continue to come up with oodles more words o’ whimsy—real and made-up. But you get the idea.

I am my own Whim-meister.  You are your own Whim-meister. Let us play on! 🤡 😜