I amazed/amused the staff at Eye Care Center of Richmond today with my eyeglasses tie and tie clip! My eyes are in good shape. It's fun to "dress up" for such a special occasion. Today is also the 99th anniversary of the publication of Winnie-the-Pooh!
It's World Sight Day, sponsored by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The official theme for 2023 is "Eye Care in the Workplace." I'm celebrating with my eyeglasses, eyeglasses tie and eyeglass tie clip!
An obscure event in the histories of major league baseball and eyeglasses: On this date in 1956, Frank Umont became the first umpire to wear glasses in a regular season game. My tie features glasses, and it came with the matching tie clip -- with its own sueded cloth case!
Back in June (on the 6th) I missed celebrating National Eyewear Day. With no suitable occasion today (26 August) I saw my chance to show my eyeglasses tie with its idiosyncratic, self-referential tie clip! Among the noteworthy events for today: it's the birthday of Antoine Lavoisier (1743), Prince Albert (1819), Albert Sabin (1906) and Mother Teresa (1910); it's the Feast of Melchizedek in the Roman Catholic Church; it's National Dog Day and National Toilet Paper Day; and it's Women's Equality Day, honoring the certification of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
World Sight Day (annually on the second Thursday in October) focuses attention on providing eye care that can ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to sight. For our own part, Beth and I have long supported the Carter Center's project to eliminate "river blindness." I've always enjoyed reasonably good eyesight, having worn glasses as a young child and then constantly after college; Beth recalls getting glasses when she was about 9 years old, and switching to contacts during college; she went back to glasses "full time" many years ago. My tie shows eyeglasses, and it came with its own tie clip!
