01 February 11

The start of a new month is a good time to think about the whole idea of calendaring. It's all ancient history, of course, but our practice of counting sets of days takes advantage of various cycles and patterns that we have noticed in nature: the recurring seasons, the visible phases of the moon, the apparent rotation of the stars, the routine path of the sun and planets across the sky, etc. This tie, originating from the Metropolitan Museum of Art store, obviously celebrates the sun and several number-cycles tied into calendaring (4, 13, 19). I found it at Goodwill recently, for $1.50. I think it's priceless.