I am declaring today Colorful Lizards Day! I'm celebrating with my multicolored lizards tie, not seen since October 2022. Our lunch today is at Olive Garden, where it's true that we're all family. On this date in 1617, one-way streets were opened in London; it's also National Sponge Cake Day.
My tie today honors the recent birthday of Charles Hutton (1737-1823), a British mathematician who invented contour mapping in 1774. He was working to calculate the volume of Schiehallion, a mountain in Scotland, as part of an experiment to determine the average density of the earth. His maps showing the relative ground elevations formed the basis for topographical maps like the one featured on my tie -- surveying the Camel Hump Knob region in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, near Sevierville, TN.
Today is also the birthday of our son-by-inclusion David Haskins, and it's National Tell A Joke Day. The National Day Calendar offers no rationale for this celebration, but gives this sample: What happened to the comedian on August 16 during National Tell A Joke Day? Everyone stole his punchlines!
Two events on the calendar today: (1) we are meeting with a financial advisor to explore options with Wilma Wollenweber's estate; and (2) I am donating blood through Kentucky Blood Center (note the blue bandage on my left arm). I chose my play money tie for the meeting, and my stuffy named "Hip Hop the Blood Drop" (from 30? years ago) wanted to be seen with the RED shirt from today's blood drive. The shirt says "Only YOU Can Prevent Blood Shortages."
Wearing festive paisleys on navy blue to celebrate our 51st anniversary! The pin on my pocket says "I'm in love with my wife."
National Lighthouse Day, on 7 August, honors the act of Congress (Bill 9) in 1789 that created federal support for the building and maintenance of lighthouses. This great tie, named "Sentinels" by designer Erich Holch, was a birthday gift many years ago from my sister Faith Lang, who loves lighthouses.
My New York City tie is here to celebrate the Statue of Liberty. The cornerstone for its installation on Bedloe's Island was laid on 5 August 1884. The island became known as Liberty Island through an act of Congress in 1956.
Today I turn 73 years old! My tie celebrates my ties -- it features a cascading image of ties hanging in my closet. I have five rotating racks of ties, and five times 73 equals 365, which is approximately the total number of ties in my collection! For breakfast I had a free bagel sandwich from Berea's Native Bagel Company. Besides spending the day with Beth I will get to enjoy dinner with Ben, Amanda and my grandchildren!
The number 73 is famous for being a "Sheldon prime", a rare mathematical coincidence popularized by the character Sheldon Cooper on the TV show The Big Bang Theory, where it is the 21st prime number, its reverse 37 is the 12th prime, and the product of its digits (7 × 3) equals 21.
Granddaughter Evelyn wanted me to wear a tie that had pink AND purple flowers for her birthday. I showed her four possibilities and she chose this one! It’s from Turkey and as she said it has all the colors in the world! Happy Birthday, Evelyn.
Jonathan Kleppinger is a crossword puzzle freak, and that applies as well to cryptics and all sorts of word games. When I gave him the clue to choose a tie for me to wear on his birthday (1 August), he instantly filled in the answer with my crossword puzzle tie! Many daily puzzles get more challenging toward Saturday, but this one was quite easy. Happy Birthday, Jonathan!
The last Friday in July is always National System Administrators Appreciation Day. I shepherded the Blackboard system at Eastern Kentucky University for 24 years! When I retired in January 2024 the Blackboard corporate staff (now Anthology) rewarded me with two wonderful neckties, one with the words Blackboard Learn and the other featuring the "Space Dog" logo. Space Dog was the iconic mascot for a special user-help tool called Assist; it was retired after 3 years because some people said it took up too much screen space.
The French Republican Calendar honored the watering can (Arrosoir) on 10 Thermidor, which corresponds with our 28 July. My special tie was a gift in 2012 from my then-EKU comrade Charles Woolum, who worried that I did not have enough ties for all the possible occasions.
Today we're having a family supper that includes brother Mark and nibling Nathan Wollenweber. Nathan is a devotee of Viking and Nordic culture, and so I've chosen to wear my chain mail tie! The Hurstwic Web site explains that "mail is a protective iron fabric made up of thousands of interlocking iron rings. In the Viking era, mail was always made with a 4-in-1 pattern, in which each ring passes through its four nearest neighbors." My tie captures the chain mail pattern in aluminum rings.
Today we are celebrating the life of Wilma Wollenweber (1929-2026)! She loved my "flowers on dark green" tie, naming it almost every time I asked her for her choice. Our service at Richmond First United Methodist Church is led by Eric Espada and includes remembrances from several friends and relatives, organ and piano music by Beth, a solo by me, a homily by Bruce Nettleton, and scripture readings and candle-lighting by great-grandchildren. The church is providing lunch, and afterward our family will set Wilma's cremains alongside her husband Robert's at Madison County Memorial Garden. Wilma lived a wonderful life of 96-plus years and will be remembered joyfully by many people.
Today's tie was chosen by my friend Mary Cox-Sweet, to help celebrate her birthday! Mary is a devoted follower of my tie posts. When she saw my cursive handwriting tie back in January, for National Handwriting Day, she added a happy comment that "We had those letters on our classroom walls too!"
National Zookeepers' Week is celebrated annually in the third week of July. My tie shows a wide variety of wild animals, tessellating the plane. The extra photo shows the "zoo" of stuffies and their books, created by our grandchildren two years ago.
