3-4 January 26

Today's bright paisley tie was selected by brother Mark Wollenweber, to help celebrate his birthday (yesterday). He said "This reminds me of my first paisley tie wayway back when I was a teenager and my knees didn’t hurt."

24 March 23

I have no special occasion today! So I get to wear an infrequently-worn tie I really like -- featuring bright paisleys and leaves. The colors are very suitable for spring!

27 May 21

 On this date in history: In 1930, Richard Drew received a patent for adhesive tape, which became cellophane tape, well known as "Scotch" tape when it was produced by the 3M company. In 1937, San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge opened to pedestrian traffic. My splashy paisleys tie has nothing to do with those events!

25 August 19

Today marks the birthdays of Ivan "The Terrible" (1530-1584) and "Mad King" Ludwig of Bavaria (1845-1886). I think paisleys can be regal, so I'm wearing this bright colored tie.

17 May 18

Happy 57th Birthday, Enya! Her full name (in Irish) is Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin. Her most famous hit "Orinoco Flow" (with the repeated lyrics "sail away") is from 1988. She is Ireland's best-selling solo artist of all time. I chose this tie to recall the gentle swirls and twists of her singing. Last year's post for this date (with a different tie!) included some of my favorite lyrics, from "Anywhere Is."

8 February 17

Wearing orange and paisleys to celebrate "Opticks Day"! On this date in 1672 -- 345 years ago -- Isaac Newton read his first paper on the physical properties of light and lenses to the Royal Society in London. His full book Opticks: Or, a Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light was published in 1704. My tie has many reflexions, refractions, inflexions and colours.

16 September 15

Wilma Wollenweber visited my tie blog to choose my tie for today . . . and she discovered that all of her top choices had been worn in the last few weeks! She settled on this special paisley design. Happy Birthday #86, Mom!

18 May 14

Today's tie celebrates yesterday's birthday of singer Enya (Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin), in 1961, and today's birthday of philosopher/mathematician Bertrand Russell, in 1872. Her beautiful music and his search for the axioms of arithmetic and logic take all sorts of wonderful twists and turns with bright colors.

12 August 13

Entry #1000! Today marks the birthday (in 1887) of German physicist Erwin Schrödinger, one of the fathers of quantum mechanics. The swirls on this tie remind me of the "wave equations" that describe behaviors of subatomic particles. Note about this blog: Over the last 64 months I have tracked 180 different ties, with only a very few being repeated more than ten times. The current champions are "bright pink" (14) and "Rodin Thinker" (13). If you enjoy this blog, thank Ben and Jonathan for the inspiration!

20 March 12

Please, won't you be my neighbor? Happy "Cardigan Day," or "Be My Neighbor Day." My sweater celebrates Fred Rogers' birthday on this date in 1928. My tie celebrates the first day of spring, which actually seems to have been springing up all over since mid-February.

29 February 12

This is my 14th Leap Day! And I'm hoping to see at least 8 more. You can celebrate the day by leaping, or by telling someone else why we have to add a day to the calendar every four years (except century-years not divisible by 400). My tie just notes that the weather is leaping into spring.

12 August 10

Birthday (in 1887) of Erwin Schrödinger, father of quantum mechanics and famous for normalized wave equations. The curvy lines and interlocking designs on this tie remind me of the surfaces of quantum mechanical atomic orbitals, so that's something to think about today. Especially when paired (!) with Dali's "Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory."

29 June 10

Fun day, fun tie.

17 May 10

Enya (Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin) was born on May 17, 1961. While paisleys are not specifically Irish/Celtic, the brightly flowing pattern of paisleys and flowers on this tie are appropriate for the songs "Orinoco Flow" and "Only Time."

29 June 08

Noteworthy events or birthdays on June 29: 0
So I chose a spring-/summer-ish mildly-wild tie.

For those who monitor such things, I apologize for repeating this tie from 12 May. Just enjoy the colors and go get a chocolate chip cookie or some diet soda.

12 May 08

Nothing special about today matched up with any of my ties. It's "International Nurses Day," in honor of Florence Nightingale's birthday in 1820, but I have no neckwear related to health care or nightingales. So today's tie is just a great colorful splash of paisleyish fantasy.