29 June 26

Today's foxy tie honors the birthday of Antoine Jean-Baptiste Marie Roger de Saint-Exupéry, best known for his authorship of "The Little Prince." He was born in 1900 and died in 1944. He wrote "The Little Prince" in 1942. 

In Chapter XXI the traveling Prince meets a fox, who gives the Prince some excellent advice for living: "'Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.'" The fox turns out to be not only the wisest creature in the universe but also the prince's very best friend (once the fox and the prince tame each other), apart from the airplane pilot who tells the story. 

Another famous quotation is from Chapter I: "Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." See https://www.thelittleprince.com to remind yourself about the wonderful writing of Saint-Exupéry.

17 January 23

Yesterday (16 January) was Ben Kleppinger's birthday! We celebrated with family on Sunday too. I offered to wear his choice of tie today, and he said "How about the foxes?" So here is my skulk, or earth, of foxes for today!

29 June 22

Today's foxy tie honors the birthday of Antoine Jean-Baptiste Marie Roger de Saint-Exupéry, best known for his authorship of "The Little Prince." He was born in 1900 and died in 1944. He wrote "The Little Prince" in 1942. In Chapter XXI the traveling Prince meets a fox, who gives the Prince some excellent advice for living: "'Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.'" The fox turns out to be not only the wisest creature in the universe but also the prince's very best friend (once the fox and the prince tame each other), apart from the airplane pilot who tells the story. Another famous quotation is from Chapter I: "Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." See https://www.thelittleprince.com to remind yourself about the wonderful writing of Saint-Exupéry.

29 June 20

My foxes are helping to celebrate today's birthday of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944). I hope you are familiar with his most famous book "The Little Prince." I have just finished my own narration of the text, which I'm presenting soon to granddaughter Mallie (for her seventh birthday!) along with this awesome pop-up edition of the full book. The paper engineering is truly stunning.
Perhaps you are wondering about the foxes? In Chapter XXI, the little prince meets a fox, who turns out to be not only the wisest creature in the universe but also his very best friend (once the fox and the prince tame each other), apart from the airplane pilot who tells the story. One of the most famous quotations from the book is the secret told by the fox: "One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes."

29-30 June 19

Today's foxy tie honors the birthday (yesterday) of Antoine Jean-Baptiste Marie Roger de Saint-Exupéry, best known for his authorship of "The Little Prince." He was born in 1900 and died in 1944. He wrote "The Little Prince" in 1942. In Chapter XXI the traveling Prince meets a fox, who gives the Prince some excellent advice for living: "Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." See http://www.thelittleprince.com to remind yourself about the wonderful writing of Saint-Exupéry.

7 March 18

Happy Birthday, Evan Michael Collins! We know Evan primarily through his work with our son Jonathan at Richmond First United Methodist Church. He selected this tie from my collection because (like me) he likes the way Antoine de Saint-Exupéry uses the character of "the fox" as one of the sources of wisdom for The Little Prince.

29 June 17

Today's foxy tie honors the birthday of Antoine Jean-Baptiste Marie Roger de Saint-Exupéry, best known for his authorship of "The Little Prince." He was born in 1900 and died in 1944. He wrote "The Little Prince" in 1942. In Chapter XXI the traveling Prince meets a fox, who gives the Prince some excellent advice for living: "'Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.'" Another famous quotation is from Chapter I: "Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." See http://www.thelittleprince.com to remind yourself about the wonderful writing of Saint-Exupéry.

29 June 16

Today's foxy tie honors the birthday of Antoine Jean-Baptiste Marie Roger de Saint-Exupéry, best known for his authorship of "The Little Prince." He was born in 1900 and died in 1944. He wrote "The Little Prince" in 1942. In Chapter XXI the traveling Prince meets a fox, who gives the Prince some excellent advice for living: "Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." See http://www.thelittleprince.com to remind yourself about the wonderful writing of Saint-Exupéry.

15 April 15

It's the one and only official FOX DAY! This is a surprise holiday announced every spring at Rollins College (in Winter Park, Florida). At the campus, a statue of a gray fox is placed at the center of the main crossway (as shown in this live webcam). With me is our own house fox (from Habitat for Humanity).

7 January 15

A great tie without an occasion . . . There is no "National Fox Day." The National Fox Welfare Society, in the United Kingdom, has never declared a special holiday, and while Rollins College (in Florida) celebrates Fox Day sometime every spring, the actual date for the class holiday is unknown until the college president announces the surprise. So I'll wear my Nature Conservancy tie featuring foxes today -- when there's nothing else on my celebration calendars.

21 July 13

Foxes to run at the start of National Zookeepers Week!

26 March 12

March 26 is always, officially, "Make Your Own Holiday Day." So I'm celebrating FOX DAY. But you could choose any of these birthdays for special notice today: Robert Frost (1874), Nancy Pelosi (1940), Leonard Nimoy (1931), Tennessee Williams (1911), Joseph Campbell (1904), Erica Jong (1942), Vicki Lawrence (1949), Martin Short (1950), Bob Woodward (1943), Keira Knightley (1985), Diana Ross (1944), Alan Arkin (1934), Jon Huntsman, Jr. (1960), Sandra Day O'Connor (1930), Pierre Boulez (1925), Syngman Rhee (1875) . . . roughly 1/365th of the world's population . . .

19 January 12

Once upon a morning early, while I wondered bleak and bleary,
Whether I might find a tie to celebrate the lost Lenore,
While I mused upon the daunting date of Poe's beginning,
Finding no designs to honor him, despairing,
I heard clearly from the rapping at my chamber door,
The whisper from the raven: WEAR THE FOXES!
Running on a silver background reminiscent of the moor.
This it is, and nothing more.

20 June 11

Yesterday was Father's Day and I received FOUR NEW TIES from my family! One of them is shown today . . . gray foxes on blue, with purplish tails! I got the news today from our family doctor that I am "as healthy as a fox" for at least the next year. Well, I guess the actual aphorism is "as crafty as a fox," and that works too.