Ties That Bind

There’s a closet in the basement that contains some clothes dating back to just past the middle of the last century. (Sure sounds old when you put it that way.)

When you open the door, you see an assortment of neckties. I recognize some of those – and, no, I’m not going to tell you which ones – once adorned my neck. Most of them are fakes.

Cops wear “breakaway” ties so that the bad guys can’t grab them by the necktie and strangle them. Of course, it’s MY contention that strangulation is the primary goal of the necktie.

Knots known to sailors and serial killers

I was a Boy Scout who earned the Pioneering Merit Badge. Not only could I tie every required knot, I enjoyed playing around with ones known only to sailors and serial killers. The only knot that I’ve never been able to master is a necktie.

Even though I got to cover Queen Elizabeth because I was the only guy on the staff with a suit, I’ve had to depend on fakes and Wife Lila to drape respectability around my neck.

Two instructions

My family has two instructions for the day when there will be “two at my head, two at my feet and two to carry me when I die:”

  1. Not in a necktie.
  2. Not in Florida.

Obligatory Isaac report

We came through Tropical Storm Isaac in pretty good shape. The rains pretty much moved on by early evening, but Son Adam, who lives west of town in a rural area got between 10 and 15 inches of rain. His house is on a high pad about three feet above the water, but he has huge Koi (“ornamental varieties of domesticated common carp”) swimming in his front yard. I warned him that alligators have been know to use those as bait, so I wouldn’t get close to them.

Our Comcast Internet connection is still down, so this is going to be a short post tonight.

10 Replies to “Ties That Bind”

  1. In regards to clothes from the middle of the last century, this week I complimented my great-uncle Terry Long about his spiffy shoes. Yep, they were half a century old. He bought quality, and took care of them. I was even more impressed when I knew they were vintage. 🙂

  2. Tell Lila that she has a good start on a crazy quilt from your neckties. Don’t take the crazy part personally. It really is a type of quilt. However, it does look like a few of those ties would need to be disinfected before using them. LOL!

  3. Since Jane brought up quilts-Jan, my lovely bride of 46 years is a quilter. She specializes in mini quilts and has completed and donated 100 quilts to the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative. Some of her mini quilts have been shown at Houston and Paducah, a couple of big National quilt shows.
    She has a quilting blog where she talks about her quilts and the ideas behind them, http://www.familypatchworks.blogspot.com. She is giving away a book entitled “Say It With Quilts” presently on her blog. She is always doing something and sometimes it’s hard for me to keep up with her and her stitching. But, she has taught me about some types of quilts, so I know what a crazy quilt is.

  4. I use my knot-tying knowledge from pioneering merit badge to this day. Also, becoming friends with several boatswain mates over the years hasn’t hurt either.

  5. The picture of your past ties made me drool. I recycle old ties into “Ties from Hell. I reworked all of Jerry’s least favorite ties and gave them as gifts for Father’s Day gifts.

  6. As the son and grandson of the haberdashery trade, it was such a treat to see the clip-on ties. Oh, the pain of it.

  7. The Troop 8 Scout training stuck with me big time. I can still tie every knot that was in the Scout Handbook, Explorer Handbook and Pioneering Merit Badge book, AND tie them with my eyes closed or blind-folded. Same goes for the lashings we learned.
    BTW, I can tie half-Windsor and Windsor necktie knots as well; I just don’t anymore…

  8. Me being Me, I misread the title of the post. I thought it said BLIND. I’m back on the page with the rest of you now. But with the picture of Backyardavore I don’t think I was that far wrong.

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