Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Dark Knot

Posted on September 17, 2015 | 2 comments

“Great ties!

Thank you for your email.  Yes, we could look into extra extra length ties next time.  Thank you for the suggestion.  Sam Hober does do 67 inch ties, but yes, they are custom and so would take a few weeks to be made and delivered, I believe.

For the Amagansett Chicks Tie, yes, please feel free to have your wife blog about it.  As soon as we get a couple of sales in from that, we will send you over a complimentary standard tie of your choice.  How does that sound?  We can offer her readers a 15% discount.  What is the name of her blog if you don’t mind me asking?

The Amagansett Chicks Tie is extremely popular, and is something the two of you could wear when on a date!  How does that sound?”

***

This is to great ties and tall guys.

We don’t date, Rishi, we’re married and watch movies on Netflx or Amazon! No bar-hopping, maybe a pizza once in a while. I cook better than any of the restaurants around here.

Note that this is not a monetized site but I needed to convey The Dark Knot owner’s complete email to you. If I want to dress up in a suit with a tie on a date with my husband (and dog, we’ll be on the patio for lunch if our town barks rather than bites about having a dog on a restaurant patio) we would definitely do versions of chick magnet. Then we’ll attract chickens to our balcony and eggs and poop all over the place and will be evicted. Isn’t that what the chick magnet tie envisioned? Just a joke, readers.

We’ve now bought three silk ties from this firm, two on order, and they offer sartorial advice so if you’ve a job interview, check it out. I just thought the chick magnet story was funny. Dee

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Ties and Other

Posted on September 16, 2015 | Leave a comment

I found The Dark Knot for ties because they have pure silk extra-long ties. My husband is 6’4″ and needs a long tie. He’s worn business casual for years but will have to endure suit and tie for a while.

He has three ties that fit him and may be of this decade. The middle one is our “test tie” from The Dark Knot, Glastonbury Circles. But we needed some blues. Sadly, our wedding tie I bought him no longer works. I hope someone at St. Vincent de Paul can use it.

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Ties, that bind. Work, marriage, kids, dogs. We just ordered two more ties online.

Another he really wanted because he liked it so much. When we were selecting the final two I told him that it was a duckling and a magnet. Chick Magnet.  No-one could see it from across the room but it was designed for bar chatter and my husband does not drink. He hangs out at home and watches re-runs of Blue Bloods.

He was miffed that his wife advised him not to get a silk chick magnet tie. No, he’s not looking for another gal. He is a physicist and liked the bird and magnet. That is life as I know it, Dee

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Eel

Posted on September 16, 2015 | Leave a comment

Eww. Summer at the tip of Long Island with our long-gone friend Richard. I was in grade school. We went out into the back yard and saw these lovely swans, were ushered in immediately because apparently they’re quite mean.

Next morning Uncle Dick took us fishing. We only caught blowfish with worms that we threw back. I was seasick, of course. Uncle Dick pulled up lobster traps and he only got one thing, an eel.

I’d never seen one before. I watched him kill it by slamming it’s head on the concrete stoop. Then he placed it on the kitchen counter and made me touch it. The sliminess of its skin made my finger contract. Then the dead body started writhing around. I must have ran outside away from the swans to vomit.

No, I didn’t have eel that day. Well, one piece because I was forced to taste it. But I was a little kid and that killing was brutal and so was the creepy skin. It was a scary weekend with all the wildlife. I don’t remember what we wore but it was probably a blouse, skirt, lace anklets and Mary Janes.

A few years later we were in the driveway with yet another story, the rented RV. As we packed up to go the phone rang (pre-answering machine, much less cell phone) and Dad ran in to pick it up.

We were all in the driveway when Dad came out of the house in tears, saying that our Uncle Dick had died. Way too soon. Now I remember that trip as a joy and an adventure. He was a fisherman and probably fisher of men because he took on my dad. Cheers and best wishes, Dee

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Tuning Out

Posted on September 9, 2015 | Leave a comment

I wanted to write something good but they’re replacing our tower today, in the next few moments and I’ll lose the internet unless I can fathom my husband’s alien display in the closet with all kinds of equipment. He’s not here so I’ll say sayonara for now. Dee

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Mind of a Chef

Posted on September 8, 2015 | Leave a comment

Thank you, Chef Bourdain, for bringing this to us on Netflix. The series? I am eating it up with all the great chefs and learning cuisines from the Southern US, London, Vietnam, Thailand, everywhere around the world. And I love April Bloomfield.

Tony Bourdain, you’re now building up, not tearing down. That’s a good thing and may have something to do with having a family. That said, one tearing down piece you wrote nearly made me fall off my chair laughing, the ‘Bo Room back in the day.

I just looked up Rock Center. Forty restaurants? It’s a food court with a few good restaurants and chefs. I read your first book and sent it to my brother who started as a busboy a week before Christmas at a private club in LA in the 80’s and Richard Nixon gave him a $200 tip.  He would have stories, too, but is involved in the arts and other adventures.

Thank you for the Mind of a Chef adventure. Cheers! Dee

 

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I Know Why

Posted on August 26, 2015 | Leave a comment

I like NCIS so much. Gibbs-a-thons. I just realized that Gibbs is the Navy Captain USN Ret. who married us and was like a father to me for over ten years. Yes, Mark Harmon, you’re much younger, it’s just the presence.

Gruff, but with a marshmallow interior that lets certain people in, including, luckily, me and my husband.

He asked his bride out twice, she had other plans, and swore the third time was do or die. They wed five weeks later and were married for 62 years. His sons are my older brothers. He married us. How’s that for solid family values?

My Captain is at Annapolis, interred. Of course we went to various ceremonies that day with family and friends. His widow got to meet SecNav and was given a coin for their service to our nation.

Thanks, Gibbs, for giving my “Mom” a SecNav coin that no one can ever trump. That is her husband. Not the coin. With deep respect for those who serve and protect all of us, Dee

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Guinea Worm Disease

Posted on August 24, 2015 | Leave a comment

President Jimmy Carter has nearly eradicated this disease in Africa. He is having some health problems now, as is another former President near in age, George HW Bush.

I applaud President Carter for what he has done around the world and at home building homes and making lives better.

I also grant Mr. Bush, Senior, serious credentials for working with President Clinton on several issues after your tenure.

You are not ex-Presidents. You are Statesmen to me. Dee

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Misperception

Posted on July 16, 2015 | Leave a comment

Eight days ago I tripped and fell, while walking our dog, on a crosswalk I asked for and got designated. They do no re-paint it and no-one ever stops even though it is state law to do so.

I took a header that started with my knees, hand, shoulder and head and have the first black eye in my aged life, after years of athletics so I know how to fall. My husband was out with us on this serene late afternoon walk and tried to save me from a fall but the dog was between us and he could not do so.

Now, people will not ask the obvious question about my black eye because they think my husband beats me. Other than a few involuntary elbow movements during sleep over the past fourteen years my husband has never touched me in a manner unbefitting a gentleman.

Kids ask. They want to know the truth. I tell them my eye looks ugly but it doesn’t hurt. Look both ways (we did) and always wear good shoes with tread on them. Adults think my husband beat me so look down and ignore me. Where did we go wrong in life? A taxi cab driver actually stopped when I fell. I don’t remember that.

I fell on pavement. I told people about it. Nurses have advised me on how to care for myself. My husband insists on taking off the bandage every day. Next thing I know someone will call it in as domestic violence. It is vehicular harassment.

As for me, it’s a city/county dispute and no, I do not want to sue them for “my” crosswalk, just want it re-painted with slip-resistant paint. And a flippy thing in the middle that says it’s State law to stop for pedestrians.

Speed demons go up and down our street in rush hours. I’ve many bruises and now can reconstruct exactly how I fell. My knees will be swollen for months. Hand, I don’t know. Shoulder and eye, play the dice. But my husband tried to save me when I tripped. He has helped every day. There are good husbands out there, and great ones. I got a great one. He opened the car door, took my hand and always kept me in his heart.

I tripped walking the dog. Now I have to explain this to kids and I’m OK with that. Adults avoid me as I’ve the plague. I am an advocate and have written laws that governed millions of people, including human and civil rights. Why do adults who see a woman with a black eye always think domestic violence? I’m sure there are cameras out there, I may be able to have them pull the footage. Just like a cop show.

I’m Aunt Dee, just asked for vet recommendations yesterday. I’m Dee, the gal who brings treats like lasagne and pizza to staff. I took a spill that I’ll deal with for months. Please know even though my eye looks bad for now, I’m always here, now that I have two eyes to see through and write. Cheers! Dee

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Life

Posted on July 10, 2015 | Leave a comment

Looking at death. I fell on a crosswalk I had two competing agencies create a few years ago.  I fell on it yesterday afternoon taking my husband’s arm to cross the street with our dog.

I love life. Husband, dog, family, and friends. It is not my time to go. There is too much good to be done. Volunteer, Girl Scouts, animal shelters, hospitals. Do something that means something to you. Dee

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Two Dozen Roses

Posted on July 6, 2015 | Leave a comment

There were gorgeous red roses and ubiquitous baby’s breath. Lovely vase and ribbon and it’s been sitting here. The roses have opened and will only live until tonight or tomorrow morning, depending on whether anyone waters or feeds them.

What were they for? Love, an argument, a breakup. Who knows? They were sent, not personally delivered. I can tell you that if my husband wants to give me flowers he hand-delivers them. It’s different in later years because if I’m in the middle of making dinner I don’t want to find a vase and cut down a dozen roses.

Funeral? I don’t know. I just know that while funereal and beautiful two dozen roses are going to be dead by this afternoon and I hope that was not the intent. Dee

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