The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost
From Mountain Interval, 1916
Public Domain

Yesterday I procured 5 dozen donuts from Krispy Kreme with a coupon Teresa gave me. This brought what would have been a stupendous bill down to the $25 range and it was quite a stack of boxes containing 4 dozen glazed along with 1 mixed dozen which we placed on the counter in the kitchen at work upon arrival.

A couple hours later we walked in there and noticed that 3 dozen donuts had somehow mysteriously walked off from the premises and nobody saw anything and the cameras were not pointed properly to catch the exit with the loot.

After a brief spate of disappointment I ended up feeling admiration for whomever was able to walk off with the three boxes of glazed doughnuts without a trace. However, I will likely be more cautious in the future should I ever take the plunge again.
 

When I was a child I was a cub scount. My mom even took the plunge with me and became a den mother. It was all a wonderful experience ... even though I did cry when my goldfish died — though he really didn't have a chance.

I was really into it all with the uniforms, merit badges, and various other doo-dads we wore to symbolize our achievements and rank. I believe I had just become a Bear scount when I departed for good. I remain unsure of the circumstances of my cessation of scouting but feel certain it was associated with one of those moves required of we "Navy Brats" ... but I still remember the many friends and memories of that wonderful time.

Today is World Scout Scarf Day

Now when I was a cub scout I didn't call my neckerchief a "scarf". I believed that boys wore neckerchiefs and girls wore scarves. Nowadays I believe the names are all interchangeable — with a scarf simply being a trans-neckerchief or something in keeping with the wasted English language which was at that time still so proper and well defined.

World Scout Scarf Day is one of those late efforts to instill meaning into the experience of scouts by wearing their neckerchiefs in public each August first. It's all very sweet and inkeeping with that promise I felt way back then when I was young and not yet the jaded old codger I am today.

The day has been promoted since 2007 and they even have a site now. The date is significant because it commemorates the first Scout camp in 1907. It is said that "once a scout, always a scout" and while I don't quite pursue things to that degree I view the day as important and revel in all the warm and fuzzies that cub scouts let me experience courtesy of my Mom.

Happy World Scout Scarf Day and if I still had my neckerchief I'd be wearing it !