Through a Naturist Lens

Okay, in case the title wasn’t clear, I am wishing you a Happy Naked/Nude New Year in both French and Scottish Gaelic languages. I don’t know much Gaelic other than through language study. Why the interest? Obviously there has to be a connection with ancestry. I speak French and English with relative ease as they are the languages of my parents. My ancestors also spoke Gaelic in Europe, and Anishinaabemowin [Ojibwe Language] and Kanyen’kéha [Mohawk Language] in Early North America….

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The sun is shining. I will be going out for a countryside walk of an undetermined distance this afternoon, This morning, I took down the Christmas decorations. It is a tradition to take down the decorations before New Year’s Day so that we drag as little of the old year, as possible, into the new year. It doesn’t have to make logical sense. It is the way it is. Where there is light, there is hope and life. The walk…

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I’m sitting in the darkness of early morning with only my screen and a fireplace set on low flame providing the only light as I write this post. Outside, a full moon makes the snow appear to glisten, while two female mule deer wander slowly down the street, stopping only metres away from the window to listen before slowly sauntering across the street to an empty lot. It’s cold outside, well sort of cold at -12 Celsius. There is a…

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It’s Boxing Day in Canada. It is snowing again, and the wind is blowing in from the northeast. The house is quiet with the exception of soft piano music that banishes the early morning silence of Boxing Day. I have finished the research needed for the last part of the Crusader novella that is all finished except for a rewrite of the last chapter. It is a writer’s kind of morning. Within all likelihood, the novella will be ready for…

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I woke up early this morning, before five o’clock. I turned on the coffee pot, put up the temperature to a balmy 17 Celsius, then turned on the fireplace, before retreating to lay in bed for another ten minutes while waiting for the coffee to be ready. Then, with a fresh cup of coffee in hand, I pulled up my rocking chair in front of the fireplace and set the coffee down before opening the draperies to the darkness outside….

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What a strange Christmas season! I have to admit that we often have Christmas to ourselves now that our children are grown up with homes and children of their own. Our first Christmas away from family was in 2004 when we spent it in Cuba. It was a year when our children were spending Christmas with their in-laws. Then, we were in China for four Christmases as I taught in a Chinese university. Those years, we used Skype to connect….

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Unlike many others, I am social distancing in the truest form of the word, and though I am an introvert though and through, Even in this relative isolation, I am feeling all of the angst, anger, and frustration, and even fear that is swirling like some sort of toxic gas in my community. All if this is in response to the pressures to have everyone limit their bubble to their home partners. In response, my neighbours seem to be visiting…

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Beneath our clothing does indeed exist a body, bare skin covering bones and organs. Since all bodies have skin, bones and organs, that can be defined as normal. However, you and I know that each of us are more than our mass of messy cells. To be honest, I have yet to meet a single person who is fully “self aware,” and I include myself in that group. There are more things that I don’t know about myself, than I…

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Things are decidedly different in this part of the world. Though I am used to seeing deer outside of my window, this year they have become more brazen. Sensing that there is safety for them within the town, they have seemingly lost their fear. Yesterday, a four-point buck slowly walked down the sidewalk to visit a two does that have taken up residence in my neighbour’s yard. And, it just isn’t about deer or Pronghorn antelopes. We have had birds…

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It is a sunny day with no trace of a cloud in the sky. The weather has warmed up to -1 Celsius. Despite the beautiful conditions, I am under a cloud, like Jo Brfsplk, from the Lil’ Abner comic series by Al Capp. Why am I depressed with my head under a cloud when there are no clouds in the sky? I have learned, albeit slowly, that there is rarely a good response to that question. Yet, I still try…

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