Through a Naturist Lens

In the process of checking over 600 posts that remain here at Naturist Lens, I noticed that the past two years have seen very little posted here. During that time, I wrote mostly at Medium. Since the beginning of this year, I have basically given up on that platform as an income source.

In 2024, I earned just over $4,000 in royalties. So far this year, I have earned $40 in royalties. I have to admit that I have given up putting much there since March. It seemed so pointless. I have invested in a Substack account for better than a month and so far, not a cent has been earned. The world has changed. Even my Amazon Kindle sales have dried up. Somehow, I think I may have sabotaged myself. Damn that shadow side of me!

Now that I am back here on Naturist Lens, I am hoping that my readers return with comments and likes for the various posts that will appear. My life as a naturist hasn’t really changed other than for the fact that I continue to get older.

A bit of catch up is in order. Please be patient. I will get to where I want this blog site to be.

It started raining sometime during the night. The forecast was certain it would rain, but our visitors yesterday evening complained that the clouds somehow separated and left our town high and dry. Like so many people on the prairies, they view positive statements and expressed hopes as a sure way to have the opposite happen when it comes to weather, crops, or about their own lives. They embrace negativity while secretly hoping for good results. My wife and I are optimists. We don’t hesitate to say what we think because of some superstitious curse that the farming community allows to colour their world outlook.

As I said, it is raining – so much for the curse. By two o’clock this afternoon, there was two-and-a-half inches of the liquid gold. Since we anticipate another two days of on-and-off rain, we should be able to get somewhere between four and five inches of rain.

There is a small downside for us. We won’t be walking down country roads and dirt trails until everything dries out. It is worth the wait. We will still be able to walk around town when there is no rain falling. And for me, it means I get to do more work on the archives here at Naturist Lens. I have now taken care of the posts from the distant past until the spring of 2018. I have another 170+ posts left to update. In case you are wondering, there are over 680 posts in the archives.

Enough about the archives, back to the rain. As almost always when there is rain, I take the opportunity to be in the rain, even today when it has been 12 degrees Celsius since we woke up before six this morning. I just make sure to take out the hearing aids before going out to get thoroughly wet. I don’t want to compromise the hearing aids as they are too expensive to repair and/or replace.

Twelve degrees? Well it sounds better to use Fahrenheit which translates to fifty-seven. Don’t worry, I’m not crazy. I went back into the house before I got too cold. The house is kept to a toasty 19 Celsius / 66 Fahrenheit. When we feel it will be too cold in the house, we will turn on the fireplace, not the furnace, as we want our bedroom to stay cool. We have a quilt to keep us warm at night.

Are all Canadians this brave with temperatures? Of course not, not even those who are wrapped in layers of clothing.

The weather forecast for the next few days is incredible. It’s supposed to rain. There is a tiny downside for us – the country dirt roads will become pure mud. So, we opted for a long thirteen kilometre hike down dirt roads this morning.

We both started off wearing a tee shirt and a long-sleeved shirt. Three kilometres later, the shirts were hung on a sign. Another kilometre had the tee shirts tossed on the side of the dirt trail we were following to reach the base of the hill where a sign “Road Closed” marks the end of the trail and our turn around point.

Once back home, pleasantly tired out – after all we are both in our mid-seventies – and with lunch taken care of, it was time to rake old thatch out of the lawn so that I could put some white clover seeds to help the lawn get natural nitrogen. Now, the whole backyard is done. I have done the front yard and the backyard in bits and pieces over the past two years.

There is no sunshine this afternoon, so there will be no sunbathing unlike yesterday and other sunny days. However, there will be company coming over for wine, hors d’oeuvres, and a pot-luck supper. Yes, I know. I will have to put on some clothes.

Okay, who said that every post has to be anything but prosaic. Most of our lives are unexciting to say the least. Think about it. We sleep, get up and start each day using repeated patterns. For me, it is making morning coffee and sitting on the backyard deck to enjoy that coffee when the weather is right. Other mornings coffee is on the love seat while looking out the picture window at the silent world. We get up early, it’s a blessing or a curse depending on one’s point of view. Being retired means neither of us has to run off to work.

Then, it’s breakfast time. Again, predictable patters – toast or oatmeal for the most part unless we have company when we add in pancakes which are my specialty. After breakfast, we typically go for a six to ten kilometre walk weather permitting. Otherwise, we settle for a measly 3Km walk around the perimetre of the town.

You get the picture – repeated patterns. Yesterday, I changed it up with taking care of a request from my wife. She wanted me to replace the shelf liner under the kitchen sink and in the cupboard that holds our pots. Finally, something different in the mix. Today, I do another cupboard – the one holding big bowls and such on the opposite side of the sink.

Since I am from the old school, I tend to use what’s at hand rather than rush off to buy something to do the job. For this task, I had leftover flooring tiles which could be cut and fitted. I don’t like to waste material, so the number of times I measured and remeasured the space helped me make fewer mistakes. Where I do err is on the side of not cutting off enough rather than too much. It was a tight squeeze to take all these measurements as seen in the accompanying image. And yes, all of the work was done while unclothed.

Then, feeling more comfortable with the measurements, I got down to cutting one piece at a time and fitting it into place. I did all of that work in the garage as my wife doesn’t want me doing it outside because of new neighbours beside and behind our house. Our old neighbours have moved on, mostly to senior residences.

The cuts progressed with minor changes as there was an angle which necessitated extra attention. Finally, the last piece was in place and the job was done.

We went for our usual morning walk in between cuts and placement of the tiles. Walking is one of those things which we prioritize. I will return again later. It is time for our morning walk.

The wedding is over and our third grandson in now married. We got home late yesterday afternoon, no time to go for a walk. Rather, we decided to sit on the back deck and enjoy our beautiful yard while celebrating being home with some wine.

It’s almost noon here and we have just finished our six-kilometre walk around our small town. After lunch, I will be heading out for another walk, this time alone. There is a free-hike on my agenda. This will be my first free-hike for 2025. By this time last year, I had two free-hikes completed. They were the last such hikes as life, forest fires, and family events got in the way. I wonder if this summer will be different when it comes to free-hikes.

I then checked the archives here for free-hikes in 2023 and was surprised to find nothing there. I had completed 14 free-hikes two years ago. I wonder what will be the result for 2025/

I woke up this morning to smoke filled skies. The idea of going for a free-hike this afternoon is now in question. I am allergic to smoke, not as bad as I used to be thanks to holistic medical help, but still enough to make it uncomfortable for me to spend too much time in smokey conditions. The political situation in both Canada and the USA also had a lot to do with it. The election of Donald Trump, the changing of Prime Ministers in Canada, and the subsequent election, have amplified the MAGA voices in Canada – Maple Maga. The tariff war and the threat to Canada by the USA – the list goes on and on. The world is on fire in more ways than one as the forest fires in Canada have just become one in too many fires – political, economic, military, and the environmental threats – that are challenging all of us. But enough of that.

Since our return from Mexico at the end of March, there have been a number of reasons why I have continued to procrastinate with returning to using this blog site, none of which are valid, but when taken together, they did block so much of my energy. The world isn’t going to change to make it easier for me have better focus. Still, being a naturist hasn’t changed. I steal whatever moments I can to be clothing free. For the most part, until late May, there has been very little reason for being nude outdoors.

Once back home from our six weeks in Europe, it wasn’t long before we headed to Mexico, Four months in Mexico was about living clothing free whenever we were in our apartment with a large private deck where we lived when not asleep. There was a beach, relatively close by where I could be au naturel for as long as I wanted. I took the usual risks to take photos while on the beach and while hiking along various jungle trails leading to a number of beaches and a neighbouring town.

But it has begun to warm up enough to venture outdoors and I take the risk to be there au naturel. It is not easy as we are now surrounded by different families who have moved into the town. I guess this means this year will be different for me as a naturist. Only time will tell.

My hope is to be more present here now that I have adapted to a changed world which is in a rush to change even more. I can’t continue to deny being naturally me. It’s all about freedom to be authentic and natural. There is nothing to be gained in terms of respect from the world. The world has bigger problems than an old man on the prairies.

Yes, clothing is a reality in a northern climate. Snow is still on the ground as spring approaches. In reality, spring doesn’t come to the Canadian prairies until sometime in April with the last frost hopefully happening before the last week in May. I know it has been said repeatedly by so many, but we are indeed naked beneath our clothing.

What does our nudity beneath our clothing actually tell us? We all have skin. We all have body parts. We all are imperfect. What else does nudity tell ourselves and others? Firstly, we have dared to be exposed and vulnerable to the world. Yet, even when nude, we hide most of the truths of who we are. We are more than our organs and body systems. Our “self awareness, the core of who we are” is not just a product of our brains, our experiences and our interactions.

We are more than two-dimensional beings. There is a dimension where we exist unknown to our ego, though ego is loathe to admit that anything that the senses can’t validate, is a mirage, an illusion. Most psychological frameworks steer away from what we call the unconscious. If it isn’t scientifically and empirically provable, it doesn’t exist. There is no shadow world. There are no archetypes, there is no meaning for life other than existing, producing and consuming. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Naturism is an end unto itself. Nudity for the physical sensations and cognitive benefits.

Having a dialogue between those naturists whose worldview is multi-dimensional and those for whom the world is basically “what you see is what you get” ends up in frustration for both sides. There is no listening to contradictory ideas. Rather, both sides engage in word storms that want to “convert” the other side to their way of knowing themselves and the world. How can we even begin to then build a consensus for a naturist worldview?

Naturism is a word with all the limits that go with an attempt to embed a philosophy with a word. To even hope that we can embed varying and sometimes competing philosophies, puts one into a sea of agitated boiling water. The only thing all groups agree upon is the fact that the human body is nude. After that fact, all bets are off. No one owns the word. And now, as a result, naturism has been co-opted by a few groups who have worldviews and intentions far removed from even the weakest of definitions. So, where does that leave us when hearing, seeing, and using the word naturism?

As I write this entry, I am in Lisbon, Portugal. As I suspected before we left for Europe, there are no options for nudity outside of our accommodations. Since it was expected, my focus has been on enjoying our travels as much as possible. Madrid was all that I had hoped for with more than enough to see without having to leave the city.

We had basic accommodations in Madrid – clean and functional – in a nice, quiet neighbourhood where we soon became familiar faces as we went out for breakfasts and such within a two block radius. It helped that I knew enough Spanish to function in the city. Any ideas of a day trip out of the city soon disappeared. We walked an average of 12 kilometres each day, not too stressful.

I have to mention one particularly interesting place to visit in Madrid – the National Museum of Archeology – MAN. It dealt with the history of Spain, and Madrid in particular, tracing back to the first human forms. I wasn’t surprised to see a lot of nude statuettes, but was surprised to see an uncircumsised small statue of Jesus Christ.

We finished off our stay in Madrid with an evening out to enjoy Flamenco music and dance. It wasn’t on our agenda, but it was so worth the time and expense.

Then it was on to Porto. It was a long bus ride with had us arrive late in the afternoon. Our accommodations were a significant improvement, not that what we had in Madrid was a negative experience. We had a lot more room in the suite and we were able to prepare our own breakfasts.

It didn’t take long once we woke up the next morning to take a long walk into the city centre. The first thing we noticed was a sharp difference from what we had experienced in Spain. Portugal is different. Though the language appears to be similar, the sounds are foreign.

Then I saw something very atypical, a statue of a priest and a nude woman in his embrace. At least, that is what I thought. The statue is another Romeo and Juliette story set in Portugal. She is sent to live in a convent and he is sent to sea where he dies. No priests.

Talking about religion, that was a dominant theme we noticed. Religion, old religion still present and alive. After five days in Porto, it was time to move on. Next stop, Lisbon.

It is morning here in a small town on the Canadian prairies. I woke up early, as usual. It is 11 Celsius [almost 52 Fahrenheit] and the wind is from the south at 20+ km/hr. It is supposed to go up to 30 degrees Celsius by this afternoon. I just checked and the temperatures in Madrid for the four days we will be there are forecast for highs of 27 and lows of 14. It sounds perfect!

I have one more morning to have coffee on my back deck before I leave my home for the next six plus weeks. It is a quiet Sunday morning with a few birds appearing to break the silence. My wife and I cherish these moments, these mornings when the temperature is just warm enough [read at least 10 Celsius] to invite us to have our coffee outdoors.

As we looked around our yard, we talked about the day’s plans to put away those things that will be stored until sometime next April. Then we talked about having the right connectors to charge our electronics on the plane and in Europe. Of course, I had all of those connectors already packed with easy access.

I am writing this while she is on the phone — well, audio Messenger. Yesterday, we cleaned up the garden with me helping to prepare the carrots and beets for storage. We left one row of carrots in the garden until our return in October. It’s an experiment with the idea of having those carrots better able to be stored until the end of March when we return from Mexico.

In a couple of hours, we will be having grandson number two and his wife at our place for a pancake brunch. It’s his favourite. All leftover pancakes will be taken to their place. Now, it is all about waiting . . .

It is still gently raining outside. So far this spring, we have had more than four inches of rain, more than the whole of last spring and summer. Other bit of good news, I got to enjoy some free-hiking yesterday afternoon, only the second time this year. And, as with the first hike which happened during the last week of April, I hiked with my wife. I blame the lack of free-hiking on the weather. The wind is insane this year, and the month of May was the coldest on record

On a side note, I am busy planning a six-week adventure in Europe for the . We will be spending almost two weeks in Portugal, followed by another two weeks in Morocco, finishing up with slightly more than two weeks in Spain. which has been on our bucket list for the past eight years. This is to be my 75th birthday present from my wife.