Through a Naturist Lens

It’s hot outside, finally. And sunny. And, I am now 70 years old. What can I tell you about this old man on this side of the keyboard? Well, it’s both complex and quite simple. I have a man’s body that is aging. There isn’t the same vigour as when I was in my 20s, 30s, 40s, and even 50s. But at the same time, I can walk 15 to 20 miles [20 to 30 km] on any given day without collapsing of a heart attack. I used to run these distances, but not anymore.

My relationships with others is always evolving as far as I can see. As I age, so does my good wife, a ballet of sorts where we constantly find ourselves inventing new moves on the dance floor of our life together so that we continue to appear to those who watch us dance through our life, that we are beautiful dancers, skilled dancers who fit so well to the onlookers. Literally, we do dance very well together and are always complimented on that fact. Yet, behind the scenes, like in every relationship, there are a lot of stumbles and frustrations. It doesn’t seem to be getting easier as we get older, to maintain the coordinated dance moves.

My passions keep shifting as I age. I have become more quiet, though I have never been one to speak out easily – my introversion doesn’t seem to change with the decades of life. Since I can remember, I have been fascinated with images, writing, music and psychology/philosophy. Nothing has changed, yet the shifting between one and the other as the new primary focus makes it appear as though change is happening.

I have finally reached that stage in life where I can honestly say that I don’t worry what others thing, I have published books with images that expose so much of who I am, books that expose my worldview, and I have shared these with family and friends. Some acknowledge with appreciation, some respond with silence as though the books don’t exist. Yet, they know the truth. I am a Liberal in political persuasion, I am an author and poet, I am a grandfather and father who places family first, I am a naturist-Jungian-Buddhist smorgasbord, and I am a honest and gentle man.

Yes, the new laptop has arrived. One of the things that I had to come to grips with as I shift from old to new is the loss of programs that are no longer supported by Microsoft and Windows. I immediately noticed this when it came to dealing with photos. Now I have to find a simple and basic photo editor to download. I don’t like GIMP. Perhaps I’ll just re-buy Photoshop Elements for more detailed editing and Photoshop Express for basic use. I am open to listening to any of your suggestions.

I have set Microsoft Office to the side in favour of using Libre Office which has the save as Word documents, or PDF documents. I like the feel and like the price even better. No more annual fee to Microsoft … at least that is my hope. Now, I also have to find video editing and a decent audio editing software as I want to add audio books versions of my books to the sales platform. It’s going to be a process, perhaps a long one to get what I want and need on the new laptop.

Obviously, I am glad that I am not being held hostage by the older laptop which had slowed to a snail’s pace. The ease with which the new laptop is reacting at fast speeds is impressive. The only thing is, the owner of the laptop is not quite as fast as the computer. Like the now banished laptop, I am old and much slower, even the thinking process is slower. I need to sit still for longer periods of time for ideas to come forward. And, as in the past, this older version of me needs to be nude, preferably outdoors such as this photo taken this morning as the first of the sun’s rays touched my garden.

Wow! What a title for this blog post. It is enough to have people quickly pass on reading it just because of the title. But let’s face it – depression is getting more and more common in our present situation. I could likely write a book about the political situations in the world where polarisation is getting to be the norm. The anger that is spewing out from all sides of whatever political conflict that you can think of [and even within the confines of one side] is scary at best.

Reason has no voice. One is either a comrade or an enemy. Lines are being drawn in the sand, and those lines are morphing into positions that have little to do with the reality of the local situation. And all sides are continually adding to the list of grievances for which they feel offended and insulted. Standing at the sidelines, one wonders how it can ever be possible to reconcile the polar opposites at war with each other.

So, where does naturism fit into this? Well, I’ve been wondering about that myself. Are we as naturists only the targets caught in the middle, helpless victims? Or, in our own way, are we also finding ourselves at war with our own polar opposites? This is a very difficult topic. My best guess is that we are simply outsiders, outliers if you will. Naturally, I am talking about naturism, not naturists when I make that statement.

In real world terms, naturists are a mixed bag of individuals who have lives outside of naturism. They are conservatives, liberals, Christians, agnostics, atheists, asexual, sexual – as humans outside of being naturists, we belong to one group or another. In Canada we are adamantly Liberals, Conservatives, Green Party, for or against oil and pipelines, racists or those who espouse inclusiveness, or Socialists [NDP]. As such we are caught in the divisive and destructive dialogues as much as the textile world.

Naturism is becoming part of the battleground as vested interests try to remove rights for naturists – social media and regular media highlight the anger of many who take more than umbrage that we would dare go swimming with our children while nude. And within the nude community we have similar polarisation when it comes to sexuality – the enemy within.

We need to go within and nourish ourselves as individuals. We need to slip out of the public eye and take the target off our backs. We need to build community with each other, a community that is tolerant of differences. Trying to control others to conform to our way of thinking is to engage in the divisive warfare. And to be honest, that begins at home. Does it matter that we are different if we share the value of clothing free life? Can we not grasp that point of similarity and learn to be tolerant to each other? Engage in dialogue that builds connection rather than foster divisiveness.

I got a message, or rather I should say, a Tweet, from Matthew McDermott that was also directed to other Naturist Fiction writers. He talks about doing some naked writing for National Nude Day, as well as offering a hope that a number of us other naturist fiction writers are able to do the same. Naturally, I always write while naked, so this is something that I can do in support of his hope that I and other naturist authors do the same.

With that thought in mind, I decided to write a short, very short story about a National Nude Day activity. The story is about a real life experience, free-hiking on the Canadian prairies. So far, the story is at 700 words and will likely expand to about 1500 words before it is finished. I will decide later if I will publish the story here, or submit it to Going Natural, the FCN naturist magazine. I have had a number of articles published in Going Natural over the past year. It helps to have a friend – we’ve met in real life – who is the editor of the magazine.

I guess that I could add this blog post to the list of naked writing being done today. With that, it’s time for me to do a bit more free-hiking, call it research for the story.

It was an early morning, as usual. For a rare change, it was 15 C, rather than the usual 10 C which made morning coffee outdoors very pleasant indeed. It didn’t take me long to take my seat in the sunshine for meditation. However, before doing so, my good wife had me covered in mosquito repellent, the oil product that I mentioned in a previous post. The time flew by with speed and it was time for breakfast and a second cup of coffee before we packed up for a drive to walk the hills of Sask Landing Provincial Park.

The sun continued to pour down on our small part of the world as we finally set out on our hike after parking the car at the end of a gravel road which stood only metres from the eastern boundary of the Park. As usual when hiking with my wife, I wore the obligatory pair of shorts. After all, we were in a provincial park on a summer weekend. Though we were at the furthest edge of the park, we weren’t alone, that is until we headed up into the hills. We followed the faintest of an animal trail to reach the top of the first set of hills, a climb of 130 metres. We then followed the hills heading west with constant ascents and descents for three kilometres before deciding that the lack of trails had us scrambling too much in the growing, oppressive heat.

By the time we reached the car, it was 32 C. Our plan to walk a different path was nixed and we decided to return home before a thunderstorm caught us in the hills. Neither of us are fans of hiking when lightning is likely to be present on the prairie hills. The storm was intense though not long-lived. Likely we will have another storm or two arrive according to the weather forecast. Because of this, I am able to send this post out, unplanned.

For whatever reason, my computer is behaving a lot better. I have been able to mix research and writing without wait times of more than five minutes as I switch from web searches to Word. Often over the past week, I’ve had to shut down a number of times just to get Word to work. Working with images was a nightmare. Needless to say, I’m taking advantage of just an ordinarily slow computer until it becomes non-responsive again.

I’ve been doing a fair amount of thinking during this forced retreat from productive writing using my laptop. I have been involved with my youngest grandchildren more than usual due to family circumstances that have created a need for such. It has meant time away from my wife and home. There are more such time-away-from-home activities that had been planned such as a week at a naturist club, a twelve day absence for book sales in Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton, and an end of August grandson-sitting in North Dakota. Neither my wife nor I do well when we are apart – she is scheduled to work during these times. I have even taken my thinking into my meditation.

So, there is a new plan, at least in my mind. I cut out the Calgary book events [four days of sales] which means being at home a week earlier – I wouldn’t make the drive back home in between Calgary and Edmonton as it would be an extra 1000+ kilometres of driving. Seven nights together rather than apart are gained. Then, I decided to give up the naturist club outing with the plan that I frequent the prairie hills more to get my quota of naturist time. The only irrecoverable loss is the social naturism aspect. That said, another seven nights at home with my wife. The other separations can’t be helped. Life happens and commitments are made, and in our home, family comes first. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I won’t get my nude time. So, more is gained than lost.

I’ve been home less than twenty-four hours and I can definitely say that I feel “at home.” For one thing, I get nude time at home. I don’t have limitations in our house other than when we have company over, or at meal times. Early this afternoon, I got to lay in the sun for three-quarters of an hour – I could have stayed longer, but that is long enough when there are things to do.

I love being at my son’s home where I get to spend a lot of quality time with three grandchildren. Games of cards and chess were enjoyed with the nine year old. The two year old got to play all sorts of nonsense as far as an adult mind is concerned. And the five week old grandson was in for some needed bonding time. He sure is a curious and wide awake little guy.

Home is a good place, when it is someplace where one can be authentically oneself. My neighbours accept the fact that I am often nude and occasionally visible as such. It doesn’t stop them from getting together with my wife and I for wine or a meal. Living in a small town teaches one that neighbours are vital. When I was meditating in the yard this morning, one of the neighbours entered our yard, saw me, and proceeded to enter into the house for coffee with my wife. Nothing offensive, nothing remarkable, just a naked man in meditation.

It has been a busy day and I am finally able to get some time to write here though I’m not sure what I have to say that would be worth your time. Like I had mentioned at Naturist Fiction, I have been missing-in-action due to life getting in the way, and a writer’s block. Well, it isn’t quite a heavy writer’s block that is getting in the way. Being on the road and family obligations are taking up a lot of my time. I have just returned to my son’s home to help out with a few things for the weekend, including taking one of my grandsons to his golf lessons on Sunday.

Busyness aside, the main reason I have been absent is due to my computer. It has become painfully slow and often needs to be shut down. A new computer is on order and that should solve most of my problems. As part of preparing for a new computer, I have been backing up as much as possible on a new external hard drive. I have about 350 GB of stuff that needs to be moved. This is painful because of the problems the laptop is giving me.

Life will move into the slow lane for me once I return home on Monday. I have no obligations to go anywhere for at least three weeks. That said, I am thinking it might be a good time to visit the naturist club, a four hour drive. If I go, it will be a solo affair. Because of that, I might choose not to go. After all, I get to be clothing-free when I am at home. I sleep better at home in my own bed, beside my wife. It will be a last-minute decision which will be based on weather conditions. Now, it’s time to post this and go to sleep. Morning comes early with grandchildren expecting their grandfather to play and entertain. Bye for now.

ow, it isn’t that I like to complain, but the solstice has passed and the weather is acting like it is April here on the Canadian prairies. This morning, it is just 11 Celsius and it is still necessary to wear socks outside with clogs/crocs/whatever. This is just disgraceful. I mean, summer is short enough as it is without loosing another week to an extended spring. The forecast tells me that it won’t reach 21 Celsius until July 1st. Two days ago, we had some hail mixed in a welcome rain – the hail wasn’t appreciated. Oh well, I guess that it is enough to be alive and able to practice some rigorous naturism like my friend Melvin in Montana.

As I mentioned in my last post, I travelled to my son’s home in the neighbouring province. He’s away from home, so it is my privilege to be here in his place to take my nine year-old grandson to the games of his baseball tournament. Since it won’t be hot, that will be a good thing for playing baseball. Now, to be honest, competitive team sports such as baseball, football, basketball, rugby, and hockey [to name just an obvious few] need to have the players dressed in uniforms. Yes, you can “play” these games for fun while nude, but when it comes to serious competition, uniforms are vital. The idea of uniforms is to both protect and separate the team from their opposition.

Think about that for a moment. How do you distinguish your teammates from the competition if all are naked? The uniform provides a sense of group identity. An example taken from my past life as a minor hockey and baseball coach. When the kids were just beginning, no uniforms were worn for hockey practices or shinny, no uniforms were worn for practices or scrub games of baseball. The focus was on developing physical skills. How does one distinguish one’s tribe from another?

Even in those nude societies that are holdovers from the past such as along the Amazon River, there is something that is used to differentiate one’s tribe from others. In modern society it is clothing. It is just human nature to need that differentiation. I seriously doubt that we would ever be able to do away with the general need for clothing outside of protection from the elements or for protection in the workplace.

Yes, it sounds like the beginning of a suspense novel. However, it is simply a description of the current weather. We’ve been hoping for rain for quite some time. Finally, it has arrived. With it, there has been a surprising drop in temperature. Here it is mid-morning with the rain on hold after just more than an inch of rain in the past 24 hours, and it is only 10 Celsius. Naturally, I am spending the morning, for the most part, indoors at the computer.

Today’s post is meant to serve as presenting a normal picture of life. I am a naturist. At least, that is one descriptor of who I am. Yet, I am more than that. Rather than having my penchant for living as many hours of my life as possible while nude define me, I want to show how much the same I am with the general population of humanity. Now, I am a month shy of seventy years old. Something typical for people my age, is an interest in genealogy. I have had a DNA test done [actually two of them] with the purpose of helping me locate missing strands of the family history.

Other tasks on my agenda for today include going for mail – we don’t have door-to-door delivery – and packing my bag for another visit to my son’s home. This weekend is a baseball tournament weekend for my nine-year-old grandson. I’ll be watching all of his games and visiting at his home in the other hours. Of course, all of this will be done while clothed. Of course, in a perfect world, I would be able to do some or all of this while nude, weather permitting. I include weather permitting because I live in Canada. This is a northern hemisphere country where there is no guarantee of summer being longer than a weekend. Yes, I know, that is a poor excuse for humour.

Naturally, I will also be keeping up on the news from my home country and around the world. Canadian news is getting more and more interesting since this is an election year. Later in the day, my hometown Canadian Football League team, the Ottawa RedBlacks will be playing my favourite western Canadian team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Beer will not be drunk during the game. Remember the weather situation? It is highly likely that red wine will be the beverage of choice. I also plan on surfing the Internet, watching a bit of Netflix, and working on my current novel-in-progress. All-in-all, it is a normal day, in a normal Canadian household.