We are in Olon and had supper at a beach-side restaurant last night . The motel that we are staying at until we move into our long-term rental is actually quite nice and the owners are even nicer. Our first real photo of Olon is of us just past sunset while the colours were still rich in the air. Today we got out to walk on the beach and then around this small town. I have a feeling that we’re going to love this place.
The NaNoWriMo project is done and I wrote 51,000 words, just enough to be called a winner. I am not pleased with the story as it is and realise that it will need a lot of work if it is to ever be ready to be published.
On the agenda for today, was a visit to Elida for a massage at our health centre. I was fortunate to get an authentic photo of the two of us in a scene that is normal when I get massages from her. In this one, I am paying her for the completed massage.
I have to admit that I am getting excited about our next adventure. We are flying out on December 4th with our first stop in Toronto. An eight-hour layover is in store for us before we can catch our flight to Lima, Peru. Once in Lima, we have another eight-hour layover until we take a connecting to Cusco. I am excited. We both are excited.
Today it snowed overnight. Once my wife left for work at six-fifteen, I got busy shovelling some of the snow. In the image, you can see her footsteps heading out to the road. And yes, it was cold outside, the snow wasn’t going to go away without a lot of help. I didn’t do the whole driveway while nude. After all, the world around me was about to wake up.
In the afternoon, I shovelled off the back deck and the pathways in the backyard, all of it while nude. It was warmer working in the sunshine.
I have somehow avoided going outside of our yard while nude for a while. I have also done the planning for our trip to Peru in December. We were originally going to walk the Inca Trail for several days to reach Machu Picchu but we soon came to our senses when we saw the videos of the steep sections which I know I wouldn’t have been able to navigate. We will still get to walk portions of the Inca Trail and see Machu Picchu and much more.
I also booked three months in Ecuador at a place called Casa Valdivia in Olon.
Yesterday I drove to Regina which meant a naturist photo stop at the Landing, where I took this photo just off to the west side of the bridge. There was frost on the grass and the low bushes. Yet, it didn’t matter. At this time of year, I am more used to colder temperatures. It wasn’t a moment for being an exhibitionist, as I made sure that I was not able to be seen by a rare passing vehicle on the nearby highway.
I also took a few other photos elsewhere along the way. My reason for driving solo was a book-signing event in Regina. I had booked a football game with my oldest grandson who lived in the city. The Ottawa RedBlacks were playing the Riders. It was an excellent bonding time with him. Ottawa won.
I sold 14 books at Chapters, a very good number, this afternoon. On the way back, I got a few more photos that were half decent such as this one near Mortlach
Two days ago, I went down to the Landing in the late afternoon and got a few photos such as this one, of me standing on a log at the edge of Diefenbaker Lake. It was a gloomy day, but I didn’t let that stop me from taking advantage of basically being nude, especially when there was no one else to be seen in the Provincial Park. I got to wander along the shore of the lake, far from any late fall traffic. It was quite cool out, however that didn’t stop me from being at one with nature.
I then went for a walk down one of the trails I have always walked only when clothed. I wouldn’t have tried it au naturel any other time as the trail is usually busy with hikers.
Today was all about Saskatoon’s Word on the Street, a book event that was held on Broadway. I had managed to have Turning the Tide, a small book store in the city, let me be one of their featured authors. I sold books in their stall for two hours. I was pleased that I had sold 12 books in two hours, the only books I have sold through Turning the Tide.
Then, I volunteered at the Saskatchewan Writer’s Guild booth as a member of the group. So far, this has been my only involvement with the SWG since I joined it years ago.
I am back home after another set of book-signing events. I had sales events in Airdrie and Red Deer at the beginning of August. Then, I returned to Red Deer at the beginning of September and which I then used as a home base to do four events in Calgary with a break of a few days before doing three events in Edmonton the following weeken
I sold 146 books, including 17 two days ago in Lethbridge. I sold other books during this time period as well, but not via the Chapters/Indigo stores. Do I make enough money to pay for the gas, the meals, and the Airbnb rentals? The answer is a resounding no. However, when I stay in Red Deer, or at another extended-family’s home, the answer is “good enough.
Selling the books is not really about the money. It is about the ego. I am a writer and a writer needs an audience. As I sign books which people have paid for, it is like getting a trophy. The conversations with prospective buyers is also important. After all, I am an introvert and sometimes it is valuable to be able to talk to others about the books I write.
I am away from home, and at present, sitting in a Tim Horton’s coffee shop for a simple, fast-food breakfast while waiting for the nearby Chapters book store to be ready for my book-signing event. This is my third such event in Calgary in three days.
Friday I drove from my home in Saskatchewan, to Calgary. I left in darkness as it was a five and a half hour drive across the prairies to reach the first Chapters bookstore. I stopped a few times, once for gas and coffee, and once to get a photo of the rising sun.
Once in the store at the beginning of the final long week-end of the summer, I sold sixteen books. I exceeded my expectations and that of the store itself which predicted somewhere between five and ten books might be sold because it was a warm, sunny day and few shoppers were expected. Once the event ended, I drove to a room I had rented in a private home. Yesterday, I went to a second store with a sale of fourteen books during a day with significantly less customer traffic.
No internet at the house meant that I maintained a curious silence that was filled with listening to music, a bit of writing on the third novel, and finally trying to catch up on sleep. Tonight I drive on to Red Deer where I will stay with my son and his family. Tomorrow I drive to Edmonton for the final book-signing event for the long week-end, returning to stay at my son’s for the week. Somewhere along the way, I will find my way back here.
Today is round two of making jerky. Yesterday I experimented with lean, ground beef with good results. There were only a few changes needed, a bit more seasonings, and a little less salt for my taste. So, yesterday afternoon, I ground up a kilogram of deer meat and then added the seasoning so that it could sit overnight in the refrigerator for this morning’s session of making the mixture into jerky.
All of this was in response to my children’s request for jerky, deer jerky in particular. It has been a few years since my last attempt, so I took my time to hopefully make it just right. If all turns out well, there will be a lot more jerky made during the autumn, especially if one of my grandsons gets another deer during hunting season.
In this age of many moving to a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, and with my having become a Buddhist, I wonder why meat has remained such a significant part of my diet. And by significant, I mean in importance, not in quantity. After all, shouldn’t I be more environmentally conscious and respectful of all life? Well, the truth is, I am very respectful for all life forms. Like my First Nations ancestors, I know that I eat meat as a gift from both the animal whose life was sacrificed, and the universe which provided the animal with life. I don’t take meat for granted whether it is pork, beef, venison, fish, or any other life form that finds its way onto my plate.
Am I rationalising? I don’t think so. I grew up very poor when meat made rare appearances on our plates. My family had abandoned its rural roots and never did quite fit into urban life regardless of two generations of effort. When I did learn about hunting as a teenager, it was always about the meat, not the sport. And that, is a philosophy I carried with me throughout the years as I provided for my own family. Now, I only hunt with my camera and leave the hunting for meat to my grandchildren.
My life isn’t totally spent outdoors while nude when there is sunshine. As with most other people, I do have to do other things even if the sun is shining such as today’s projects of making some beef jerky and changing a bathroom light fixture. Of course, those things can be done while nude as can almost everything that I find I need to do around the house and yard.
Outside of our home and garden, it is a different story. I don’t live in southern Spain or other naturist friendly location. So when I go out to buy a new lighting fixture, or to deliver more books to a bookstore, or take my wife out to have lunch, I wear clothing. It is what it is and I accept that – well, for the most part. When I do go outside of these boundaries, it is always very, very early in the morning when most of the world is still sleeping. Calculated risks.
It is with that understanding of the world within which I live, that I search for what is possible for my preferred state – nude. And it is also this understanding that I find myself using as I write my novels. The characters within the stories need to reflect the “real” world even though many of my characters are naturists. Not many live in isolation from the larger world. Most of us who attempt to live as naturists need to interact with others who are not naturists, or accepting of nudity period. Naturally, there will be conflict when others either learn of our preferences for nudity, or when we step to far into the public eye while nude.
So how does one lessen the degree and the amount of conflict with others who want us to keep our clothes on? Well, the best answer is to let all around you know about your being a naturist, explaining if asked, why. That way, if they “accidentally” see you nude in your yard, or in your home through a window, there will be less “shock” leading to a gut level response. Since I have published books about my history, which included the therapeutic need for nudity, especially in nature, most in my home community “know” I am often nude, even if they haven’t seen me without my clothing on. As long as I don’t impose on them, try to proselytize and persuade them to also become naturists, tension is kept to a minimum. And so, I get more space in my yard and home, to be nude.
This is not the best kind of image for promoting the philosophy of naturism. However, it is a very real image of how one copes with the weather here on the prairies this morning. It was only 8 Celsius with a breeze and very heavy dew when I took this photo of myself. I was outside before the sun’s rays had reached our back deck which meant that I chose to wear a robe.
This is “normal” whether I am alone or having coffee on the deck with my wife, normal that is until it warms up enough for me to remove the robe, typically when the sun’s rays peek over the neighbour’s trees to flood the deck with warm, healing light.
I don’t pretend that it is possible to remain nude all the time at home here on the prairies. On morning’s such as this, even though it is the middle of summer, that I add warmth via some sort of clothing, or stay in the house and turn up the temperature. Since I love being outside, being forced to stay inside with central heating is akin to being imprisoned. So, like my ancestors of the distant past, I use coverings to retain my body heat.
So, what’s the point of telling all of this, a rather boring piece if I say so myself? It is simply a preamble to what I call “fundamentalist thinking” on the part of a number of people who claim to be naturists or nudists. They see themselves as purists as they spend every hour in every day, nude. Of course, they live in a different world than I do. Weather isn’t a factor, or else they rarely venture outdoors when weather conditions are not favourable to being nude.
For these fundamentalist nudists, their nudity becomes a badge of honour, behind which they hide their insecurities. They use their self-proclaimed authority as “purists” to judge others much the same as those who wear obscenely expensive clothing and accessories to stand above others. Camouflage is camouflage – hiding the vulnerable self and coming to believe that their camouflage is their only self. No matter how one looks at it, fundamentalist thinking is self-deceit.
So, in an attempt to be real and rational, I do my best to remain present in the outer world which requires that I pay attention to the natural world and the human society around me. Only then can I make choices for when and where I can be fully nude.
