Through a Naturist Lens

A few of you may be aware that in two days I will officiate at a wedding ceremony. At the request of my eldest grandson who is to be married in November 2023, I obtained my license as a Marriage Commissioner for our province. His younger brother, grandson number two, is getting married on Saturday and has asked me to marry him and his fiancé.

Last Saturday, I was with the couple in order to get all the needed details for the registration of their impending marriage. This morning, I used that data to complete the documents that will be needed by the provincial government. Needless to say, I am proud to have this opportunity. I just hope that when it comes to the actual ceremony, I don’t become too nervous and embarrass myself and my family.

While I was visiting the two of them, I was asked for advice on how to stay married. The bride-to-be came from a broken home. My wife and I tried to answer as best we could. Though we have been married fifty-one years, we don’t have a recipe book on how to make a marriage work. Paradoxically, marriages are both fragile and resilient when viewed over the long term. In the day-by-day view, I can only say that stubbornness that refuses to concede defeat is vital. Marriage is a messy affair. How does one keep a union of two together when as individuals we have great difficulty in keeping our own shit together?

Should all marriages stick together? Absolutely not. There are a myriad of reasons to call it quits and move on with life. That said, I am certain that many failed marriages had the couple quit too soon leaving both to regret that fact years later. I have listened to too many divorced men who admit that they didn’t try hard enough to keep their marriage alive. They shifted from blaming their spouses to blaming themselves, their failure to communicate and their failure to remember why they got married in the first place. Was it their fault that the marriage came to an end? More likely, it was the fault of both parties.

So, now at fifty-one years married, can I relax and assume that I don’t have to work on my marriage? Can I rest assured that all will be okay for us as a couple? Short answer, No. Even after all this time, the work doesn’t come to an end. There are too many marriages that fail because one or both become complacent. A glance at divorce statistics show that divorces by people in their sixties and seventies are on the rise. Why? Primary factor would be the change in economic situations. More women today have better economic situations and can survive on their own. In the past, this wasn’t the case.

Marriages in the last quarter of life are relationships that centre on companionship. Successful marriages are those that have both parties share the majority of values, activities, and commitment. At the same time, both are comfortable enough to accept that the other is still and individual and that the differences are a vital key to his or her personality. One loves a whole person, not just selected parts.

An example. I am a naturist. I prefer to be out of my clothing as much as is socially or practically possible. My wife loves clothes. At times I wear clothes and at times she goes clothing-free. We both do it to please the other, to acknowledge the otherness. Would our marriage be better if I stopped being a naturist or if she stopped wearing clothing to please the other? In my opinion, the answer is no. A person must honour and accept themselves in order to be a good partner.

Your thoughts and opinions?

I am a morning person. I have always been this way, even as a teenager many decades ago. It’s the time of day when I get to own the world. With everyone else still sleeping, I get to be fully myself without apology. There are a few drawbacks to being a morning person, the first of which is obvious – I’m not really a party animal when evenings roll around. After all, most parties happen late in the day.

Yes, I am on the sidewalk in front of my house in full view of any neighbour who might happen to be awake and looking out the window. I do realise that there are others who are morning people, and who like me sit in the darkness of the house with coffee in hand and watch the morning arrive. If there are others who take note of the naked man on the street, they keep it to themselves. Six-thirty in the morning isn’t really all that early as there are people who go to work at that time, but there aren’t many driving down the street which gives me time to take a photo such as this one.

So why? Why do I take this risk? To begin with, this is me. It isn’t about just talking about being a naturist, it is about actually being a naturist. For those that are aware of my trilogy of Naked Poetry books, you know that a nude image is paired with each poem. There are people in my small town of 500 who own copies of these poetry books, and they have been shared. As well, there is the autobiographical trilogy which details my journey in which being skyclad had played a vital healing role. Many copies of these books are also owned by people in this small prairie town. The series is also in the library.

When I add in the fact that virtually all of my neighbours have seen me nude in full daylight, there is nothing surprising about seeing this unclothed version of me. These neighbours invite us into their homes and return to our house for meals, morning coffee, early evening wine, and to help each other with those things that need a neighbour’s help.

All of that said, it is doubtful that I would be out on the street when the world wakes up. This really isn’t about exhibitionism.

The sun is out, and so is the wind. It is considerably cooler that yesterday, but not too cool. The wind remains strong gusting to over 50 km/hr, enough to keep me from walking out in the hills. When it is this windy, we typically walk around town in order to be protected from the wind. I took this photo this morning in my yard just before I picked up newly fallen crab apples. There is no mistaking that autumn has arrived on the Canadian prairies.

Once the apples were picked and disposed of, I used our electric grain mill to grind some whole wheat flour in the yard. I didn’t have to worry about flour getting all over my clothing since I could do this while clothing free. Then, it was time for a cup of tea while sitting in a protected corner of the yard, in front of our garden shed. Naturally, my chair was positioned so that I could feel the sun’s rays over as much of my body as possible. With the coming of winter in the foreseeable future, I have to take advantage of this as much as possible.

Yes, I guess I could say that I am a sun worshipper.

As I write this, it is only 5 Celsius and it feels even colder because of brisk WNW winds gusting to more than 40 km/hr. It is sunny out with scattered clouds and it looks like a beautiful day. However, it definitely won’t be a day for going for a pleasant naturist hike. Since we left the windows open last night, it is only 16C in the house and I am wearing a housecoat to stay warm as I write. It will warm up and I will return to my usual writing outfit. I do almost everything clothing free.

So what do I do when summer comes to an end? Well, first off, I tend to write as I am not as itchy to be outside wandering clothing free in the prairie hills. Yesterday, I put up a new part of my “The Four” story on Wattpad. I hope that you visit my Wattpad site and read the first six parts that are there. And, if you like what you read, please “vote” for each part and perhaps even leave a comment. All of that is helpful in having my story reach more readers.

As some of you would expect, I will again be taking part in NaNoWriMo this November. For those who are unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, the challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel (can be longer) in the thirty days of the month. I don’t have any idea, yet, of what the story might be. In an attempt to do it differently this year, I am reaching out to you, my readers, to suggest a story and perhaps the characters you would like to see in the story. Just a word of warning, I don’t write exotica. The story doesn’t have to be about naturism, or having naturist characters and scenes. Now, with that said, it is your turn. Feel free to suggest more than one story.

The heat spell continues which has forced me to walk in the early morning which is just fine by me since I am a morning person. However, there is smoke in the air, smoke pushed down from northern forest fires which has had me stuffed up with allergies. So far, I have taken three free-hikes in the first four days of September. I am hoping to add in another walk tomorrow morning if my body and the weather is cooperative.

As I mentioned two days ago, canning of tomatoes has now happened. We will be doing a second batch in the relatively near future. The remainder of our garden is filled with root crops such as carrots, beets, and potatoes, as well as squash of various kinds.

I sold a book today on Amazon which means that August will stand alone as a month with no sales. The naturist community is huge, yet the demand for naturist fiction is not there. My last two books have not sold well with one being a naturist fiction novel and the other being a middle grades novel. I wrote the middle grades novel for my twelve year old grandson who has read it, enjoyed it, and has since passed it on to his friends. The naturist novel hasn’t been published as of yet. It is a story of two professors in an American university whose private naturist lives become exposed by a jealous student. This story is very different from my usual novels.

When I would do book signing tours, book sales were excellent. Perhaps this is trying to tell me that next spring I need to make a return to doing signing events in bookstores. Another possibility is to do author readings in libraries in our province. I have also toyed with the idea of submitting one or two of my latest efforts for competitions. The idea of producing audio books has fallen by the wayside. It is hard to find the energy to produce such a book, especially when naturist fiction books aren’t much in demand.

I am planning to take part in NaNoWriMo again this year, however it is unlikely that it will be a naturist fiction novel. I am hoping to write the sequel to my as-of-yet unpublished university story while in Mexico for January through March.

I look forward to fielding questions from you about my books, naturist fiction in general, or about any other topic.

Yes, it is that time of year again. Four dozen corn were delivered to our house yesterday afternoon. This morning, I shucked them all and am now waiting for my wife to blanch them so that I can take the niblets off the cobs so that we can store them for future use. I paid for four dozen and somehow they included eight extra cobs. No wonder we continue to go to Hutterian Colony for our extra produce that we don’t grow in our own garden.

I’ll be honest. I love to be in the garden or doing other outside chores while I am clothing free. This morning, that was going to be questionable because we woke up to 7 Celsius (felt like 5) this morning, which prompted both of us to wear layers as we sat on our back deck for morning coffee.

However, by the time I needed to shuck the corn, it had warmed up to a balmy 12 degrees, just perfect for working in a sunny, wind-free corner of my backyard. Today, the temperature is expected to reach 28 C. Tomorrow, it is supposed to soar to 36 C with the promise of at least another four days of 30+ temperatures. This is definitely not normal. Our local farmers are glad that it is hot and sunny as they want to get their crops off the fields.

Tomorrow, canning tomatoes is on the agenda. Twenty pounds of ripe tomatoes were also delivered yesterday afternoon. My role with tomatoes is to peel the skin off the tomatoes just after they have been blanched. However, because of expected high overnight temperatures, I will be going for a naturist walk in the early morning. Canning tomatoes won’t begin until at least noon.

Last week, I shredded cabbage so that we could make sauerkraut. The cabbage then had to sit in a brine for a week. Yesterday, I put the jars of sauerkraut onto our shelving in the basement which holds all of our canned and preserved goods. It is a lot of work, too much for most people when it is so easy, and probably cheaper, to buy all the veggies one needs in cans from the local grocery store. Just put it down to our age. We don’t live in the past, we just bring the good things forward to make our lives better.

I’ve finally returned home and expect to stay here for another ten days when I will travel to marry one of my grandsons. Earlier this year I got certification as a Marriage Commissioner at the request of my eldest grandson as he wanted me to officiate at his wedding. Now, grandson number two wants the same thing and his wedding will be happening two weekends from now. This adds a certain kind of awe to my role of being a grandfather. I mean, just how many grandfathers get to marry grandchildren by request?

Yesterday, I went for a walk in the countryside, a nine-and-a-half kilometre effort in hot sunshine. The first part of the walk was along a flat field that had just been harvested. Two kilometres later, I got to walk the hills, my favourite place to walk on the prairies. Hiking in general has been spotty during August because of too many other activities. I barely walked more that 100 km for the month. Hopefully September will be better. It all depends upon the weather. I do hope to get out for three more free-hikes before next week, a good way to start a new month.

Today I am in the city, not walking, as I have to replace my hearing aids. That is an expense that I will willing bare as hearing is important to me, especially being able to hear my grandchildren (youngest are three and five), morning birds while I drink early morning coffee in the back yard, and not miss out on all the words of wisdom from my wife of 51 years. Our anniversary was just a few days ago.

Yes, it is hot here on the Canadian prairies. I left early for my planned hike in the hills. For some reason, I packed a litre of water to take with me as I expected it to reach 30 Celsius by the time I finished my hike. I was thankful and avoided dehydration walking in full sunshine for more than two full hours. There was a lot of hill work in the hike and my legs definitely got a hard workout. Best of all, my hiking clothes didn’t get soaked with sweat as they were tucked safely away in a small backpack with the water. Tomorrow I will again go out early. The plan is for a shorter walk as it is supposed to be hotter than today.

With today’s walk, I tried two extra loops on an old trail. The first followed a dirt road to reach the main grid road which farmers typically use. For a good two-hundred and fifty yards I would have been visible to any traffic travelling down the main gravel road. Because of the time of day, that road was quiet. The second loop took me down a steep hill to reach the valley plain and the edge of the golden field of canola. At the horizon is a farmyard of a family I know quite well. I didn’t worry about being seen as their house is hidden behind the trees seen in the distance in the photo above, and they are currently enjoying some time at a lake.

My new story is coming along quite well, in my opinion. As a result, the audio recording has slowed down. I do hope to record at least three more chapters next week. I have another project that I have begun working on, as well. I will speak more about it in the future as I learn more.

I got to go out for a brisk walk yesterday morning, and by brisk I mean a brisk pace. Normally, my average pace is closer to 11:30 minutes per kilometer. Because of a good number of hills, I decided to throw in some light jogging to mix it up.

I use a variety of programs to record time and distance and am finding that I like this app by Under Armour as it has a good display when all is done. I get to add an image as you can see here, when the activity is done.

My story is now at 6600 words which is a surprise since I seem to slow down with my writing during the summer.

After my walk this morning, I will be going to a Hutterian colony to buy cucumbers so that we can make dill pickles this afternoon. There will also be other vegetables purchased as we will be having a lot of company over the next few weeks. That will mean that for the next three weeks, I will have very little time for being clothing-free in my yard, or even walking. I’m not worried about it as time spent with my children, their partners, and my grandchildren is a precious gift.

I don’t have a lot to report as life is being lived in the “normal” lane, at least normal for me. Free-hiking is on hold, likely for a few more days because of weather, chores, and expected company. At least I have the some freedom in my backyard.

So what does normal look like? Well, watering the garden is done au naturel as you can see in this photo. Because we live in a semi-desert climate with not much rain, we conserve as much water as we can, and that includes bathwater and water we use for rinsing dishes. Our garden, especially the hostas, the strawberries, and the roses are thankful for it.

We also collect as much rainwater as we can in 45 gallon drums and 20 gallon buckets for the main garden. That water is much better for the gardens than tap water. Still, when necessary, we don’t hesitate to attach the hose and water the garden when all the other water is used up.

Barbequing is also done in the buff when outdoors. I have two barbeques, the propane-ffueled BBQ and a new Traeger [wood-smoke] BBQ. Last night, it was burgers cooked on my old BBQ, on the menu.

Sometimes we just sit on our deck and enjoy the sound of the birds that find our backyard an enjoyable place to be. It’s also a place where we talk and share our thoughts, events of the day that have occurred, or simply just relaxing.

There are no rules when one is a senior citizen. With age comes freedom, well as much freedom as we allow ourselves and each other. The need to control the other or be controlled by others is rejected as we both find our own comfort zones. For me that means freedom from clothing as much as possible and practical.

Of course, there are limits as we do live in a community which has written and unwritten rules for its members if one is to be accepted. Since we have no desire to be run out of town, when “others” are in the scene my clothes suddenly reappear on my body. I think of them as camouflage, a costume and disguise to hide the real me.

How does naturism fit into your life? How much freedom or lack of it exist for you?