Missing

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Bare Poetry

I've mentioned before that I have multiple blogs, and one of those blogs just happens to be all poems and limericks. Several of those rhymes revolve around my favorite theme like this one does. I may post those on this blog every now and then. Hey look--here's one now:

The Other "N" Word

 by Rick Williams

I love the feel of nakedness
and don't care who I tell.
I'll announce it to the world
and everyone else as well!

I wear t-shirts every day to work;
some with "Nudestock" themes.
They're my subtle way of saying,
"There's a nudist on your team!"

At first it was a common thing;
people would always wonder:
"Why would anyone want to see
what's usually hidden under?"

 It isn't just about what you see
when you're only wearing shoes;
it's also about how you feel--
it helps you kick the blues!

Bodies differ so very much--
there are really no two the same;
so why should less than perfect ones
be made fun of and/or shamed?

I've had many experiences
of nudism over the years,
but never thought to share them;
perhaps acceptance fears?

Nobody wants to be ridiculed
about things they think or do.
Maybe I thought I'd be seen as odd
and taunting would ensue.

I'd like to think that everyone
is born a nudist at their core;
but alas, most kids are taught
to have those thoughts no more.

Instead, be sure to make it known
that you're a nudist too!
Share those thoughts with those you know--
I'll bet that some will envy you!

 

Nudism in Advertising: Wartime Style

I almost didn't post this because I don't want my blog to be about sexuality. Sexuality is a whole different subject today than it used to be. I don't want controversy, bashing, or anything negative to come from my blog posts. It's all about fun and nudity! I have quite a few old advertisements I have collected with something to do with nudity. It's entertaining to see how ads have transitioned since the early days.

In the early 20th century, product advertising was rife with suggestive content. It's been known for decades that sex sells, and there weren't media watchdogs like there are now, so a lot of companies had those kinds of ads--even the good ol' Ivory Soap company. These ads were different though--they were male bodies, and lots of them. It was all about the camaraderie within the armed forces. This was wartime, and it was a time when the whole country rallied behind the fighting men of the military. Who was the target audience though? Men? Women? G.I.'s?

Not to be outdone, the folks at Cannon Towel company probably took a look at those ads and said, "Hey, look at those guys--they don't even look happy! Let's make our product advertising happier!" They definitely added some fun, but maybe a bit too much fun? Don't you get the impression that, instead of towels they're selling fun? When is the last time you saw anyone's butt crack in an advertisement? Coppertone lotion maybe?

I guess they were doing their best to lighten the mood of war.

This one is even more odd because it features "natives" standing there with blank looks on their faces, wondering what kind of root these guys have been mashing up and smoking. It looks comical enough to have sprung from the pages of MAD Magazine. By today's standards, it's also very risque' from an ethnic perspective.

"Hurry up guys, it's almost time for the show!" Check out the guy in the background, probably keeping any eye out for officers.

For the folks fighting in the frozen north, they included an ad for them, too. They carried the towel fun indoors. This one looks almost anti-nudist though, "Put yer damn clothes on, and do it now!" I guess it's describing how hard it is to bathe in the northern climates.

Lighter things

I love this cartoon--it's our last name! Unfortunately, I'm not a lawyer or I'd be able to afford a home with more privacy...

The "Non" Fremont Solstice Parade 2020

Thanks to the Covid pandemic, cultural events we are used to attending are largely not happening this year. Millions of people around the world have been shut-ins for much of the first quarter of the year, and not being able to attend our favorite cultural events has tended to compound that feeling of isolation for a lot of people. Having to stay away from group gatherings is hard to deal with because we are social animals. Sporting events, restaurants, concerts--even parks--have had to shut down. Adding to that growing list is the famous Fremont Solstice Parade in Seattle, one of the nudist originals. This marks the 31st year it's been going on, and yet--it's not quite going on...

It's gone "virtual" this year. The annual Fremont Solstice Parade has always happened, rain or shine, but will not be happening this year. Their website states that this year's event, "...will be a compilation program of prerecorded content made of historical archives, ensembles, art, personal testimonies..." among other things. Isn't that weird? A virtual parade. I never thought I'd see the day. Even our beloved painted naked bicycle riders have to be reruns this year.

While I enjoy the hell out of the solstice parade, I've only actually attended one time (even though it's only 45 minutes away from my home.) My daughter and I went in 2008 and had a great time. I was fairly new to the camera I was carrying that day, and I found out too late that I had a bit to learn with regard to its camera settings, but I did get a few lucky shots here and there.

But here's an odd story:

Several years after we attended I happened across someone else's 2008 Solstice Parade album on the internet, and I started looking through their work. Imagine my surprise when I found a picture of me there! You can't see my daughter, but there I am in the back wearing the yellow shirt. That's not all though--When I went back through my own pictures, there was the opposite of the same shot! I'm assuming it was the guy in the kilt that shot it, but still--what are the odds? By the way everything is lined up it looks like the other shot comes after the gal takes about 3 or 4 more steps.

Here are a few more of my not-too-crappy shots to give a little taste of this great event:

You can see how the parade brings out the lucky locals too!

Check out the elaborate head-wrapping gargoyle hat this guy came up with:

Nudism and Photography

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Juxtaposition

Sometimes I notice things that other people may not notice. (Of course, to be fair I also miss a lot of things that everyone else notices.) Recently, I was going through a huge pile of pictures on my computer and ran across the color one below thinking, "Hmm, this picture looks oddly familiar."

A little digging through my files and viola! (pronounce 'wha-la')

I had posted the black and white version some time ago as a funny picture, pondering, "I wonder what was going on?" Were one of these pictures blatant plagiarism or was it just "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?" Probably just a case of, "Why reinvent the wheel?"

 

Here's another interesting one. I first spotted the picture with the elephant in it. (Who wouldn't?) I love black and white photography, and I admired the composition. I was mentally applauding whoever set up the photo shoot for their originality. Then, sometime later I came across the one without the elephant.

"Hey, what the hell?"

That made me examine them more closely, and that's when I saw the obvious bad Photoshop job someone did of pasting the elephant in. You can see the texture of the ground in front of it suddenly change. What I found interesting is, the original one without the elephant is almost impossible to find on the internet, whereas the elephant version is absolutely everywhere.

Fortuitous Funny

Happy Friday!

Current Events and Temps

When I began this blog last year I really didn't know what I had in mind for it. After letting it run a while, my postings slowed to a crawl, finally stopping. It was under a slightly different name then, called Preferably Undisguised. When I started a new blog and reloaded the old posts it wouldn't let me have the same name so I chose this one.

This has been the strangest year of my life I think--probably most everyone's life. The Covid virus tossed a huge wrench into the world machine, and almost everything broke down in short order. My employer was proactive right from the start and took steps to keep everyone safe. Per their directive, we all had to start working from home. It didn't take long for me to embrace it. It's cool being able to stay nude all day! Here are a couple shots that show me hard at work from my home office location in Brenda's sewing room, naturally undisguised.

I've always been kinda warm-blooded. I hate cold. Well, there was a point somewhere in the last couple weeks where our temps here were a lot warmer. Obviously, warmer temps make the house warmer, and that was fine by me. I usually have it at 72° or 73° in the house, even when we're naked. That kind of temperature range is too warm for most people, but it's fine for me. When I'm working nude at a desk, however, I need a couple additional degrees to stay comfortable. Last week I decided that my minimum comfortable temperature to sit naked at the desk for 8 hours is 76°. A couple more degrees would be fine too. I'm sure I'll get my chance to experience that this summer. As most nudists would tell you, when you're working nude and you get cold, just throw on a t-shirt!

We have a nude household, and we are both introverts. That means that we are super-happy to spend our days staying home in various stages of undress. When the lockdown orders came from the government we were all too happy to comply. To us, that meant that there was now little or no chance of anyone surprising us with a drop-in visit! As I said, we are almost always naked to some degree, and that changes from minute to minute. Brenda stopped taking her hormone therapy a while back, so she is prone to lots of hot flashes. She is always talking about how she is one of the lucky women in the country because when a hot flash hits, she just peels instantly. It's not unusual to see her appearance change several times in an hour's time. Depending on weather, temperature, or even just how we feel, it's not unusual to see either of us wearing only socks.

Fortuitous Funny

If only...

Working Outdoors

I mentioned several times in this blog about nudists wearing only a t-shirt. This time I want to talk about footwear. Specifically, working footwear. There are many times when having the right footwear is key.

As much as I love life in the nude, my being nude tends to cause some laziness. Why? Two reasons mainly:

1. The desire to stay naked clashes with work that needs to be done outdoors (privacy concerns, etc.) If I avoid those tasks because being naked is more enjoyable.
2.  Not having the right footwear. If I'm barefooted and clean, I'm in relaxation mode!

Most nudists we see are in the process of relaxing in some way or another, like suntanning. In that situation, barefoot, flip-flops, or sandals are obviously best because they're minimal. In that situation, minimal footwear is fine. After all, if you're wearing something like flip-flops on your feet, are you really going to be able to use a shovel efficiently anyway? No, you can't stand on it hard enough to break soil without doing damage to your foot. Also, because our feet stick out in front of us, they are vulnerable. We are prone to favoring our toes when we're doing work, and we tend to jump back if something threatens our tootsies.

If you're moving, lifting, digging, or whatever heavy chore you may be doing, you need the right stuff on your feet: Boots. I'm not talking about cowboy boots, although those would certainly do the job. They just don't quite have the right look when you're wearing nothing but a smile:

Granted, those guys weren't working.

Having the right footwear is a necessity when you're working. Being able to wear no clothes while working is just a bonus! If you're working in plain, ol' dirt or mud, barefoot is a great choice. It just adds to that good, nude feeling of being connected to the earth. If you're really working, like using power tools and heavier materials, you need to wear boots like these guys:

You want to see an example of someone that should be wearing foot protection but is obviously running with his brain disconnected? Look at this guy. Even if you're okay with flying object danger, you're still going to end up with chlorophyll-colored feet :

When I mentioned being barefoot in certain conditions, here's one that would not work. Boots required, baby!

Driving Nude

I think driving nude is a thing that started off being fun because it was naughty. I don't remember the first time I had the desire to strip and drive, but I know I've done it many times. I'm pretty sure it started from plain ol' boredom. When you have quite a ways to drive and you want to be as comfortable as possible, driving nude is a pleasant change of pace. There have been times I've been on a long drive and found myself getting sleepy, and my recipe for making the drive interesting and keeping myself alert again was to just take all my clothes off. It just makes it different.

The longest I've ever driven wearing only my seat belt was probably the time I drove home from Los Angeles, when I slid my shorts off after coming down the Grapevine hill on northbound I-5. Because I got a late start, it was dark by the time I had to stop for gas. I remember the place was closed, but thanks to the current world of 24-hour, unattended gas stations I was able to fill up without getting dressed! That was pretty cool. I did end up getting dressed sometime after that, probably having something to do with getting something to eat.

I've been to Nudestock several times at our local club, the Tiger Mountain Family Nudist Park, and at least twice I remember having struggles with getting dressed when it was time to leave. Instead of dealing with it I just drove home nude. After all, I had been naked the entire day--why stop now? Those times, being daylight hours, required a certain amount of discretion when passing certain taller vehicles, and for those times I just draped my shorts over my lap for a few seconds as we passed.

One time while I was married to my ex, her family members were all gearing up for their annual camping trip to Lily Lake. Because of the various family members having different schedules and so on, everyone was going at different times and taking different folks along with them. Because I was working all day Friday, everyone else had already gone up, allowing me to drive up alone in my pickup with my canoe hanging out the back. I disrobed just the other side of Enumclaw and drove naked all the way up and over Chinook Pass, down the to the lake destination on the other side. I arrived and parked, but still hadn't had any reason to get dressed because I hadn't yet encountered anyone. That was a nice naked drive! I was still naked as I dragged the canoe out of the truck and most of the way down the path to the lake. I wonder what kind of stir I would have caused had I gone all the way to the lake naked!

I spent 10 years as a delivery driver in the 1980's and 90's, and one of my regular routes was an overnighter down to Portland, Oregon. That's not all that far from us here (about 2-3 hours), but because I left the warehouse at 3am I had to deal with darkness, tiredness, and boredom on occasion. One night I got the idea to pull over and strip. It was warm weather and I was in a rural area, so I just got out of the truck and disrobed right there on an on-ramp that led downward, back onto the freeway. It was still dark, so that was no problem. I put my socks and shoes back on (driving comfort) and got into the truck. Continuing onto the freeway, it was at least an hour of fun, comfortable driving in the nude. I finally pulled over and got dressed again when the sky started getting light, knowing my first stop was not far away.

Apparently, in some circles driving with no clothes on is known as carnuding (I guess everything needs a title these days). There's an excellent guide for driving nude here on The Free Range Naturist blog.

Note: driving nude might be frowned on by the legal authorities in your locale, so beware!