A New Home

I haven't posted anything new on this journal in a very long time. The imminent termination of all journals on AOL forced me to move this one somewhere. This seems like a safe haven for the time being.

Another year, another visit

This past Saturday I spent a good part of the day outdoors in the rain. The skies were very wet and gray, the temperature held at a cool 50 degrees and all was right with the world. My husband, a friend and I visited the Springs for the first time this year. We were fully aware before our departure that rain was forecast but that didn't matter. We were primed and ready to go; it was time.

Our friend usually goes her separate way once we get there to pursue her own Springs experience and we regroup for a long, leisurely lunch in the dining room of the lodge which is quite cozy and warm in the winter months. My husband and I spent several long soaks in the small pool that's fed by a freshet of warm mineral water which then flows into the cool pool. The sensation that comes from being submerged up to the neck in deliciously warm water and feeling cool raindrops falling on top of our heads is marvelous. I experienced this combination of soaking and being rained on simultaneously when I visited Jamaica about six years ago. Every afternoon at almost exactly the same time, dark clouds would roll in from the sea and open up with a cloudburst that lasted not even ten minutes.

That was a warm rain in a tropical setting, however, and getting thoroughly soaked in northern California in January is somewhat different. It's rejuvenating, refreshing and fun. What other time is there when it's all right to sit out in the rain? What I don't understand about visiting the Springs in the winter months is how it's quite tolerable to wander about for short periods of time in rainy 50 degree weather but later that night we cling to each other for warmth when we ease into our beds. Why do our bodies acclimate so quickly when we're outdoors in nothing but our skin? I can be sitting in my living room, fully dressed feeling like my extremities are freezing but feel quite comfortable walking around in a January rainfall without a stitch of clothing. It would be pushing the envelope of reason to suggest that our bodies were created to adapt to less than moderate temperatures if necessary but I wonder about this and, of course, there was a time when they did.

The day ended all too quickly as it always does. Three happy, relaxed people came home ready to take on the world with a renewed vigor and perspective. That, among many other things, is something one always comes away with from visiting this magical place. Plans are already in the works for our next visit sometime in February. I'm looking forward to it!

Another Birthday

Another birthday has come and gone. The date on the calendar verifies the fact that I'm a year older but I don't look or feel any differently. I keep telling myself it's just a number and the older I become, the more I realize this to be true. It just so happened that this year my birthday fell on the same day as the monthly gathering of our naturist group. What perfect timing! A party of sorts to which I could wear my birthday suit. These get-togethers are usually potluck in nature. This time, however, all food was provided and if desired, the contribution of a bottle of wine would be most welcome. The meal's theme was Spanish so we chose a Spanish wine to share. Neither my husband or I had ever tasted any kind of Spanish wine before. My husband chose the bottle and I'm pretty sure his selection was based on the attractive label and midline price. He's more wine savvy than I but this was unknown territory. Guess what? It was wonderful; we will have to experiement with some more of them.

The weather these past few days has been rather sketchy, not very August-like at all. Extremely cool mornings have been greeting us upon awakening and the grey skies and low fog have been hanging about in a most dreary fashion until early afternoon. Today's function began at 12 noon and as we were heading there around noonish, the sun began to peek through and the skies began to clear. Our destination was a home of the founding member of our group who lives out in the country, high up upon a hilltop. The temperature was perfect and the sun shone down on all of us seated around the deck with the perfect degree of warmth. I knew if I left the sunscreen home, sunshine would prevail. It never fails!

Excellent food, exquisite wine and great camaraderie That's what this birthday was all about. The nicest thing was that there were four new people in attendance that we'd never met before. Two men and two women, all of whom arrived separately. Such nice people and such a treat to meet and talk to some new folks. One of the men had a lilting accent that I soon discovered was a charming leftover from his originally hailing from the Yorkshire region in northern England. After much chit-chat, a plateful of great good and a glass of wine or two, this fellow inquired if anyone liked to play cards. My antennae perked up instantly; I enjoy card games very much and used to know how to play quite a few. These days the only card game played at our house is cribbage. This is a fun game and I love to play it with either my husband or son but it's always nice to learn something new. This man was going to teach us how to play Kaluki. Ever hear of it? I never did and it sounds like a game from the islands, doesn't it? It's played with two decks, including the jokers and I played enough practice rounds with the other newcomers to the game to know that if I could get everything straight in my head, it would be a great game. He promised to bring the cards next time and we would take another stab at the game.

Our host and his wife were playing as a team. We laughed when he noted that the card game naturists usually play is "Put Your Clothes Back On" poker. First one completely dressed is outta there! This is one of those statements where you probably had to be there to appreciate the humor but it struck us all as extremely funny. We had such fun and I wondered why we don't play board games, Scrabble, Sorry and such when we do get together because we all seem to be the kind of people who would enjoy doing this. Perhaps this little card game will act as a catalyst to get some other kind of game going next time.

We returned home around 6pm or so and shortly after that my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter stopped by with some cards, some gifts and a birthday carrot cake. My son was at work and had presented me with his gifts earlier in the morning. Nice. Very nice. My last couple of birthdays have been highly involved, grandiose affairs (to help this poor woman get over the 50-year mark and beyond). I made it to 52 with little effort and this year's celebration was mellow, laid back and just right in every way. Happy Birthday to me!

A Birthday Entry

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Those of us who have children know that the lifelong journey of parenting is full of trials and successes, tribulations and joy. Each of us has our own criteria of what qualities make us a good parent. It’s a difficult, full time job that comes with no directions and no training manual. Our memories of our own upbringing by our parents are generally the basic guidelines for how we go about guiding our children.

I recently received an e-mail from my daughter which revealed that I had achieved a major success in raising a child who grew up into an adult able to see past the parent to the individual who existed before the title of "Mom" was bestowed upon her. Today is my birthday. I am 52 years old today and while I don’t believe this essay written by my daughter was intended as a gift, I regard it as such and wish to share it with you:

Mom, I took a few minor liberties with the story, but this is something I wrote, and I thought that you might be at least amused by it. I wrote it several times over, but this is the draft that really moved me. You know you have written something good, when it makes you the writer teary eyed:

" The Legacy of my Mother"

How will you be remembered when you are older? Do you have a legacy that you will pass on? A talent, a claim to fame? Is there a picture of you that captures you for what you are, that you hope will retain your youth? If so, what would you be doing in it?

In my parents room, I noticed a picture recently that I had never seen before. It was a recent photo of my mother, taken by my father at the springs resort that they enjoy so much. My parents are occasional naturists, mostly on weekend endeavors and vacations. This framed photo was from one of these such excursions. My mother is sitting by a little pool or pond of sorts, with a bunch of reed type plants behind her. She is sitting sideways, with her knees drawn up to her chest, and her arms about her knees. She has her face turned towards the viewer. It is clear that she is sans clothing, but nothing is revealed. It is a very beautiful picture of a vivacious, fun spirited, fit 50 year old lady of grace. She has a coy smile on her face, and a slight twinkle in her eye, I know my father had just said something to make her laugh, she looks very nymph like. She is in a pose you would expect to find someone painting her in. It is a gorgeous picture. I commented on it to her.

My mother, who works in the elderly care field, often sees photos of young lovers, whom are now aged and wrinkled in their twighlight years. Pictures of once prom queens, now in arthritic pain. Pictures of young girls with pigtails, who are now called ma‘am. My mother takes the picture down and tells me, if she is ever in a nursing home, this is the picture she wants on her nightstand. This is the "self" she wishes to portray to the world. She wants people to look at her and wonder if that gorgeous woman is the one that they see before them, and she will smile knowing such a nymph like woman is still inside the elderly one. I can never see my mother in a nursing home. She, and my father will live with me if ever the time comes. But this picture will endure. This legacy will be the one my mother passes on. I have visions of my own daughter showing it to her children years after my mother, the subject, and my father the photographer have passed. At that point I myself will be an elderly lady, and I will hear my daughter say "this is your great Gramma M, isn’t she beautiful, she was a very adventurous spirit".

An Excursion of Naturistic Proportions

Ah, vacation; long months of planning and anticipation, the sweet arrival of the day of departure. Now begins the actual stretch of time where the days languidly melt into one another. Time becomes irrelevant and knowledge of the actual day and date slips way back into the furthermost recesses of consciousness. Then, zap! before you know it, it's all over and it's life in the real world once more.

We recently returned from a vacation spent at two separate locations. We visited two clothing-optional resorts which were at totally opposite ends of the spectrum of the nude experience. It was amazing. Who'd have thought two places where the majority of people go about pursuing their choices of relaxing activities sans clothing could be so different? But they were.

We spent the first half of our holiday at our favorite hot springs. I've written much about this magical place in past entries. The visitors there are laid back, liberal, sometimes philosophical and occasionally artsy-fartsy. The guests at the second place we went to were, for the most part, simply fartsy...as in old fart(sy). After much discussion we decided we should perhaps branch out a bit and check out a different clothing-optional place. I'm not sure what we were expecting but I don't think it was what we encountered; a large group of folks whose accumulated age averaged out to around 70! The age group at the Springs ranges from 18 to late seventies. The group of people at the new place was as right-wing, God Bless America (and no one else!), George W. fans as you could possibly imagine. It was as if we'd been magically transported into an imaginary future in the "King of the Hill" animated series to hang out with "the boys" and every other one was very much like Dale, the paranoid exterminator. The chit-chat never seemed to vary from what kind of RV so and so had along with a boring running commentary on all the other resorts all over the country that were...Just Like This! I believe I just might've sampled my first "Twilight Zone" experience. And all this, a mere two and a half hours from where we live. I'm exaggerating, of course, but you get the picture.

The Springs is a retreat comprised of 27 acres for naturists to step away from the world and reflect upon nature, themselves and how the two can truly complement each other. There are several cabins, a rustic lodge housing a communal kitchen and dining room and a few campsites for walk-in tent camping only. There's a steam room, sauna, cool pool, an old-time redwood hot tub and four private tubs for individual soaking. Mineral water smelling faintly of sulpher flows into all of these. This place is situated in a small, narrow valley. There are no radios, no phones, no newspapers, no TVs and cell phones simply do not work. Pure, unadulterated bliss.

The new (to us) place was a resort for nudists to sun, soak, play tennis, billiards, dance, play bocce ball, shuffleboard, eat meals in a restaurant or belly up to the bar stark naked. There were three chlorine-scented swimming pools and two jacuzzis, a boutique to visit and pedal boats to putz about on the lake (which nobody stepped foot into). This resort encompassed 250 acres on which was parked a sea of RVs, campers, trailers and stationery mobile homes with sweet little green lawns in front and all the kitschy decorating paraphernalia you could ever want to see. Many of these folks spend the better part of the year here and some live here year round.

Overall, we had a glorious time at both places luxuriating in a continuous cycle of sunning, soaking, swimming, sex, snoozing, sleeping, sex and feasting upon fantastic meals while sipping an array of exquisite wines. It was, in a word, Sensational. Would I like to return to the activity-filled resort populated by folks nearing the age of those I assist in my workplace each day? Probably not but now I can say I've been there and if ever I wish to return someday, I know how to get there. In the future, I'll be more than happy to spend an au natural vacation at the Springs. I always suspected it was the greatest place on earth. Now I'm sure.

A Naturist and her Cat

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Once the hot weather arrives, my husband and I have been known to succumb to our naturistic tendencies when safely ensconced within the house. Offspring are given fair warning: stay away, Mom and Dad are cruising around the homestead in the altogether. No worries there. My son will remove himself as far away from the house as possible and my daughter abstains from dropping in on the way to her home just up the hill.

This summer, however, something new has been added to the mix. A pet with sharp teeth and even sharper claws. I speak of none other than our beautiful cat, Finnegan. Just how is the combination of naked flesh and kitty talons going to play out? I have to admit to some concern about this. No matter how gentle and well mannered their cat is, all owners carry scars resulting from a startle or a missed jump from here to there with their hapless human caught in the middle. Then there's the matter of kitty snuggling down in his human's lap for a, what else? Cat nap! Now, I'm the only one whose lap Finn employs for such purposes. I like to think it's because of my charming personality and his undying affection for me. I strongly suspect it's because I'm the only one in the house who actually creates a lap when seated. The men in the house are too concerned and protective (and rightly so) of those items located below the lap to relax enough to form one that might entice a....kitty.

I think I've been getting a preview of how our cat will deal with his humans in the flesh. I usually sleep without nightclothes and often Finnegan sleeps in close proximity to me. When he awakens and desires a nocturnal visit, he perches on my chest and peers down at me, vulturelike, until I wake up to say hello. To hasten my ascent from peaceful sleep, he pats my cheek or gives me little kisses (licks) on the cheek or ear. The claws stay sheathed and it seems as if the less clothing I have on, the more careful he is to use only the pads of his feet. It's as if he automatically knows that he has to be more careful. It reminds me of how animals react when we're sad, sick or infirm. They have this innate sense of knowing when to tread lightly, literally and figuratively.

I'm hoping his caution will continue. I do not wish to arrive at my vacation destination about five weeks from now covered in cat scratches. That just would not do!

 

 

Bliss

Human beings to me are as much a part of nature as trees or birds, and the unclothed body expresses this belongingness directly and powerfully.
Wynn Bullock

Despite continued threats of clouds and rain, Sunday broke forth in a glorious blaze of blue skies, sun and high, fluffy clouds. It had been our wish to escape to our beloved Springs for the past couple of weeks but ominous weather predictions held us at bay. We finally got to the point where we firmly decided that no matter what the predicted forecast was, we were going.

Once again, we invited my friend from work to join us and she eagerly accepted. Once there, she takes off on an entirely different direction; specifically, she takes herself away for long walks. She feels a great need to be "at one" with the terra firma and this place is an excellent choice to pursue that endeavor. My darling and I? Just point us to the steam room and the promise of a refreshing, soul-cleansing submersion into a cool pool of spring-fed water and we’re happy. Our friend is constantly on the move; we are more stationary once settled with our books and appreciative looks between each other.

We treat the Springs as if it’s our gift to bestow upon those who are worthy. It’s such a marvelous place to share with someone we’re very sure will enjoy it. A day at the Springs isn’t for everybody. A great many people we care for wouldn’t understand our love affair with the place. It’s a haven for dreamers, those who are willing and wish to step away from their worries and cares and lose themselves in a soothing atmosphere of peace and quiet amidst gardens, saunas, hot tubs and steam. The Springs is for soul searching, introspection and an opportunity to simply revel in the sheer joy of existence. It helps to be somewhat of a hedonist as well.