I don’t feel like doing a Hunk of the Day today. Instead, a flash of silliness for the foot enthusiasts. A double flash, in fact, courtesy of Cherelle and Robert Palmer. Which do you prefer?
Monthly Archives:
June 2015
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June
2015
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June
2015
30
June
2015
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June
2015
Taming an Unruly Monster
I don’t know how this pretty-but-dangerous sweet pea found its way into my garden, but she’s been a beautiful bastion ever since she arrived, despite her inherent danger. I’ve only planted sweet peas once ~ the fancy, frilly annual variety ~ and after that this stood in their place. I’m not sure if it came in with that group, or if some bird deceptively dropped a seed in to confuse the situation. It’s the wild perennial version, the one that’s taken over hillsides throughout the area, and one that can be tenaciously invasive in tendency and sprawl. Confined and controlled, it makes a refreshing sight in first bloom. After that it gets extremely straggly and untidy, and I usually cut it down drastically in mid-summer to get a fresh crop of leaves later.
I say it’s dangerous because it will reseed if given the chance, and if left untended those seeds will grow into pesky plants with root systems that just won’t give up. This is one that requires constant vigilance. The single specimen I maintain would have become ten by now (and there are two or three that have taken hold in inconvenient-to-reach spots that will need to be eradicated sooner rather than later.) I like the single plant we have, and it’s a colorful focal point covering a free-standing trellis. But we have to be wary, and certain beasts, no matter how deceptively gorgeous, need to be kept in check.
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June
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June
2015
A Rainbow Recap
It was a week in which the Supreme Court ended our heretofore-lifelong battle for marriage equality, and for that I am supremely grateful. Strange that I should be so appreciative of a right that should have been ours from the beginning, but I guess that’s the strange jubilation that arrives when justice is delivered. I’m far too cynical and smart to think this is going to change the minds of ignorant homophobic assholes, but it’s a beginning. And though it doesn’t change my love, nor my five-year-old marriage, it does galvanize it in some way, because it is now recognized throughout the country. Thank you to the five Supreme Court justices that saw fit to grant all of us our dignity. (I’ll deal with the four disgraces who were against equality another time.)
The growing season at its start is the best part.
Music to the eyes and ears was provided by Hunk of the Day Chris Botti.
Proving that his new guardian still has impeccable taste, the guy that Madonna featured in her latest video is Jon Kortajarena.
The lazy season is underway.
Fashion spunk of the highest order was brought to life by Kyle Brincefield.
So pretty I could eat it up.
Broadway Barer Casey Lee Ross, in the bare.
Flowers came in magenta, white, and sundrop yellow.
Making a mockery of it all.
Luke Casey was such a hit his first time around as Hunk of the Day, he’s already earned his second.
These guys have also been honored previously, but one can never have enough nude Adam Levine.
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June
2015
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June
2015
Sexy Men of Summer
Actually, these guys are sexy year-round, but since we’re in summer let’s give it a seasonal slant. We begin with the always-entertaining Adam Levine, who recently dropped a towel to show off his naked ass. When Adam Levine gets nude, you sit up and take notice. He’s been here more than once, with the featured photo making waves and tingling hearts and nether-regions for some time.
Mr. Levine has a gay brother and has long been a proponent for gay rights, so it’s doubly nice to show him some love today.
The body of an angel, in this case Ashley Parker Angel, whose Instagram account is one shot away from full-frontal male nudity. Not that anyone has an issue with that. Beautiful people can get away with nudity that the rest of us just can’t get away with.
Straight ally Julian Edelman (who recently changed his FaceBook profile pic to the rainbow filter that is now gleefully ubiquitous) raises himself up, and us in the process.
I believe he’s kicking off a gay pride celebration somewhere, which goes to show you just had far we have come as a country. When a straight football star plays such a prominent role in a gay pride event, things have changed for the better.
A man of beauty, Mr. Mark MacKillop recently performed in this year’s Broadway Bares show, and a few months ago released his scorching coffee-table book Rm. XIV. As the photo below proves, MacKillop knows his way around the camera lens.
Across the pond, Shayne Ward is still setting hearts aflame with poses like this, and the power of his voice. The power of his underwear is pretty apparent here.
Finally, bringing up the booty is sexy beast Matthew Camp, who has been featured here in a number of previous posts, all worthy of admiration and adoration. Mr. Camp exemplifies the fact that being sexy is not only a superficial act, but an internal one as well. His good-natured spirit matches how hot he is, and that’s pretty cool.
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June
2015
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June
2015
Drops of Sun
The other common moniker for these sundrops is Evening Primrose, so-named because of their tendency to close up come evening (which makes it seem like Morning Primrose would be a more apt title). Plant names are sketchy at best, and common ones are even trickier. Why can’t they all be Red hot pokers? A question that I’ve contemplated for years… As for the Oenothera (the scientific name for these bright yellow beauties), they are from a patch at my parents’ home that I originally planted about two decades ago. Through division and cultivation, they’ve gradually moved around the house to their current location standing sentinel by the front door. A harbinger of high summer, they mirror the sun in happy countenance, and shut down in dismay when she slumbers at night. Though the show is spectacular, it lasts only for a couple of weeks. There may be a sporadic flowering following this initial burst, but for the most part this is their glory.
It’s more than substantial, and sets up the golden color band to follow in the Rudbeckia and Hemerocallis. The latter duo will see us through the zenith of summer color, but neither is as pure a yellow as the Evening Primrose. They lean either to gold or to cream, both enchanting in their own way, but nothing beats the clarity of these yellow sundrops. Echoes of sunlight itself.
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June
2015
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June
2015
A Different Kind of White Party
For many years, I eschewed white flowers. Too bland, too boring, too dull, too whatever – I always felt they were less exciting than their more colorful counterparts. Why choose white when you could have a bright fiery red? As time has gone on, however, I’ve traded in the need for bold pizazz and find myself enjoying the softness of the palest of shades. Here’s a brief, and eclectic, collection of white flowers. They run the gamut from the earliest trillium to the season-ending anemone. I like being smack-dab in the middle of them.
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June
2015
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June
2015
This Really Happened Last Night
As proud and lucky as I’ve always felt to be an American, I’ve never felt more proud than seeing our White House resplendent in the rainbow last night. When love wins, everyone wins.
“No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They as for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”
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June
2015
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June
2015
Shooting Magenta Stars
From a furry gray-green rosette comes these shooting stars of magenta. A variety of Lychnis, these hardy little performers are prolific re-seeders, with poppy-like seedpods that act as miniature salt-and-pepper shakers, dispersing their seeds generously. As biennials, they produce a mound of soft foliage the first year, then send up these powerful bursts of saturated blooms in their second. While I’m not enamored of their spindly form, I am in absolute love with their blazing color. Not many flowers match this sort of intensity, and despite their small size the sheer volume of the hue is turned up so high it can be seen from across the yard. Sometimes little things pack a powerful punch, and at the time of the year when a number of flowers are jockeying for the spotlight, this little lychnis manages to steal the show.
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June
2015
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June
2015
Mock It Up
Having praised the virtues of the mockorange blossom over the years, this feels like a largely redundant post, but if the memory and scent is as sweet as those produced by this unassuming plant, it’s a path I’ll happily retread. The shrub itself has a rather non-descript form. Its simple round leaves start out bright green then mature to a deeper shade that all but disappears into the landscape. The stems slowly advance to a woody stage as the shrub eventually reaches higher and higher into the sky, topping out at ten to fifteen feet if you let it.
They tend to get weedy and filled with dead wood after a while, so I cut them back hard every few years, and even then their form is a little too erratic and untidy for my taste. If it weren’t for the flowers I wouldn’t bother at all. Some flowers, though, are worth it. These personify early summer, with a perfume that brings me back to far more carefree days.
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June
2015
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June
2015
Floral Sorbet
Reminiscent of sherbet or sorbet in shade only, this tree peony bloom actually smells of a spicy tea. Though the scale of the flower is unknown in these shots, it’s immense – the size of a small plate. So big is it that the stems don’t practically support its weight. I always end up clipping the blooms and bringing them inside, where the pungent perfume can be enjoyed up close.
The bloom is an ever-changing and evolving show of its own. Just when you think it’s achieved its full bomb size, it reaches a little higher and expands a little wider, revealing an inner shade of ruby red at the throat of each petal. I love a hidden heart.
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June
2015
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June
2015
A Lazy Summer Post
When things get too busy for a wholly original post, I like to look back at all the work that’s gone on here before. Writing a blog that’s updated at least twice a day is no easy feat. This website usually only goes dark on one day a year, and has done so for ss long as the blog portion of it has been in existence (at least ten years). For today, a look back at what was going on here a year or two ago.
June 23, 2014 started with a ginger and a summer recap – the best of both worlds. It closed with a set Hunk of the Day in the form of one Kieron Richardson.
June 23, 2013 found me in the pool, one of my favorite places to be in the summer season. There was music in there air too, and it was as dramatic as a summer storm, bat-style. Last but not least, a cocktail ended the hotness of the day.
For more, check out the archives and search around a little. I love a good treasure hunt.
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June
2015
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June
2015
All Shiny & New
This is the part of the annual growing season that I like best – everything is still fresh and new, and not quite grown out to its maximum splendor. Bits of earthenware pots can still be seen, glimpses of dark soil forming a perfect background to the brightest green that the season will achieve. There is promise in such chartreuse shades, and a vibrant expectancy that will only gradually erode from this point forward.
Now is the time to pinch things back a little to keep them bushy and full. The first few times I have to do this always gives me pause, but then I remember that gardening is a ruthless business, and being wimpy now will only result in problems and weakness later.
For the moment, though, a breather in the relentless pace of this sunny month. A couple of trims, a little watering, some feeding, and then a bit of admiration and reflection. Enjoy the day.
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June
2015
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June
2015
The First Summer Recap
It’s only been here a day, but we’re already recapping a bit of summer. Oh well, such is the state of the calendar, and no one is complaining. I’ll drag my naked ass out of the pool to go over what happened in the last week, as much of it was light and fluffy, while more serious stuff was going down. That’s the way summer rolls. Hang onto a noodle and paddle.
Adam Lambert got us all a little bit high.Â
After a lengthy absence, the Madonna timeline returned, in a quiet way. We went back to 1995, the year that she took one of many bows, and then she put out this fun summer video that pissed half of her camp off, and thrilled the rest of the world.
Zac Efron got shirtless, as he is wont to do, and nobody complained.
A new (old) summer fragrance from the house of Hermès.
Bradford Shane Shellhammer made his first appearance as Hunk of the Day. (And if I can score an interview with him, it may not be the last…)
Ginger Glory via Kinky Boots.
Suzie turned 40. Who will be next??? Oh, right, Chris…
The world’s baddest Noah, of ark-building fame.
The world’s fiercest fashion model.
Lunch by Cher.
Here’s why I was largely out of circulation for the past week or so – and on that note, Happy Father’s Day again!
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June
2015
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June
2015
Greeting Summer in the Buff
It’s the first official day of summer, even if we’ve been celebrating it for quite some time. (The longer this sunny season goes, the happier we seem to be.) This will be a busy one, for various reasons, but before we get down to all that nitty and gritty, let’s just ease into things with a frolic in the pool and a couple of throwback skinny-dipping shots.
This year I haven’t been in the pool much – there just hasn’t been time – but with the warmer weather I’m looking to change that. There have been enough pool photo shoots that I don’t think another will be missed. (And if it is, go here, here, here, here, or here.) Link-a-rama! Like Chick-a-rama only with links. Ok, it’s summer and my mind is on vacation. Seek sense somewhere else. Happy Sun & Fun!
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June
2015
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June
2015
Bitch, She’s Madonna
Vivid of color, silly of purpose, and chock-full-of-stars (pop-and-otherwise), Madonna’s new video for ‘Bitch I’m Madonna’ is a vibrant and fun romp through a party pastiche. Reminiscent of her look from 1985’s ‘Dress You Up’ moment (with a stunning pink studded jacket by Discount Universe – thanks for the info Kyle Brincefield!) it’s a bit of a throwback to the 80’s and its black-lit neon brilliance, but re-packaged for a completely of-the-moment freshness.
A lot of people, including some Madonna fans, have complained that this is her worst song and video in years. I’ll admit, initially it was not one of my favorite tracks from the otherwise-epic ‘Rebel Heart’ album, but like the savviest of entertainers, the video sells it in unexpected ways, and I’ve come around to it.
If you want serious, deep, high-minded art, look at ‘Ghosttown‘ – if you want a fun, light-hearted summer ditty, this is your jam. It’s always nice seeing Madonna let her hair down, especially when it’s pink. (And I seriously need that jacket.)
