Tiny Threads: An Insignificant Series

Biggest waste of a cookie: the snickerdoodle.

There. I said it.

What is the point of this bland and boring thing?

#TinyThreads

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This Cactus Again

She’s a real Thanksgiving cactus this year, opening her hot pink blooms for the holiday of gratitude, just as the world turns gray and brown. She’s put on a show before – quite a few in fact, when you consider that I’ve had her since about 2002. A gift from a co-worker, she was a tiny little thing that I shoved in the guest/storage room and basically forgot about over the years. That may have done her more good than harm, as overwatering these plants is their number one cause of death and distress. 

Over the years, I potted her up, trimmed her down, and did my best to coddle her once I saw her resilience and perennial beauty at this time of the year. It’s as if she sensed the most dismal and dark time of the year and decided to gift us a balm of beauty and bright color. There have been some rough patches along there way – recently, after upgrading her into a larger clay pot, she showed a flush of new growth, then suddenly lost one of her main stalks, reducing her structure by a good third, without reason or explanation. Since then, she’s slowly rebuilt herself, and this year’s crop of blooms is a fine one. A pleasant reminder that life is not about perfection, but the growth it takes to attempt it. 

 

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A Poem of Thanks

Thanksgiving
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox

We walk on starry fields of white

And do not see the daisies;

For blessings common in our sight

We rarely offer praises.

We sigh for some supreme delight

To crown our lives with splendor,

And quite ignore our daily store

Of pleasures sweet and tender.

 

Our cares are bold and push their way

Upon our thought and feeling.

They hang about us all the day,

Our time from pleasure stealing.

So unobtrusive many a joy

We pass by and forget it,

But worry strives to own our lives

And conquers if we let it.

 

There’s not a day in all the year

But holds some hidden pleasure,

And looking back, joys oft appear

To brim the past’s wide measure.

But blessings are like friends, I hold,

Who love and labor near us.

We ought to raise our notes of praise

While living hearts can hear us.

 

Full many a blessing wears the guise

Of worry or of trouble.

Farseeing is the soul and wise

Who knows the mask is double.

But he who has the faith and strength

To thank his God for sorrow

Has found a joy without alloy

To gladden every morrow.

 

We ought to make the moments notes

Of happy, glad Thanksgiving;

The hours and days a silent phrase

Of music we are living.

And so the theme should swell and grow

As weeks and months pass o’er us,

And rise sublime at this good time,

A grand Thanksgiving chorus.

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And So It (Officially) Begins: The Fucking Holidays

Just in case anybody had any doubts that it was the holiday season, it is.

There is no going back now.

But there are outs. 

And methods of escape, or simple avoidance.

I intend to try a few of them.

In the meantime, enjoy the very first live performance of this classic chestnut.

It’s Mariah’s world until the New Year.

All we can do is share it.

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And May All Our Wishes Come Truuuuuuuuuuuue

Here’s that goddamn turkey lurkey song, an annual post for no reason other than to say it’s holiday time, whether we like it or not. I’m totally not feeling it this year, and that’s ok. Just because we have done the same stupid-ass things since we can remember is no reason not to stop or start some new shit. The same goes for bad family habits and toxic environments. No need to perpetuate a harmful cycle, especially when the results only end up being repeatedly hurtful. Wow, this Thanksgiving went dark awfully quickly! That’s what happens when you start working through some deep-seeded shit in therapy. Hold onto your pilgrim hats… and an early Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

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Curtain Up: New Holiday Traditions

Over the last few years, any vestiges of childhood holiday traditions have dwindled and disappeared altogether. The one last tradition that had remained the same – Christmas Eve at my childhood home – is in question this year (one day I’ll tell that tale, maybe in therapy, or maybe right here), so it’s time to make some new traditions and see which, if any, chance to linger. I’ve managed to forge some new traditions in my adult life, in much the way that I’ve forged an extended family. Something told me from an early age I might not be able to count on my own family, and perhaps that informed my behavior over the years, resulting in distance and detachment. As someone who doesn’t have children – and someone who will never have any children – I’ve started to sense the future specter of solitude. It’s not something that bothers me so much, it’s the way I’ve designed my life, without regret or sadness, but I know it will be different from most of my friends. So I’m making a few new holiday outings to send down some roots that may see me through the middle-age doldrums. Some of my friends’ kids are also graduating from their own childhoods, so maybe in a few years they will value these outings as much as I do. 

The quirky and still-tentative plans are named after inside jokes that only one or two people may know (and one or two might not even recognize their part in these plans). They’ll get the text invitations with more elaborate descriptions. Not to exclude anyone, but I’m better in more intimate get-togethers these days. Of course, I’m always open to invitations. That said, here are a few holiday traditions which I aim to implement:

* The Holiday Light Show
* The Turkey Leg Holiday Hambone Tradition
* The Turn-the-Light-Off-La-Divina Fast Call
* The Do-You-Wanna-Build-A-Snowman Night Out
* The We-Love-You-Lenny Cocktail/Mocktail Hour
* The Got-A-Light Gift Exchange

And of course we’ll also be doing the Holiday Stroll and the Boston Children’s Holiday Hour, two of my favorite self-created traditions that have taken hold in the best way over the last few years. 

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Ice & Clay, Shattering the Day

When the frigid no-turning-back days of fall forced us all inside for the season, much of the summer debris remained where we left it, including this catch saucer of clay, which filled with some rain and froze into ice. A very definite compromise of the saucer’s structural integrity, it will likely crack and begin its slow decay if left there all winter. Part of me wants to see that happen, to be reminded of the passage of time, forcing myself to stay present, to stay in the moment. Or just to get the motivation to hurry out and bring the damn thing into the garage where it might stand a chance. 

In the front of the house, I finally removed the last of the ferns, which had put on such a stellar show this year. Sadness and regret accompanied each toss into the trash, then I swept all the dead leaves off the porch. Simple rituals keep us grounded, and cleaning up calms every Virgo I’ve ever met.

All winters are tough. Even the easy ones

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Shirtless & Hunky Goodfellows

Daniel Goodfellow kicks off this mini-collection of Speedo-clad and/or shirtless gentlemen, to warm the day and night. Mr. Goodfellow has put his Speedo on display in previous posts here, here, and here. [See also Tom Daley and Jack Laugher, just because.]

Another European hunk gets down and arty in the black and white, as Nick Youngquest makes a much-clamored-for return to these parts after stunning in naked and/or near-naked posts like this, this, this and this. And that

Looking down but not downtrodden, Adam Peaty proves he may be due for his next Hunk of the Day crowning. Or just another show-off post like this

Finally, everyone’s favorite ginger Greg Rutherford brings up the end, and if you’ve seen his naked ass here you know there is no one more worthy. 

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Sexy Simon Recap

Aided and accented by the hotness that is Simon Dunn, this recap is light on exposition and heavy on links. Let’s just get to it because I’m already wanting this week to be over. 

The week began with a Christmas wish courtesy of that classic stand-by Tom Ford in shades of pink and fuchsia

These #TinyThreads reared their heads again. 

A Swatch made for a woman, draped just so on my slender wrist.

Simon Dunn gets sexy and deep

A holiday party tradition comes to a close, and new ones begin. 

Ben Cohen brings the beefcake for another year. 

A Boston Friendsgiving for two.

Some days are longer than others.

Simon Dunn gets sexy again, in underwear and Speedos.

Late November – the perfect time for a poem

Was this little boy real or imagined?

Jason Derulo and the anaconda poking through his underwear.

Taylor Swift was awarded the Artist of the Decade honor at the American Music Awards.

Hunks of the Day included Broderick Hunter, Nick Groff, Anthony Rapp, Evander Kane, Wils, and Giovanni Pernice.

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Holiday Lover

It takes me a lot longer to get into music these days. Seeking something new, something inspiring, but something slightly nostalgic too, I recently landed on this Taylor Swift song, which I’d first heard a few months ago with its whimsically sweet video. The beginning is just the slightest bit reminiscent of a fuzzy Mazzy Star song, and a rather sweet nugget for the holidays. Hey, if ‘Diamonds & Pearls’ can be in my holiday canon, then so can this.

WE COULD LEAVE THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS UP ‘TIL JANUARY
AND THIS IS OUR PLACE, WE MAKE THE RULES
AND THERE’S A DAZZLING HAZE, A MYSTERIOUS WAY ABOUT YOU, DEAR
HAVE I KNOWN YOU 20 SECONDS OR 20 YEARS?

I don’t anticipate it lasting the decades, but you never know what will stick and what may stay. Some of the most trifling bits of pop informed such key moments of life that they are classics, if only in my mind. These days it’s harder to have such moments. Too quickly, the weeks blend into each other, and too easily I give up the fight to mark them.

CAN I GO WHERE YOU GO?
CAN WE ALWAYS BE THIS CLOSE?
FOREVER AND EVER, AH
AH, TAKE ME OUT, AND TAKE ME HOME
YOU’RE MY, MY, MY, MY LOVER.

Christmas lights, 20 years, dazzling and mysterious ways… we need a new holiday. Who’s with me?

LADIES & GENTLEMEN WILL YOU PLEASE STAND…
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The Anaconda in Jason Derulo’s Underwear

Here’s THAT photo of Jason Derulo’s bulge, which is what Instagram is all about. (Follow my ass here.) Mr. Derulo has already been crowned Hunk of the Day here, and his naked video resulted in some GIFs that earned him a second HOD crowning here. He also played a sultry part in this Ultimate Hunk Collection. (Some bonus shirtless shots here too.)

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What Child Is This and Why is He Talking to Me?

Did you ever have a moment that, upon remembering it later, you can’t be entirely sure actually happened? Christmas moments are especially strange like that. The child-like part of me has always considered those times a magical key to the season. The adult side of me just thinks I’m actually, and finally, going completely bonkers. The reality is likely somewhere in between the two.

I was having a contemplative pause in Michael’s – the craft store – while shopping for gifts for the Boston Children’s Holiday Hour. A text from my Mom came in, which reminded me that our last Christmas Eve at my childhood home might have been the last Christmas Eve at my childhood home, and I was seized with an unexpected wave of melancholy. Losing track of what I was even looking to find, I wandered in haunted fashion, lost in some icky space between past and present. In an empty corner of the expansive store, I heard a little voice.

“Excuse me,” someone said. I looked around, wondering if I had lost my damn mind at last. Lowering my gaze, I saw a boy before me, just half my height, staring up at me with pleading eyes. It wasn’t the fact that a child was talking to me that was jarring, it was that he looked rather like me – or what I looked like long ago. His dark hair, a little too long and unruly, only the top of which was pulled into a messy ponytail, was slightly different – I never let mine get that long – but his eyes were very much like my own. He was slight, and his clothes hung a little too loosely on him. He held my gaze and started speaking softly but clearly.

“Have you seen two women? One is older and has red hair, the other is younger with long straight brown hair,” he began. He continued with a lengthy description but I wasn’t listening.  So shocked by his appearance and his composure, I didn’t hear his words. Disconcerted by his earnestness, I initially wondered if this was some scam designed to distract me while the aliens or the criminals snuck up behind me and did whatever they were going to do.

Soon enough, thanks to a pause in his tale, I came to my senses and realized he lost whomever was with him. Not wanting him to panic, I asked if he was ok and if he wanted me to find an employee to help him find his party. Quickly he said no, and then hurried away.

Unsure whether I should follow him, look for the two women he described, or tell one of the many inept employees at Michael’s, I ultimately mistrusted what might have even happened. He seemed more like an angel than a real person. Maybe this was just me spiraling into ‘Black Swan’ territory. When I finally thought of following him to make sure he found who he lost, or who lost him, he was long gone. Attempting to set my mind at ease, I reasoned that he was relatively calm, and so maybe this was normal for him.

Instantly I traveled back to the traumatic moment in the Amsterdam Mall when I let go of my mother’s hand for a minute or two, transfixed by some sparkly object or scene. I kept her in my peripheral vision, so didn’t think much of it until I reached up and grabbed the hand of a stranger. When I looked up and realized my mistake, I pulled my hand back, out of embarrassment and surprise. I didn’t see my mother anywhere, and I instantly panicked. I wasn’t more than six or seven years old, but I remember it vividly. Just as I was about to start bawling, she appeared. Relieved yet inconsolable, I’d felt terror for the first time in my life, and never forgot it. To this day, whenever I think of what fear is, I think back to that moment. A split second of abject fright. A startled heaving and the feeling of not being able to breathe. But somehow I held it together, and perhaps that’s what the boy was doing.

I picked up my pace and hurried down the aisles, trying to find the boy. Rushing and darting about like an animal sensing entrapment, I scanned the store, wondering if I should tell an employee. I searched for an older woman with red hair, and a woman with straight brown hair. I searched for a little boy with a wild ponytail. I searched for a day in the past when I reached up and found only a stranger’s hand.

Near the front of the store now, I found two women pushing a cart, unhurried and walking with a shared annoyance. “Josiah,” the older woman with dark red hair yelled. “Come on!” as the boy rounded the corner, also relatively unconcerned. Apparently I was the only one who was the slightest bit worried. Glad of the denouement, I still couldn’t shake the notion that I lost a bit of myself again.

In a goddamned craft store.

I wanted to cry.

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A Poem for Late November

Falling Leaves and Early Snow 

BY KENNETH REXROTH

 

In the years to come they will say,

“They fell like the leaves

In the autumn of nineteen thirty-nine.”

November has come to the forest,

To the meadows where we picked the cyclamen.

The year fades with the white frost

On the brown sedge in the hazy meadows,

Where the deer tracks were black in the morning.

Ice forms in the shadows;

Disheveled maples hang over the water;

Deep gold sunlight glistens on the shrunken stream.

Somnolent trout move through pillars of brown and gold.

The yellow maple leaves eddy above them,

The glittering leaves of the cottonwood,

The olive, velvety alder leaves,

The scarlet dogwood leaves,

Most poignant of all.

 

In the afternoon thin blades of cloud

Move over the mountains;

The storm clouds follow them;

Fine rain falls without wind.

The forest is filled with wet resonant silence.

When the rain pauses the clouds

Cling to the cliffs and the waterfalls.

In the evening the wind changes;

Snow falls in the sunset.

We stand in the snowy twilight

And watch the moon rise in a breach of cloud.

Between the black pines lie narrow bands of moonlight,

Glimmering with floating snow.

An owl cries in the sifting darkness.

The moon has a sheen like a glacier.

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Simon Dunn Dons Sexy Underwear & Speedos

It’s always a treat to see someone embody brains, brawn and beauty in one delectable package, but such is the lot of Simon Dunn. Even when he gets serious, he can’t help but be sexy while doing it, and so we have this gratuitous post extolling his glory. Here are a few more choice links to previous posts celebrating Mr. Dunn:

Let’s begin with this post showing off his tan lines.

His very first Hunk of the Day crowning

Simon in a star-studded Speedo

Then there’s this sizzling naked Simon Dunn shoot

And a throwback to his early nude days

His second Hunk of the Day honor.

Simon says sexy.

A sensual bit of nudity

Muse to Leo Holden.

In the company of Foxy men.

One more glance at his cheeky side.

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A Very Long Day

Some days are longer than others.

When you wake long before the light creeps out.

When you have appointments before your work day even begins. 

When there is not enough time to finish what needs to be done

and too much time not to worry about it

When long after it’s dark you’re too mentally exhausted to sleep. 

When no one has heard the things you’ve said and shouted and whispered and hidden over and over and over again, and you take the the first steps to walk away.

When you’re really ok with it and doesn’t matter.

When you finally go to bed, trembling with cold, and pull into yourself, into the only safe haven you’ve known, embracing the darkness and the quiet and the spark of something you’re just beginning to see.

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