Beneath the glassy surface of the pool in morning, I glide through waves of sunlight, pulling myself through to the other end. The sun is still on the ascent. The day will be a beautiful one. There is no breeze yet, but the water is enough. Beneath my bobbing body, shadows waver, and I dive under again to chase them.
Shadows, rainbows, fortune, happiness, love – there are so many things we chase in this life.
There are just as many things that we try to escape.
Are you the hunter or the game?
If you squint your eyes, and ignore the leaf-blowing and power-washing clamor of the neighbors, you can almost – almost – transport yourself to another world, where waves lap at your toes and the sun beats down upon coconut-tinged skin. I haven’t made enough time to simply enjoy the pool this year as much as I have in years past. There’s been too much to do, but the summer is not over, and I intend to re-indulge at my earliest convenience.
The cypress-like stalks of a pair of potted ornamental grasses lend a tropical aspect to the pool deck, their roots shaded and the edges of their pot softened by the trailing chartreuse leaves of Creeping Jenny.
Summer will soon slip away like a Speedo.
We strive to still the time.
Fresh from the attic rejuvenation, the last thing I want to do is bring in more clutter, but it’s still fun to look. For now, I’m leaving the baubles and bangles in the flea markets, where they are better displayed en masse, and out of my house. Having material items in your possession doesn’t make them more beautiful. There are deeper things at work here.
I’m still not entirely convinced it’s 100% real, so we’re going to require some under-the-spandex investigatory photos to shed some light on the situation, but that is purportedly Tyler Hoechlin’s ample ass on super-duper display. As the latest Superman to grace the small screen, Mr. Hoechlin cements his previous status as Hunk of the Day and makes a play for a whole new feature: going for broke with a bodacious bulge.
Welcome August! A mostly fabulous month – our last full one of summer – and the one in which I entered this world forty-some decades ago. I know, no one believes I’m 40, but there you have it. This year I’ll be 41. Get your gift engines revving. That blessed event won’t take place until the 24th, so for now, a look back at the week that just passed on ALANILAGAN.com.
The self-proclaimed most-well-endowed Jonas Brother, Joe, released this shirtless photo as he aims to garner the gay following of his bro Nick.
A dark confession: I was raised a Republican. But since I learned to think for myself (and especially since the Republican party wrote hatred and gay conversion therapy into their actual platform) I am now a proud Democrat.
Summer Memories: my baseball days… well, as close as I’ll get.
Watch where you walk cause the sidewalks talk.
This may be my favorite musical, and this is a magnificent production.
Swimming out of July, in sadness and glory.
This is how you lip-sync for your life.
Traditional Hunks of the Day included the fine forms of Alexis Descalzo, Jesus Luz, Alex Bowen, Tyler Clinton and Brian Lewis.
And, from the scorching photo featured for this post, a Double Hunk of the Day: Rick Twombley & Griff King.
In just a few short days, the summer Olympics will open in Rio, and the British gymnasts will be part of the show. More on them to follow, no doubt, but for now here’s a quick peek at the boys and the bodies en route to Brazil. (That other British visitor, Mr. Tom Daley, will be making his own kind of splash a little later.) Here hoping that our US Gymnastics team can hold its own.
Hot, torturous month of July.
Relentless sun, overbearing humidity.
The glory of summer – even this dark one – shines through.
Respite in a pool, or conditioned air.
My God, I will miss it.
Though the summer of ’16 has turned into a sad series of unfortunate events, it’s still summer, and it’s not over yet. Swim onward, sun-worshippers, swim on like our lives depend on it.
Pull yourselves through the water and kick your way to somewhere better, where the sun won’t go away in a few months, where there is an eternal summer, where the breeze is forever warm.
I’m trying to jumpstart my own psyche.
We’ve all done it (some of us more than others) and this clip gives me such immense joy that I wanted to share the link with you. It’s a guy named Griff doing his rendition of ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’ while preparing dinner for his partner Rick. Amazing in so many ways (how did he not burn the vegetables – mine would be charred) THIS is how you lip-sync for your life. Below is one of their other clips, a song I know all too well – ‘Part of Your World.’
Signs of healing scratched into the sidewalk,
colored chalk ground into concrete;
this is where the ephemeral and the stalwart meet.
Signs of love screaming
Trample upon me,
Tread upon me,
Steal upon me
In the night.
Somehow we survive the morning.
Not all days are washed away by rain.
A little love remains,
faded
but it’s there.
I want to cry, and laugh, and hug, and love.
The anti-thesis of the hatred and evil that the Republican party has been spewing for the last several years, this is a truly classy woman: Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States of America. She is intelligence personified. She is history in the making. She is grace on earth. At the Democratic National Convention, she gave a speech that went above and beyond the confines of our political system – it rattled heaven and shook the world with its power and import.
The story that has brought me to this stage tonight. The story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today, I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States. ~ Michelle Obama
High summer is upon is, as is a heat dome, and I’m reminded of my hero Lee Bailey’s July mantra: water, water, water – and keep watering. Coupled with weeding, cleaning out the attic, and the rest of the house, it’s a stay-home summer of long-overdue tidying. Of course, it’s more than that, but I’ve yet to determine how best to work it all out here. For now, the usual look-back at the week that came before:
Let’s begin with a bang. The Hunks of the Day: Robert Sepúlveda Jr., Arthur Nory, Keith Milkie, & Max Whitlock.
The night I took my Mom to a gay bar.
Give it up for Roxette!
High, high hollyhocks.
A very naked Nathan Adrian.
Our one true anniversary.
Salvation approaches…
For anyone else who needs a quick laugh on this Monday, here you go.
The weather, having been both stormy and hot, made for an interesting week poolside. After work, I’d get home, jump in the warm water, and let the day wash over me. Not that it was all fun and games. I also began cleaning out the attic before we slide completely into Grey Gardens territory and it’s too late to turn back (not unlike this recent battle with the side yard). On with the posts that somehow got posted too…
When it gets hot, the best thing to do is strip off all your clothing and pose for an ESPN photographer.
Tom Daley in a Speedo is always a treat.
Roses, Rufus, and restoring the faith.
Man candy with shades of male nudity.
The Special Guest Blog returned with Colin MacArthur. (Who’s up next?)
Hunks of the Day included: Trey Hardee, David Plummer, David Lurs, Matt Grevers, Seth Rollins, Adam Gumula, and Adam Kenworthy.
Because the world has seemingly gone mad, and in all the wrong ways, let’s begin this Saturday with something bright and cheery, at least when it comes to restoring some faith in humanity. When the evils of the world threaten to bring us all down, I like to think of things like this (and realize that no matter what happens in this country, there’s always Canada).
The pale blooming of thyme demands an almost-microscopic view to be appreciated. Summer is sometimes like that, and when I’m outside away from the noise and the constant bombardment of social media and entertainment, my mind is able to calm itself, returning to the way everything was when I was a little kid. The scope of my view shifts then, and I shrink down and begin to notice all the tiny things that escape me in the usual hustle and bustle of this mad world.
