Category Archives: General

A fallen leaf, mottled with red and yellow, facing up on a moss-speckled stone.

A pathway curving around the edge of a wooded, blanketed by leaves, buffered by dew.

A wooden bench, empty but for more fallen leaves,

A bit of forest, then a little clearing. Small pines making the start of their skyward journey. Fledgling oaks long before they turn mighty.

A pair of birdhouses, hung high on the trees.

The forest begins again.

My favorite show this season (and the only one I’m watching right now) is ‘American Horror Story: Coven’.

God knows I love a good witch – and a bad one is even better.

Apologies, but I’m still mentally on vacation and not quite ready to return to the daily upkeep of this blog. But some (many) of you are new here, so if I throw out a few links of where we were last year, it might be funky fresh like that. Starting with this Maine visit that got posted exactly a year ago yesterday. That and our recent trip to Mt. Agamenticus (post to come) are the inspiration for a possible hiking expedition. (Another post to come.)

Maine was also home to this little show-off, a creature after my own heart.

Last year I posted about my first retail job – a job that to this day I count as one of my favorites. It was at Structure, at their Faneuil Hall location, before it got downgraded to an Abercrombie & Retch Fitch.

Still, I miss Maine, or at least the state of mind that I seem to find only there.

Tomorrow I’ll be back on track… stay with me.

Having just returned from our annual holiday weekend in Ogunquit, Maine, I am in no mood to plunge right back into the work week, but there’s little choice when the clock already indicates it’s Tuesday. This is a big week, as we finalize kitchen plans, sign contracts, and place orders. There’s also Andy’s birthday coming up, but since he’s given no indication what he wants to do, it will likely be a small, casual affair. (And before you even think of giving me grief for not planning anything, tell me what part of any of my birthdays did he plan? Okay then.) On to the last week, before we get into the glory that was Ogunquit in the fall.

As the fall stole in through the nights, this was the sort of music to warm the cockles of the heart.

The last of our lemongrass crop was used for this variation on a Thai recipe.

Tom Ford and his Sahara Noir provided a smoky accent for fire-side nights.

A change in weather created this dramatic sky.

Keeping things hot as the weather turned cool was the usual parade of Hunks, which saw the shirtless (and sometimes naked) figures of Eric Winter, Michael Fassbender, Boris Kodjoe, Lucas Calvani, Justin Hartley and Adam Levine.

If you just want a quick gratuitously-shirtless beefcake fix, check out this pair of Hunky Hunk posts, Part 1 and Part 2.

The ’13’ Project continues its quiet and stealthy release with 10:13.

As if there were any lingering doubt, I’m a sinner and I like it that way.

Finally, the real-time pleasures were to be found in Maine, which I’ll bring up-to-date this week.

After a day of ferocious winds, pounding rain, and threats of tornadoes, a sign of forgiveness – the rainbow – appeared in a strange evening sky. The sun gave one final flash of brilliance, setting the tips of the fall-colored foliage aflame against a darkening sky, and igniting that magical band of color through the prismatic alchemy of water and light.

As a child, I remember reading a book about a rainbow and a unicorn and a frightening serpent. There was some sort of religious parable in it, I’m sure, but at the time I was only mesmerized by the purity and beauty of the unicorn, rushing past the pages of that treacherous, ugly serpent, but secretly peering at the thing, transfixed in a different way.

On the opposite end of the sky from the rainbow, was this color scheme – a rainbow unto itself, on a grander if more subtle scale.

At the moment this is scheduled to be posted, Andy and I should be en route to Ogunquit, Maine for our annual Columbus Day weekend vacation. My parents are joining us this time, which will be nice, since we seem to be seeing them less and less these days. While our fall trip is not as exciting as the opening season salvo of Memorial Day (when all is hope and the promise of summer stretches out before you)  it usually comes with its own enchantments, like colorful mosses and leaves, gnarled gourds and perfect pumpkins, and cozy cider to take the chill off.

Not be confused with a chocolate starfish, this is the starfruit. Aptly named from its appearance after being cut cross-wise, it’s a fun bit of fruit, slightly similar to an apple, but juicier and softer. The skin is edible as well, and it’s a good thing, as peeling such a geometric design would prove problematic for someone like me, who sometimes has trouble peeling an orange.

After a weekend in Boston, I find myself drinking a cup of green tea on a rainy Sunday night, and conjuring a quick recap. This week is a short one, work-wise, as we’ll be making our annual Columbus Day excursion to Ogunquit. Basically, that’s where my head will be at for the next few days, so things here may be even kookier than they usually are. But before that, a look back at the turn into October.

Rather than go back a month, I thought it was more interesting to go back a whole year and see where things were in September 2012.

I’m still addicted to Madonna.

FaceBook had its moments, and I had mine. (Yes, I will go full-frontal. Wait for it.)

Keeping things warm as we closed the book on September was the parade of Hunks, that continued with triple-threat Sam Harris, the naked backside of Chris Hemsworth, all three Jonas brothers, and Paco Leon.

Fall is a time for food – snacks, and full-fledged dinners of sea bass. And zucchini.

Two words that say hot and sexy: David Beckham.

Sometimes, even on a  Saturday night, one needs a little panda pick-me-up.

One of my supposed ‘friends’ on FaceBook reported this Instagram piss shot as ‘Nudity/Pornography‘. Miraculously, this has only happened a couple of times in all my years of posting racy shots.) Usually I’m not bothered by such an action, because I realize that some of my photos tend to push the envelope of what is acceptable on FaceBook. However, this shot? No. There’s no nudity, there’s no pornography. You may not like a picture of a stream of urine (if that’s even what you’re actually seeing…) but there is no way that this approaches porn or nudity (unless a glimpse of toes is now pornographic).

It turns out that FaceBook agreed, and they did not deem the shot inappropriate. Tasteless, perhaps, but nothing that could be characterized in the nudity/pornography category. As for the person who reported it, I have to wonder why they bother being ‘friends’ with me on FaceBook. Because if they’re bothered by this, they’re going to lose their shit over all the other crap that I will no doubt post over the coming years. (Oooh, shit… now there’s an idea…)

Let’s face it, this is not the last time I’m going to be vulgar, crass, and offensive. The only people getting worked up over it are the nameless stalkers who continue to visit my page, and that kind of tickles me. Besides, as soon as someone finds out that something I posted got flagged and removed, they go straight to ALANILAGAN.com to see what it was. You heard it here first.

Eww, I can’t even use that post title without cringing, and if you have a brother you know what I mean (and if you have a brother and don’t know what I mean, eww again). Here are the Jonas brothers, who recently gave a cover story interview to Out Magazine. I was surprised – mostly because I didn’t realize Out was still publishing. Less surprising was the fact that this previously-pious (and virginal) group was making the most of their muscles and kissing up to all those supposedly-expendable gay incomes (why can I not have one of those?)

Some of us are still reeling from that ridiculously-hot Instagram shot of Nick Jonas that went up earlier this year, or the way his backside fills out a pair of baseball pants. But let’s not give all the attention to the youngest, there’s also Kevin (the now-married oldest son) and middle heart-throb (in true Hanson tradition) Joe Jonas, who up until now had gotten much of the swooning-adoration.

Does it matter that I still can’t name one of their songs? Not to anyone here.

This is the kind of cheeky fare served up hot and spicy on my Instagram account, so follow accordingly. I’m about to hit 1000 posts on that new-to-me social media account (any requests on what the 1000^th photo should be? And don’t say full-frontal.) I also invite you to join in the social media cross-pollination that runs across FaceBook and Twitter too, even if this website remains the basic source for most of the original material these days. It’s a social media-mad world, and I feel like Spencer Tracy.