The Blaisdell Blog

CNN recently ran an article about nude golf in Australia.   They made all the predictable jokes about playing the course in the buff but then expanded the piece to include nude athletics at various nudist parks here in the United States.   Nudists in America haven’t been able to swing a nude golf outing yet (it is hard to sequester a whole golf course the same way you can a bowling alley or indoor tennis court), but there is still hope.               I have never made a secret of being a social nudist.   My husband and I live at a beautiful nudist resort.   Other than a lack of clothing our life there is exactly like life at any other retirement community.   We have an active sports schedule, play cards, have book club, quilting group, happy hours (with and without alcohol), and lots of group dinners.   We are active in politics, our local churches and community activities.   We have ...

The question was light-hearted.   Whimsical.   The kind of query that is intended to lift the mood in a world that seems quite heavy these days.   The answer turns out to be enriching, sensible and metaphorically satisfying.   But first, lets consider the spider itself.             We don’t have to go any farther than Stephen King’s It or Tolkien’s character Shelob in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King to know that spiders are a favorite monster among the literati.   The most terrifying monsters are always the one’s for which we have an emotional frame of reference.   Godzilla is almost laughable, but the parasitic neo-forms of Alien makes our skin crawl and our gorge rise.   As a rule, people take Ms Muffett’s attitude toward spiders.   Personally, I allow them to live if they stay out of my reach.     My largesse stems from the fact that I hate what spiders ea...