This is our birthday month! Now, before anyone gets too amazed, Aaron and I were born the same month but on different days and in different years! Alex, my identical twin brother and I share the same birthday, but Aaron and I have separate occasions!
The bare celebrity featured here today is XL, as much of a talented maestro in the kitchen as he is in the bedroom – or any other room in a house! His culinary skills are as awesome and creative as he is – both in front of a camera lens and in real life!
Treat preparation!
Contemplating how much of the ingredients he needs to add in order to serve each guest. XL is meticulous about planning and ensuring every person invited has enough to satisfy themselves, especially the birthday celebrants!
Taste test!
A taste test of his batter to assure himself that he’s forgotten nothing. The taste test is one of the many advantages of being the chef! XL knows his duties and responsibilities so he carefully monitors every step in the preparation process!
XL: the chef deserves a full sample!
The sampling of the finished product is a benefit of being a chef! XL is serious in his efforts to guarantee perfection in every delivery he makes. He’s confident that he can create wonders that will please any man who encounters the treats that he offers!
Awaiting our arrival!
Knowing that our birthday treats are waiting, Aaron takes his own time to arrive! He knows how careful XL is in preparing birthday surprises!
Ensuring each serving is perfection!
Our celebrity chef is very artistic and creative in all the fanciful dishes that he prepares! Each meal is a distinctive endeavour that requires his repeated attention!
Proud chef, proud bare practitioner, proud actor: XL!
Confidence and pride are synonymous with our chef: XL!
Happy birthday to my spouse, Aaron!
Happy birthday to my identical twin, Alex!
Happy birthday to everyone born throughout the years!
Naked hugs to all!
Roger Peterson-Poladopoulos/Guys Without Boxers!
Old Man:
Happy birthday to you from all of your runners!
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Friday, April 10, 2026, and the proposed topic is: “Great and Holy Easter!”
The Widow is the most recent novel released by celebrated author, John Grisham. I’ve been an ardent supporter of Grisham’s novels for years and yet again he has written another that I label as “favourite” – until he produces his next volume! My admiration for the author has increased as I have uncovered more about him than just his printed words!
The Widow
This is John Grisham’s current novel, released in December, 2025. This book is presented as his “first ever whodunit (who did it?) as a small time lawyer, accused of murder races to find the real killer to clear his name.”
Footnote #1:The Widow by John Grisham, bookcover explanation
The plot involves Simon Latch as a lawyer in rural Virginia, making just enough to pay his bills while trying to hold his family together. Then into his office walks Eleanor Barnett, an elderly widow in need of a new will. Apparently her husband left her a small fortune, and no one knows about it.
At first Simon can’t believe his good luck: He’s finally hooked (gained) a client rich enough to turn his life around. He works, quietly to keep her wealth under the radar (secret), but soon her story begins to crack (come apart). When she is hospitalized after a bad car accident, Simon realizes that nothing is as it seems, and he finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he didn’t commit: murder.
Simon knows he’s innocent. But he also knows the prosecutor’s circumstantial evidence could send him to prison for the rest of his life. As the trial progresses, he senses the jury turning against him and knows there is only one way to save himself.
Footnote #2: The Widow by John Grisham, publisher’s summary, bookcover
Difference:
The overwhelming majority of the fiction works of John Grisham are of the mystery/thriller variety. This particular one is his second dealing with the subject of wrongful imprisonment and or – in this case – wrongfully accused but not believed. This aspect is what increased my impression of Grisham as author.
He publicly acknowledges his active affiliation with the Innocence Project and with the Centurion Ministries, two national organizations in the USA that actively and aggressively provide legal efforts to overturn the convictions and records of those wrongly convicted of crimes they did not commit.
Even those who were executed for a crime they didn’t do. It doesn’t restore their life, but it does alter their legacy and clears their name. For many, that is more important than being released imprisonment!
This country has a despicable reputation regarding inequality in the justice system and of imprisoning those who did not break the law – especially those sentenced to death. This record needs to be addressed by both the legislative and the judicial branches of government and the leadership in this redress needs to be the executive branch of the government.
I commend John Grisham for his efforts in making others aware of this serious and unfair issue as well as his active participation in overturning the convictions of those judged wrongfully.
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride: Guys Without Boxers!
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Wednesday, March 25, 2026, and the proposed topic is: “Oopah, 2026!”
He’s an exemplary and talented artist and author of his blog/site here: Yorgos KC. I’m currently making his acquaintance and am remarkably impressed with his efforts that are aptly available to all,
Please click the above link for your grand tour of all the treasures available there. In exploring and researching my current Bare/Dare Series, 2025!, one of his recent postings, The Discomfort of Being Real, is an honest and in-depth observation of the challenges and myths of nakedness in our world and our right of self-determination. Click on the title to link directly to this awesome post! We’re both of the same mindset in being bare and our same gender love!
Yorgos is not only an accomplished artist as the above image conveys, he’s also doubly gifted as a writer of both fiction as well as issues that we face during the course of our lives. His site contains many of his works and books that relate to both fantasy and reality. A multitalented mastermind who’s sharing his literary and visual gifts to us all!
Yorgos KC wordpress gravatar
The above gravatar (imprint) represents Yorgos KC and appears with his works, both artistic and literary here on wordpress. This seal contains an art rendering of his face as well as a bunny (lower right corner) with a rainbow heart! A proud member of our gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer+ (GLBTQ+) community and culture!
I highly recommend his blog to all bare practitioners and their friends! His art alone celebrates our body and clothes freedom through colourful imagery and also our same gender love and the beauty and tranquility it affords us in the frantic chaos of life. His compositions extol equality and fairness in contrast to the harsh realities that confront us. There’s something presented there that pertains to us all!
A fellow Greek cohort, Yorgos hails from Thessaloniki, Greece. I urge everyone to investigate his offering and endorse following his site as a way of communicating and sharing our nakedness and our same gender love (SGL) sexuality.
Please unite with Aaron, my spouse, and I as we embrace with a naked hug in welcoming Yorgos KC into both our bare practitioner community and culture! Our shared dedication to body and clothes freedom and our sexuality joins us all together!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride: Guys Without Boxers!
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Monday, September 8, 2025, and the proposed topic is: “September Routine!”
The announced and planned post entry for this past Monday, 18 August, 2025, never occurred and my spouse, Aaron, and I both share the blame for that mishap! We’re just too much in love and we’ll only have one 10th anniversary. A very “last minute” (spontaneous) decision on our part for an extended anniversary celebration: a bromantic (he and me) extended weekend away from our routine to a Florida clothing optional resort that we’ve never visited before.
Our weekend ended yesterday: Thursday, 21August. I did mention an “extended” weekend, correct? We added four days and a renewal of ourselves!
Together!
This impulsive adventure was totally unplanned. We had discussed an excursion of this nature in the past but never actually realized that it didn’t really require that much attention to detail. After all, we’re usually “clothing optional” around our condominium/home anyway. So we had minimal need for any “official” wardrobe. Just the two of us being our natural selves.
Passion!
We do apologize to anyone if our spontaneity created any inconvenience for you. It was unintentional although irresponsible from the both of us. Please know that we both regret the error and can assure all of you that we’ll do our best to avoid any similarity in the future.
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride: Guys Without Boxers!
Author’s Note: The next post entry for this site is planned for Monday, August 25, 2025, and the proposed topic is: “August Antics!”
One of my summer pleasures is skinny-dipping (swimming naked). One of my favorite pastimes while enjoying the aquatic environment is reading. Using the spare moments to enjoy the books that often I failed to read while my university is in full session throughout the year. Strictly pleasure reading (fiction) for my excursions to outdoor bodies of water (natural or a pool). The subjects aren’t as intense or serious as professional reading or for research!
My surprise discovery!
David Baldacci is one among my favourite contemporary authors and I was very shocked to discover that he had a novel published earlier this summer that I knew nothing about. Several local booksellers that I subscribe to always alert me whenever my designated authors have a release to enable me to order. I had received no information on Baldacci’s newest, Strangers in Time!
It was never featured in my local bookseller (part of a national franchise) that has always promoted this particular author. When I stopped one of the management team as Aaron, my spouse, and I were in the location, they researched the title and were equally unaware of the publishing.
I was very fortunate and lucky to have discovered a copy of this book. Published in April 2025, Baldacci’s latest novel takes place in London, UK, in 1944 during the final days of the Blitz (German bombing). It is the documentation of the friendship that grows between 14-year-old Charlie Matters, orphaned by the bombings of the city and the ravages of World War II, and Molly Wakefield, a 15-year-old evacuee from London in 1939 who is returning to the unrecognizable city from which she fled.
They encounter Ignatius Oliver, a widowed bookseller attempting to heal from his recent loss of his wife. The three join together in friendship, dependence, and support in a dangerous and perilous time. Disaster and doom strike, yet they somehow manage to survive until the peace approaches, when fatality falls upon them.
A World War II historical fiction novel unlike any written by the author previously and presents a very impressionable and memorable story that is captivating, entertaining and refreshing as to the rewards of life.
When I first began university, my major area of study was history. David Baldacci’s Stranger in Time closely aligns fiction, history and suspense into a true work of an inspired mind!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride: Guys Without Boxers
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Friday, August 15, 2025, and the proposed topic is: “Tenth Anniversary Today!”
First off, an emphatic denial that the images shared in this delayed post entry here on ReNude Pride is most definitely not me! The photographs are to illustrate the message being shared and not myself. Better to get that announcement out early rather than obscured later. Honesty helps to avoid confusion!
It was the last week of February this year and I stopped by our gymnasium on my way home (after work) to continue my practice of exercise for fitness. I was at one of my routine stations with hand weights and I seriously strained muscles in my right shoulder and arm doing my usual regimen. I was initially inconvenienced by this discomforting incident.
Inconvenienced!
This incident progressively worsened and before I could plan ahead I had severe pain and was unable to fully dress myself in order to walk back to my vehicle. I had to be transported by a trauma unit to a local medical center for examination. The determination was strained muscles from the routine and for several weeks I encountered problems using my right upper arm and shoulder.
This resulted in my lack of posting here for several weeks. I had difficulty in trying to maneuver the keyboard and in even concentrating on posting here.
Final relief!
At last, yesterday I had a relieving report from my regular physician and with subdued elation, I offer an apology for my absence from blogging and sharing with all of you a reason for the long overdue lack of regularity!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Monday, March 24, 2025 and the proposed topic is: “Spring Resolutions!”
Today’s post entry here on ReNude Pride is the title of the most recent novel from Virginia-native author, David Baldacci. The first edition of ACalamityofSouls was published by Grand Central Publishing in April, 2024. For more than two decades, David Baldacci has been among my favourite contemporary authors. Up until Papa’s death in 2018, whenever a new hardback by Baldacci was released, I always purchased two copies: one for me and the other for Papa. Baldacci, like Aaron and myself, still resides in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Background on ACalamityofSouls:
In my twenty years of reading David Baldacci’s books, I was aware of his Virginia birth and residency but was totally clueless that he grew up in the City of Richmond during the 1960s and 1970s. When my parents and oldest brother emigrated from Greece in the early 1970s, they purchased our family home in the Stonewall neighborhood, located in south Richmond between Semmes Avenue and the James River. The neighborhood where we grew up in was a primarily African-American area and one of the few in Richmond that accepted arriving emigrants. In ACalamityofSouls Baldacci acknowledges that with a “foreign” surname (Italian), Richmond was not a very welcoming municipality. We share that similarity. Same city. Different timeframe.
Richmond, Virginia, has the distinction of being the capital city of the failed Confederacy during the American Civil War over the future of slavery. Up until the arrival of the 21st Century, this fact was blatantly obvious. The undertones of racial inequality and and segregation based on skin colour were broadcast rather than hidden. The inability of the Virginia lawyer, Jack Lee, in ACalamityofSouls to comprehend the extent of the bigotry and hatred evident in 1968 in understood through the experienced eyes of the author, David Baldacci, and through his personal life experiences.
Synopsis:
Set in the tumultuous year of 1968 in southern Virginia, a racially charged murder case sets a duo of Black and White lawyers against a deeply unfair legal system as they work to defend their wrongfully accused Black defendants in this courtroom drama. The two are professionally joined by chance without any prior legal connection.
Jack Lee is a White attorney from Freeman County, Virginia (fictional), who has never done anything to push back against racism until he decides to represent Jerome Washington, a Black man charged with brutally killing an elderly and wealthy White couple. Doubting his decision, Lee fears that his professional skills may not be enough to prevail in a case where the odds are already piling up against both himself and his client. He soon recognizes that he is far removed not only from his expertise but also from his obligation to best portray his client as innocent from the verdict in a murder trial.
Desiree DuBose is a Black attorney from Chicago, Illinois, who has dedicated her professional focus in advancing the causes of equality and justice for everyone, no matter their gender and/or race. She comes to Freeman County in rural southwest Virginia and joins with Jack Lee in a fractious and unwieldly partnership in an escalating legal conflict with the best and popular prosecutor in the Commonwealth of Virginia: the duly elected Attorney General. DuBose is cognizant of the reality that powerful archconservative alliances outside the state are uniting to counter the achievements and progress attained by the civil rights movement.
Lee and DuBose are practically exact opposites. Neither one of them alone can halt the official prosecutorial direction towards a guilty verdict and the death penalty. Yet combining together they forge forth towards a balanced and fair trial with the ultimate goal of true justice.
One of my Hellenic (Greek) comrades, a noted NewYorkTimes bestselling author himself, offered this comment on Baldacci’s ACalamityofSouls: “An instant classic. Not just a great American crime story this is a great American novel.” ~ Alex Michaelides ~
I’ve read the entire book – twice; as has Aaron, my spouse. The second reading brought forth details not captured in the initial exploration of the book. Aaron insists that I add here that the ending of the novel is absolutely not the ending anticipated or expected!
One of the aspects of Baldacci’s writing that is very impressive is his use of the interactions of the two attorneys, Jack Lee and Desiree DuBose, to illustrate the subtle use of conversation and the two different views of racism inferred from the same dialogue. Bias and racism are based upon personal experience. Thus, the situation will present different connotations and meanings to all the individuals involved.
Summary:A fitting irony
In his opening Author’s Note, Baldacci writes briefly of Richmond’s infamous Monument Avenue where Confederate celebrities were featured statues. When Richmond native international tennis legend Arthur Ashe, an African-American, died from an AIDS transfusion, a major controversy erupted when plans were announced to erect a statue in his memory along Monument Avenue. The conflict focused that Monument Avenue memorials featured White Confederate images. Ashe was Black even though he was actually born and grew up inside of the City of Richmond! Evidently, he was too “coloured” for the Confederacy!
Following the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in early 2020, the City removed all the Confederate statuary. Today, Arthur Ashe’s statue is the only remaining one an all of Monument Avenue. A commitment to justice served! Obviously, the others were too White to be featured in the city!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Saturday,August31, 2024, and the proposed topic is: “Bottoms-Up! August, 2024!”
We’ve now progressed to the third month of the new year, 2024. In my post entries here on ReNude Pride, in particular regarding new year’s resolutions, I’ve consistently focused on the poor timing for such life changes. The level of commitment to maintain the adjustment simply isn’t at the optimal level during the frenzy of the winter holiday season.
Reduced resolve:
The weather isn’t always conducive to the fluctuation of our daily routine. From seasonal temperatures to frigid temperatures and then to uncertain temperatures while adapting to all the other issues confronting us is not always in our best interests. Additionally, the realities of ice and snow, on a daily basis, often erases any resolve we may have.
Both my spouse, Aaron, and I have observed these result during our visits – jointly and separately – at our local fitness facility. Our job schedules don’t coincide so we visit the center at early mornings (me) or early afternoons (Aaron). The new year begins annually and the workout attendance soars. Everyone starts the new year driven to become fit and toned before the summer season is upon us.
As the weeks pass, the numbers of gym attendees starts to drop. Suddenly, the “fresh faces” at every workout station are gone and the only ones around us are the dedicated few who have been visiting the same exercise facility for as long as ourselves. The usage of the influx of new members noticeably begins to decline by the beginning of February. This year, the decrease in attendance is only now becoming apparent. Delayed!
Exercise!
Yet another example of the futility of the new year’s resolutions debacle. Why attempt to introduce positive improvements when the environment is so unproductive? That’s the reason Aaron and I both advocate Spring Resolutions instead of New Year’s Resolutions.
The arrival of Spring itself mystically promises a successful future. The rebirth and return of a new season of both growth and hope enriches most of us to physically undertake something new. The reappearance of warmer weather and the extension of the hour of natural daylight available daily offer us all encouragement.
Treadmill for health!
Improving our lifestyle and quality of life now seems easier and not as overwhelming. The mindset: I can do this! now becomes reality and not a figment of our imagination. Plus, for some mysterious and strange reason, the ice and the snow just suddenly melt away!
Stripping off his pants for Springtime!
Subtle Reminder: Spring, 2024, begins this month: March!
Consider creating a personal list (brief) of Spring Resolutions!
Keeping our resolutions list concise and simple increases our chances for a successful completion! Instead of over-burdening ourselves, focusing on a limited number of improvements enables us to consolidate our energies and to reduce distractions. Two or three successes are better than a dozen failures and guarantee an increase and a stronger self-confidence! A positive attitude empowers productivity and self-growth!
Fitness bar!
The majority of us lack the financial resources for a bare practitioner-accepting and friendly exercise/fitness accommodation. The result is that we have to contend with a textile (clothed) workout. Hopefully, the .gifs offered below provide us with some sort of inspirational incentive to strive for our very best; whether we are bare or wearing athletic gear!
Treadmill preparation!
Treadmill engagement!
Of course, our fitness-seeker (above) is wearing the minimal amount of gear as we all know that his personal preference is for complete nakedness! No matter how enticing our “treadmill-man” may think his exercise uniform appears, our bare practitioner instincts usually always focus on the examples perceived as being in common with our own: nudity!
Confused!
Confused?
Don’t suffer confusion! We’ve already survived leap year day (29 February, 2024), for this calendar year. Now is the time for us to return to an extrahour of daylight daily! Prepare yourselves and plan in advance. This annual phenomenon is now upon us!
Your watch timepiece!
Daylight Savings Time (DST) begins at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, 10 March, 2024!
Officially, this means that at 2:00 a.m., (local time) physically adjust your time-piece (cock, watch, etc.) to 3:00 a.m. Simple? Hopefully! Please remember to adjust the clock in your automobile! Remember: we are bare practitioners! We don’t have the luxury of unzipping your partner’s pants with the intention of “adjusting” his time! As bare practitioners, none of us should be wearing anything!
Friday footnote!
Friday Footnote: Book Recommendation!
TheGuardians is a fiction novel by John Grisham published in 2019. It is based on an actual legal case of an innocent man wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Diligent and thoughtful, it brings emphasis to the serious lack of honesty, integrity and justice in our vulnerable judiciary system.
S scenario that a probable majority of us hopes never happens; no matter our personal feelings on the legitimacy of capital punishment. A recommended read to evaluate and explore!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Monday, March 11, 2024, and the proposed topic is: “Maschalagnia II!”
What makes me laugh? Laughter is the best medicine. But it’s something we -including myself take for granted. I love to laugh. I love a good joke. I believe I have a dark sense of humor and nothing to me like stand up. Dice Clay, Chris Rock, Margaret Cho, Carol Burnett are some of my […]
Re-bloggers Note: I strongly encourage all of my readers to seriously consider to follow my “blogging brother and buddy” site here! The next scheduled post entry for my site is planned for Wednesday, May 31, 2013, and the proposed topic is: “Bottoms-Up! May, 2013!”
ReNude Pride: Guys Without Boxers! 