How was your month for Free Range Naturism?

[jbeegoode]

Safebare mentioned our use of fire. Fires keep us awake, waiting for it to burn out and be unattended and for the lack of water where we are. It needs to be dowsed completely and buried before sleep, or leaving. Sometimes, we stay up with the fire. Often we don't because we are tired, or we're looking to an early start when a fire is inconvenient.

Consequently, we have a two burned propane stove for car campinp. It is quick, easy, clean and generally, I've prepared a meal so it only needs to be heated up, leaving us apple time to hang out, rest, and end the days labors and hiking. I could starve waiting for a good fire to cook on and be late for a hike.

Backpacking, the same., but we use a small propane heater stove, ultralight, to heat water and re-hydrate our food, as it is light weight.

So fires and fire cooking is entertainment and we do the lazy way.
Jbee
 

[nuduke]

Great report, Safebare. Thank you for writing that.
Shame no pics
I am so jealous of you guys being able to experience a total eclipse. We had one in the UK in 1999, I think it was, but in true British weather fashion it was 100% cloud over almost all the UK.  We did experience the darkness at totality of course.  Weird and wonderful.  We were moving house that day too!  So limited opportunity to gaze at the sky.  However, I had a pinhole camera set up to view it but no image due to the cloud.
John

[Yorksmark]

Remember that one.. I did get a view if the sun at the time.. luckily the sky was clear enough

[Fellsnude]

As expected, April was a big zero, but I can walk now as long as I don't get too ambitious, and the forecast is good for a walk on the beach today, with the tide out. I'm hoping the breeze won't be too chilly for some FRN. It looks like just the one day, so we need to seize it.

[Safebare]

Spring has definitely sprung here in SE Texas bringing fabulously windy and sunny days followed by intense storms. We had several cool fronts pass through in April, but now seeing the lows near 70F and highs near 90. The rain has provided a bumper crop of fruit including loquats and dewberries. I particularly enjoy wandering out in the pasture at sunrise, after feeding the horses and drinking a last cup of coffee, to pick berries as nature intended. Some parts of my life I truly feel blessed to enjoy.

Aside from the eclipse chasing adventure and daily nuding about around here, we had another Naked Tuesday on 30th of April. I had been let down by the last 2 NT events, including my Sweat Dome gathering in January. The primary organizer of these events has a different perspective than me and really doesn't seem to know how to encourage input and help, though he often complains about not having the capacity to do everything himself.

We had a burner gathering (Church Night) at a bar in the near north side of Houston early in April which appeared to be a potential for a NT event. The organizer asked me to find out, so I spoke to the owner who was more than accommodating. They had an indoor and an outdoor area, each with a stage. The patio was surrounded by shipping containers and other structures making it easy to cordon off from prying eyes. In addition to a full bar they had a scrumptious kitchen.  The owner said that we were welcome to hold the nudist event on the patio and even welcomed the occasional clothesfree trip into the bar and restroom.

The organizer was pleased and opened a conversation to our group. We had a lot of discussion about themes and activities, including a live band that one of our members was a member, along with ideas for possible Beltane and Wickerman themed activities. While the organizer was encouraging to the discussion, nothing could be planned until he was able to visit the venue to check it out for himself. He did visit and met with the owner, though he did not invite anyone to join him in the visit and left many questions unanswered, the owner was very open to us taking over the patio for our nude event.

All of the ideas for themes and activities were set aside, "bring 'em!" was all that was said. . .  I started distancing myself from the event.

I did reach out to others in the group and they encouraged me to keep a positive outlook. I had already agreed to provide tarps to shield the patio from the street. At that point, I felt that I could either by 'all in' or 'all out'. I chose "in".

On the day of the event, I started asking about specifics. All we knew was that it was a Spring event and we were able to be nude on the patio. The organizer's wife made a 'Naked Cake', which was awesome BTW.  The band was confirmed and wanted to start preparations at 5:30, but the bar didn't open until 6pm. The organizer said to show up anyway.

I showed up at 6 with the tarps. The bar was still closed and the band was there, wondering what to do. Things got busy quickly and by 7 pm we were ready. The band was GREAT! They played mostly jazzy rock numbers, both covers and original songs.

The owner said that he did not know we wanted the kitchen open and closed it on Tuesdays because the night was usually slow. That night was not slow. I had counted on the kitchen being open and really needed nourishment. The owner said that he could get some home-made tamales delivered, so we were in business.

They had a dance club (swing?) inside the bar that was less than pleased to hear that there might be naked people intruding on their event, so we were told to please keep the nudity confined to the patio. That was fine with us.

The band even attracted a neighbor couple that dropped by for a listen. They were surprised to find the patio full of naked people but stayed to check things out. I had brought printed signs with naturism etiquette and 'beyond this point' messages, but who reads signs? The woman was very sociable and interested. Her partner was quiet and reserved.

I found it interesting that most people would completely dress to go into the bar, underwear, shirt, shorts, etc. for drinks and breaks. I would don my kilt and let that be. Of course I had been in many area bars in less than a kilt, so maybe my comfort level was higher. The owner and others from the bar would come to the patio for a smoke or socialize and appeared very accepting and accommodating. Things were going so well.

The band continued until after 10, after that we were chatting, imbibing and enjoying the Naked Cake while waiting for the tamales. I was talking with a couple (Michael and Z) who I was familiar with but had not met before that night. Suddenly, Michael fell back into a chair saying that he didn't feel well. Z caught his head while I went into EMS mode, following the ABC's of critical care.

I am convinced he had a seizure, but it wasn't typical. While we were tending to Michael, others were communicating with EMS and keeping order in the area. The fire department arrived first, about 10 firemen securing the scene and assessing Michael's situation. I think most of us had been able to get dressed at that point, but can't be entirely sure.  Not important anyway.

The ambulance crew arrived and quickly attached EKG monitor pads and checked glucose levels. So far, no clues as to the cause of the episode. They packed Michael up and placed him in the ambulance only to discover that something on that ambulance wasn't working, so proceeded to transfer him to another ambulance.

I went with Z to the ER for support. We were in the waiting room when she stood up to shift her clothes, realizing that they were inside out. I looked down at my kilt to discover that it was indeed, also inside out. We both had a big chuckle over that.

I grabbed an Uber when she was called back into the ER. They never found a proximate cause for the episode and released Michael a couple hours later to follow up with his PCP.

When I returned to the bar, everyone was dressed and dwindled down to only a few. I asked about the tamales. The guy had brought them by while EMS was getting Michael on the ambulance. He was called back, so I received 24 tamales still warm, fresh tamales. At midnight.

We took down the tarps and brought the patio back to its normal state, I then ordered one last IPA to go with the tamales. Got home about 1am.

Stay Safe, Stay Bare!

[jbeegoode]

What a tale!

Our April started with a group campout hike in and around Ironwood Forest National Monument. Stayed a couple of nights with a group that was generally coming and going for attendance. Some drove quite a distance for just a few hours. I reported on phase one last week on TheFreeRangeNaturist,org. The rest of the tale will come next week.

Been into lots of naked gardening. Been doing a lot of naked getting ready for the aforementioned trip.

Had a fundraiser for our non-profit here, a few did a sweat, most were dressed, and into talk and the music. The air got less warm after sundown. The sweats have been weekly and one special women's sweat followed by coed, last Thursday.

We'll be at the hotsprings and traveling during May, so there should be many tales, to tell.
Jbee

[Davie]

I managed an end of month walk. Sun shone, it was actually warm, bluebells were out in the woods, birds were singing and nudity was not only possible but desirable. It was the best walk of the year so far. Marvellous makes one feel good to be alive.

Davie 

[nuduke]

I'm just boggling at the short sighted lack of inclusiveness of many British naturists in their landed clubs.  I discovered there was one about 30 minutes drive away and emailed them to enquire about how to do day trips.  It took several days for them to reply and no answer to the phone number on their website. Of course they eventually responded with a downer on single visitors ( can't have you even for a day visit because there's a waiting list for membership by singles "apparently").  Why oh why do landed naturists not like single men?  Do they think we're all perverts?  Are they afraid we will overrun the club.  That seems to be the main "fear" and I think its a true one - single mature men naturists are very common indeed and so why the hell do landed clubs keep them at bay and decline what could be very good business for them?  Makes me want to spit!
Having said that, I also enquired of a naturist camping establishment (about an hours drive away) for day visits and they answered the phone and were very polite and you just have to book a day or two in advance...which is OK I guess.  I'll try them soon in the warmer weather.
I've also booked an unlanded naturist group event to visit the gardens of a stately home at the end of June.
...I said late last year that this year I would try and extend my naturist activity, didn't I?
John

[Davie]

The answer is the belief that too many single males will drive out the women. I'm not condoning this belief but I do understand the thinking.
It misses out the fact that.any single may bring in another woman which has happened several times in my own club which is a swim. It is a fact that only about 17% of our members are women only about half of them are regular attenders.
We need to encourage more women into naturism without discriminating against the men. We do not discriminate at our club and if we did we'd probably have insufficient members to be viable

Davie 

[Greenbare Woods]

The answer is the belief that too many single males will drive out the women.
Davie     

I'm sure that belief is counterproductive.  Anyone who reads tik-tok and other social media will seen many, many women complaining that they can't find men, and men won't approach them.   The whole nudist shtick about "too many single men" and rules against "harassment" by trying to initiate conversations with women actually serves to drive women away.  Most women don't want to wast time in an asexual group that doesn't allow single men.  In some ways, organized nudism has long been it's own worst enemy. 

Note:  I often object to the use of derogatory feminist language "women and males" that feminist schoolmarms have taught since the 1970s. We are MEN, not "males."  Feminist schoolmarms trained children not to say "MEN" because men shows respect, but "males" refers to animals.  Self respecting MEN should insist on language that shows respect.

 

[nuduke]

I completely agree with you, Davie
"We need to encourage more women into naturism without discriminating against the men".
How some landed groups go about this falls into the very trap you identify - restricting all single males leads to a general restriction or decline in membership.  I would argue that not only do these groups need to encourage single males, some of whom are in partnerships and will eventually persuade their partner to join them, but they perhaps need to change their standpoint that it is single males that are the starting point and then encourage women and pairs to join  - that way nobody is excluded.
I can't find a statistic for the proportion of women in nudism generally but if your stat is a representative sample (17% women) that means 83% are men.  Let's say also that 80% of those women are partnered in naturism (just a random stab).  That means 14% of the sample are partnered therefore of 100 naturists about 4 are single women leaving 96 others.  There are 14 partnered women left in the 96.  Having extracted 4 from the 17 original women that leaves 14 partnered.  So subtract the 14+14 partnered men and women from the 96, you are left with 68 men i.e. 69% of naturists are single men.  What market would trade by excluding 68% of its potential customers!
I rest my case.  Naturism is principally a single men's thing and that is where all the naturist organisations should start.... if Davie's stats mean anything in the general world of naturism.
Anyone know the BN or AANR proportion of men to women and how many of those women are singletons?
John

[nuduke]

Bob, your post came in just as I was posting mine.
I agree that the 'too many men' thing is a legend that has become a reality in the minds of too many.  Women have become distrustful of men in general because the media blow up the exceptions of men abusing women in all sorts of ways.  But of course it is a small minority of men who are misogynistic in this way.  I may be an innocent abroad but one does hear so many examples of women being afraid of the advances of men and this impression has spread virally.  But surely it cannot be that a majority of men are wanting to abuse a majority of women?  I think the reverse is true - whilst exploitative and sexually aggressive men are quite common, they form a minority amongst us reasonable, well-behaved, sexually considerate men.  Mind you, I disagree that "Most women don't want to wast [sic] time in an asexual group that doesn't allow single men"  I think the reverse is true that women want the security of knowing that they are in an asexual group and therefore will not be harassed and sexual content to such membership will be at their behest or permission. I think this is true whether nude or clothed.
John

[Davie]

 I agree with John's comments. Most women don't want advances by men. They want the same standard of behaviour you'd get at most non-naturist clubs ans societies.

Further to my last post - we have about 100 members of our swim. 17% women. Of these 2 or 3 are single women. I think other factors are also in play. We meet on the edge of a hospital complex near a University. I suspect walking alone in the dark may put off some women. Also non- naturist men may put off their women partners from attending being suspicious of what naturism is.

BN has a women's officer to encourage mire to join. She was anti naturism until she went to a small event. Like many women, once tried they embrace the lifestyle.

Davie 

[nuduke]

Like many women, once tried they embrace the lifestyle.

I wish that was true of my wife!!
My naturist month is getting off to a good  start.  We've had a burst of 3days good weather and, whilst one of them perforce had to be spent working fully clothed and inside with no windows, I've blossomed today with a load of gardening and just generally being a naturist catching up with an assortment of domestic and DIY jobs naked (that have been waiting far too long!).  This is much to my wife's annoyance but sometimes you just have to say 'Tough, dear' and get on with the naked lifestyle. 
John

[nuduke]

The quote in the last post that came out so tiny that its unreadable and that the forum would just not let me correct (403 error again!) was "Like many women, once tried they embrace the lifestyle"
Sorry