Thanks to his husband Chasten, the world has just been blessed with this shirtless Pete Buttigieg pic, which handily gives Mr. B the edge as Hottest American Politician. Witness his Hunk of the Day crowning, or his joint appearance as Dazzler of the Day with his husband. Hopefully he’s setting up a different sort of run again as President one day.
In the arrival of the cup plant flowers and the re-blooming of the Korean lilac, this past week has felt a bit like the rebirth of the summer season, which never fully found fruition since it began. Certain summers are like that – slow to start, slow to burn – and sometimes they never fully catch fire. Bathed in rain, they make for a different kind of season, one in which water adds a constant element that only works when you learn to embrace it.
At the very least, it makes for some interesting photos that wouldn’t be possible if there were only sunny days.
Joining fellow team-mate Brody Malone in the Olympic Spotlight, Yul Moldaeur executed an amazing floor routine to qualify for medal competition in the Tokyo Olympics. This marks his first trip to the olympic games, and is just the beginning based on all the promise on display. It also makes for a giant leap toward getting crowned as Dazzler of the Day. Stay tuned…
It should come as no surprise that my favorite Spice Girl is Posh. More than that, the woman who brought Posh to life, Victoria Beckham, has long been an inspirational force in my world, and because of that she earns her first Dazzler of the Day honor. Over the years she’s been the butt of many jokes, and through it all she has held her head high, retaining her own sharp sense of humor (often underestimated) as well as a keen sense of fashion that has served her own line quite well. For some reason, it’s not her performances as Posh or her domination of the designer scene, or even her husband David and all his underwear poses, that has moved me most about Ms. Beckham – it came, oddly enough, in her appearance with the original band that brought her such glory in their reunion at the London Olympics. They arrived by Mini Cooper and each ended up riding around the arena alone, hair and dresses trailing in the wind. It reminded me of their original, indisputable sense of girl power, coupled with the years of hard-won experience, and watching them all ride solo but part of their own singular tribe touched me in a surprising way, all to the pulsing drama of ‘Spice Up Your Life’.
The hosta is one of those ubiquitous and yet unheralded garden plants that anchors many a shady nook yet gets none of the glory that showier and more floriferous counterparts seem to get. While the foliage is the main attraction, let us not forget the flower show that many are putting on right now. The flowers are like little lilies, with a more subtle fragrance to go with their understated appeal.
Often I forget about the flowers, too preoccupied with all the other stunners of summer, until these spikes start emerging. Then I pause and take stock of their form and their beauty, and on a larger scale of the garden and where it stands. This is when we are usually feeling some sort of summer fatigue. With the lackluster weather this particular year has brought us, there is no reason for such fatigue. Even the ostrich ferns, typically starting to brown and wither away, are holding onto their color and form, quenched by the abnormal amount of water they’ve received.
These hosta have also enjoyed the excess of wetness, but they’ve also suffered for it. Slugs have invaded the garden, and made a mess of the beautiful hosta leaves. For every benefit there is a detraction it seems. Such is life in the garden. Thus far these flowerheads have managed to rise above such nastiness, and so let us focus on them for today.
As befits his name, Chase Kalisz gave chase in search of the Olympic gold medal, and found it tonight, earning it in the 400 M individual medley. When Michael Phelps is your mentor, a gold medal is nothing less than expected. Go Team USA!
One of the most powerful gymnasts that the United States sent to the Tokyo Olympics, Brody Malone has earned some of the highest qualifying scores for the US team at his very first trip to the Olympic games. Keep an eye on him in the next few days – he’s poised for a near-future Dazzler of the Day.
This little balloon flower is still going strong after a number of years, and when it appears it always brings me a jolt of joy because it’s so often forgotten. I also appreciate its stalwart resilience, and the way it keeps coming back even when it hasn’t been pampered. This year I’ve been given it some extra fertilizer to bolster and encourage such beauty. Sometimes it carries more than one bud – this is not one of those years, and so I’m working on it with a bit more love and tenderness. Beauty is worth it.
Fellow Brandeis alum Ben Percival is representing his home country of Samoa in Judo for the Tokyo Summer Olympics, which officially kicked off last night. Anyone who makes it anywhere near Olympic competition is a hero in my book. Congrats to Percival on being named the Dazzler of the Day.
As has become custom over the past few summers (and, worse, winters) we lost power a couple of days ago. Fortunately it was only for a few hours, but on sultry and humid summer nights the heat builds back quickly, particularly when you’re burning a bunch of candles. While Andy revved up ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil‘ on his HBO Max App, I ventured into the brightest room in the house – the attic – and quickly lit the space with all the candles I could find.
There, in that quiet and in that space, I was reminded of being mindful at all times, and I took the pause in the usual noise and mad rush of evening to reconnect with the moment. When summer arrived last month in all its fanfare and excitement, attention shifted to outside garden work and pool jaunts, and my daily meditations went somewhat by the wayside. There were meditative moments to be had in the outdoors, and somehow the peace that imbues summer took the place of my more-formal meditations, but maybe I was missing them. Lately I’ve been returning to the practice, sitting quietly and doing deep breathing in the living room as I started a couple of years ago.
It’s always good to return to the basics, especially when the power is out. The universe reminds us what we need to do. We just need to stop and listen.
Once again taking the world’s stage by shirtless storm, Pita Taufatofua kicks off this site’s Olympic coverage (such as it may be) in greased and grand fashion. This mark’s Pita’s third trip to the Olympics from Tonga, and that in itself is an impressive-enough feat. Add to that a killer smile and matching physique, and you have the recipe it takes to make an Olympic Spotlight truly shine. Check out his previous shirtless appearances here and here.
Dear Andy ~
Twenty-one years ago we had a rather rainy summer, not unlike the one we are having this year. Great for the gardens, not so great for sunny summer fun. We were both beginning to come out from relationships that had hurt, and we were both finally learning to be happy on our own. I took the rainy season as a sign of healing and forgiveness, a way of moving beyond the past while honoring our present. I don’t think either of us intended to find a love that would last beyond a night at Oh Bar, so when your friend Patrick invited me to sit down at your table, I sat across from you and did my best to ignore the butterflies in my stomach, and the way your gaze cut through to my heart unlike any other man I’d ever met.
You seemed reasonable and fair, kind and grounded. Something about you felt calm and safe, and though I sensed you were not quite over injuries suffered in the recent past, I also sensed you had accepted life in a way that my immaturity could not yet fathom.
The more we talked, the more I fell into your blue eyes. More thrilling was the hope and sense that you were falling into me as well – I honestly felt you were so far above my league that I wasn’t even sure you meant to be talking to me.
Outside, the night felt calm and quiet. After raining all day, the clouds had departed and the world felt clean and new, the way it sometimes does after a heavy rainfall. Do you remember walking to our cars? I was going to follow you home because we both knew something special was afoot, even as I fought against falling so quickly. I didn’t expect the ride to be so long, and I didn’t mind in the least; I would have followed you anywhere.
When we arrived at your house, it was dim, but you carried that sense of safety and calm with you – something you would provide no matter where we found ourselves – Boston, Ogunquit, New York – and I understood then that it didn’t matter the precise place or location: you were already my home.
When I left, it was practically morning. Fumbling awkwardly in your kitchen, I told you I’d probably never see you again, and as would become the case many times over in the ensuing decades, I’d never been so wrong, and so happy to be wrong.
Happy anniversary, Drew.
I love you. ~ A.
We’ve all been lamenting this rainy and cool summer that nature has so cruelly doled out this year, but there are bonuses and unexpected delights that wouldn’t be present in a perfectly sunny summer season. Take, for instance, these Korean lilac blooms, which seem to have been tricked into coming out again after a few cool and rainy days and nights – the kind of weather they prefer in the late spring.
They will usually throw out one or two small re-blooms, which are often lost amid the cacophony of high summer, but this time around there are several small bunches of blossoms, and they carry the same delicious scent that they have in spring – a happy reminder of the days when the season was just beginning.
When faced with a light mist and cooler temperatures, these blooms last as long as they would in their typical blooming period. Once again, a silver lining in such an overcast season. Well, a lilac lining, as it were.
A descendant of MTV’s original reality-television show ‘The Real World’ and its spin-off ‘Road Rules’, ‘The Challenge’ pits participants of both against each other for a series of competitive challenges that makes for double the explosive television. Taking part of that is Nam Vo, who is also an international fashion, cover & fitness model, actor, coach and instructor. He can now add Dazzler of the Day to the impressive curriculum vitae.
Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!!!
Please, no more rain!!!
We are waterlogged already!!!
Presenting for evidence this photo of a pine seedling growing out of a wooden fence door that is now so thoroughly soaked it has made a viable place for seedlings to take root. When I first walked by this, I thought it was from a batch of weeds that had snagged on the door as I went past. Upon closer inspection I could see that a pine seedling had germinated and begun growing in the wet wood itself. Nature will find a way.
This doesn’t bode well for the garden. An excess of anything is rarely good, and in the excess of rain we have been overrun by slugs that have decimated our once-beautiful hosta, and started the rotting process on several sections of wood around the house.
On the other hand, the ferns and the cup plant and the fountain grass are all having banner years. Pity we can’t get out as much to enjoy them when it’s pouring rain outside. Whatever happened to a happy medium?
