The Paris Olympics have entered the track and field portion – one of the most electrifying and exciting sections of the summer games. This Olympic Spotlight is on Jakob Ingebrigtsen competing for Norway, whose made a career of speed and consistency, and is also a bit of a reality television star with his family in Norway.
It was a week that saw the one-year anniversary of Dad’s passing come and go. I’ve been in a reflective state of mind, guided by relief, gratitude, sadness, and the raw ache of a year of firsts without him. Everyone who’s ever lost someone has told me the grief doesn’t just end at any finite point in time, and I know and understand this. That said, finishing the year has some sense of reassurance in it, some little bit of comfort as I realize that while Dad is gone, he is still with us in so many ways.
I also don’t want to bring this space down with daily dwellings on death (even though I think we would all do better to discuss and talk about death in the way I’ve come to understand it’s such a meaningful and natural part of life) and to that end there were and will always be a multitude of distractions and other things on which to focus. This past week has been about the Olympic Games in Paris, which found equal bits of athleticism, inspiration, and eye candy. On with the weekly recap in typical roller coaster fashion…
It began with a sizzling hot coquette moment. Our coquette summer burns and burns…
Aiding in the coquette atmosphere was this Silver Mountain Water fragrance by Creed.
Completing the coquette feel of this summer was established in our third summer playlist: Coquette-Me-Not.
The bulge seen round the world belonged to Jules Bouyer.
The room where my father died.
A gratuitously shirtless Olympic pause.
The second bulge seen round the word, when this pole vaulter’s pole knocked down the pole.
Pommel horse guy Stephen Nedoroscik goes shirtless.
Tropical the landlocked breeze, all of nature wild and free, this is where I long to be…
Pinoy Pride was in full effect as Carlos Yulo secured a second gold medal for the Philippines.
the Olympic spotlight shone on Asher Hong, Carlos Alcaraz, Paul Juda, Anthony Harding, Bobby Finke, Carlos Yulo, and Noah Lyles.
Dazzlers of the Day included Maxim Bouchard, Jules Bouyer, Stephen Nedoroscik, and Rhys McClenaghan.
Speed hero Noah Lyles has already been a Dazzler of the Day here, and he definitely deserves another Olympic Spotlight as he finds himself headlining another Olympic Games. We’ll see how he does tonight, but he’s clearly already a champion with nothing left to prove. Of course, more medals are more medals, and the United States would be proud to have another gold from Paris. If anyone can bring it when it counts, it’s Noah Lyles.
Bobby Finke had already earned an Olympic Spotlight the last time he made a run for a medal as seen in this post from 2021. Today, he gets another round of glory thanks to his heroic efforts at securing more gold for the United States. Champions are gonna champion.
Bobby Finke (photo: Jack Spitser)
Carlos Edriel Yulo just earned a second gold medal for the Philippines with his latest gymnastics routine, cementing an iconic run that will make him an instant homeland hero. He’s been spotlighted here before, and will surely be a Dazzler of the Day as soon as our backlog dissipates. In the meantime, here are a few shirtless poses in keeping with the way the Paris Olympics have gone (and absolutely no one is mad about it).
Island breezes are few and far between in these landlocked parts, but things have certainly felt tropical here. While I’ll never complain about summer being too sunny and warm, I also wilt like a hothouse flower in extreme heat. The plants and garden, however, are loving it. Our pair of fountain bamboo plants have sent up about a dozen stalks into the warm air, rising and rising but not yet releasing their foliage. It feels like they are behind, but I’ve lost track of their timing so maybe this is all as it should be. There are still almost two months of summer left.
Water droplets on banana leaves in upstate New York look gloriously incongruent to the tropical locales they naturally frequent. Along with a couple of palms, they are giving a very tropical vibe to our back patio, which retains pink elements of our coquette summer.
Let’s have a quasi-tropical song then, where all of nature is wild and free – this is where we long to be…
Summer drains of a little color of late, the flowers in the gardens largely spent, the fresh bright green now watered down into deeper hues, or dried up into brown and tan like many of the ferns at this point. Yes, I’m hinting at fall, the way the slant of the sun has hinted at it, the way it always does this time of the year.
Earning the gold medal in the pommel horse men’s individual event, Rhys McClenaghan adds some prestigious metal to Ireland’s appearance at the Paris Olympic Games while being named Dazzler of the Day. Though Stephen Nedoroscik has gained the eyes and admiration of the world thanks to his Clark Kent-like transformation and his own recent shirtless post, it is McClenaghan who is going home with the gold.
Back in the days when used to have a Hunk of the Day feature, Stephen Nedoroscik would have been an instant honoree. He’ll have to settle for the Dazzler of the Day now, and a subsequent shirtless post as seen here. And so the Olympics pommel onward…
Olympic pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati offers his ample contribution to these crotch-centric Olympic Games, which found the bulge of Jules Bouyer taking center stage until Ammarati arrived to knock the pole off with his own pole. In a move that some are calling as unfortunate as it is the best possible way to lose, Ammarati’s frontal appendage clipped the pole on his way over it, knocking it down along with gold medal possibilities. It just goes to show the old adage as true: one Olympian’s junk is another Olympian’s treasure.
Carlos Edriel Yulo just earned the Philippines its first-ever gold medal in gymnastics, and Yulo becomes the second Filipino to win a gold Olympic medal. (The amazing Hidilyn Diaz was the first Filipino to win a Gold Medal back in 2021.) With this pinnacle of gymnastic awards, Yulo easily becomes the most successful Filipino gymnast in the country’s history. Pinoy Pride!!!
Pummeling his pommel horse routine as the last competitor for the US Men’s Olympic Gymnastics team event, which ultimately resulted in their medal, Stephen Nedoroscik won the hearts and admiration of millions for his Clark Kent/Superman transformation on the Olympics stage. He’s going for another pommel horse medal today, and he’s already earned this Dazzler of the Day.
Having reached the halfway mark of the Paris Olympics, this seems a good time to pause for a shirtless break, along with several non-Olympians who are gracing us with their bodies as well. This has been an exhausting week, so bear with the frivolous and gratuitous nature of this post, which offers just a bunch of links to keep things moving with something pleasing to the eye.
First up is the Bulge Seen Around the World, as Jules Bouyer puts his frontal assets on celebrated display.
Next up is artist Rene Farias, whose work celebrates a gloriously surreal life of beauty and wonder, and who recently was named our Dazzler of the Day.
Going back to Olympic glory, Carlos Alcaraz once modeled for Calvin Klein, and is competing today in the Olympic tennis competition.
A musical Olympian in his own stratosphere, Lenny Kravitz is always worthy of another look, especially when soaking in a tub naked.
Paul Mescal takes a shirtless break from an upcoming movie, where the wardrobe department seems to know his strong points.
Chris Salvatore has been making a name for himself with consistent contributions of beauty and bulge to his social media outlets. Here is yet another worthy of framing.
Lastly, Joe Jonas, who’s band of brothers provided the soundtrack to the last Olympic Games, brings up the rear entry here.
The diving partner of Jack Laugher, Anthony Harding earns his first Olympic Medal in diving today, more than meriting this Olympic spotlight. Laugher has been here numerous times before – this marks Harding’s solo debut (he joined Laugher for these wet Speedo shots). More to come from both…
We have arrived in August, and our coquette summer continues with its underlying melancholy vibes. Strange rains and tumultuous storms lend their atmospheric moodiness to a week of emotional tumult. August and its goldenrod hint at changes in the air. In the subtlest of shifts, the sun slants differently now. To buoy the spirits and remind that it’s still very much summer, with almost two months still to come, I present this coquette-lite ditty.
Wild thistle and purple loosestrife accent the edge of wilderness that borders the cemetery where my Dad’s ashes reside. It still holds true that I don’t quite feel my Dad’s presence at his final resting place, but there is one corner, at the bottom of the hill, anchored by a few ancient evergreens and a large poplar, where I sense his spirit. It would be more characteristic of him to watch quietly from a distance, his arms crossed and observing without comment or disturbance. This is also the prettiest part of the cemetery, far from the columbarium that actually contains him, far from the road where drivers unknowingly rush by such beauty. Invariably, I will stop the car at this space, and take a moment to walk around and see what is in bloom.
Earlier in the year, there were sweetly-scented wild roses. Gone to hips now, there was still some summer lingering in the heat and humidity – the bold color of thistle flowers echoed by the invasive loosestrife. Moreover, there was a stand of wild raspberries, their thorny branches barely dissuading whatever pulled most of the fruit from these little cradles.
I took a little more time on this day, walking further along the edge of where the manicured lawn ended and a bit of wilderness began. That little island of brush to the right in the photo below was surrounded by a path of mowed lawn, and I walked between the mounds of green. Within that island something rustled in the shadows. It sounded larger than a chipmunk or squirrel – I’m accustomed to their size and heft – and this was distinctly larger. It was substantial in the way it made movements and noise in the brush, and after I walked past it, as if sensing I wasn’t looking anymore, it made its move and bolted out of the island and into the wilderness, climbing up the tree before I could get a look at it. It had the speed of a squirrel, but I still don’t think that’s what it was. Scanning and searching the branches of the tree, I couldn’t find it. In a breeze, the undulating silvery undersides of leaves masked any movement I might find.
Regardless of what animal skittishly ran away, I was clearly not alone, and there was comfort in that – comfort in the mystery of life, and death. On the night that my Dad died, I remember seeing a number of rabbits along the way – at least nine or ten from our drive from Loudonville to Amsterdam – and it seemed like they were seeing him off. I’d never seen so many in a single night. My Dad always loved animals – all kinds – and it spoke to his genuine care for those who needed help in some way – the very tenet of what made a doctor a good doctor. Since the night he left, I’ve had several encounters with animals that made me believe there was more going on than what I once thought I understood or believed. On this day, feeling that I was still being watched by something in the trees, I embraced the mystery.
