Is there a more enjoyable experience than eating cold, ripe watermelon on a hot summer day?
16
July
2025
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July
2025
A Madonna Meditation Moment
While the Madonna Timeline has yet to hit ‘Has To Be’ – the B-side to Madonna’s ‘Ray of Light’ single – I’m including the instrumental version of this underrated track in this post for its tranquil properties. In my opinion, it could have easily slipped onto the ‘Ray of Light’ album, perhaps elongating the last section’s slowed-down meditative vibe. (It’s certainly superior to the currently-hyped ‘Gone, Gone, Gone’ demo that is part of the messy ‘Veronica Electronica’ release – that one feels decidedly unfinished, even if it’s exceptionally intriguing as a product of this artistically-fertile point in Madonna’s career.)
I’ve written about its pull previously in this post, and there will be a more comprehensive meditation on it for when the Madonna timeline makes its way there. For now, breathe in, breathe out, and say a little prayer.
16
July
2025
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July
2025
The Magic of Mushrooms
Our backyard is no stranger to magic mushrooms, and this muggy summer makes for more fungus hospitality. These beauties appears practically overnight – I thought some escaped bit of rubbish blew into the yard before I went out for a closer look and discovered them.
The decaying stump of an old Japanese maple, and a bit of rain, formed the happy home environs for this mushroom clump. There is something magical about how quickly and fleetingly such a thing happens. It will likely shrink and wither beneath the direct rays of sunlight – should they happen to strike.
After some perfunctory research online, it looks like these may be a variety of oyster mushroom, but I’m not someone who will take his life into his hands by trying that theory out. Nor would I serve this to a dinner party for shits and giggles (no matter how tempting that might be).
The garden has its dangers, just like summer does.
15
July
2025
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July
2025
A Little Bit of Joy
It’s difficult to get a moody teenager to smile, especially when you want to take their picture. I say this as someone who well remembers his moody moments (and who still succumbs to them even as he stalks and approaches 50). So without much analysis or reason, I present this fun pic that I managed to get of the Ilagan twins right after I took them to get Starbucks. Caffeine and sugar work for a brief window of time – just enough to pass them off to someone else for the crash.
15
July
2025
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July
2025
The Littlest Companion
Dwarfed by its immediate neighbor the cup plant, the size and daintiness of this oregano plant is enhanced by its accompanying giant. They make an unusual pair, but one that works, as the cup plant tends to retain its lower leaves no matter how high it grows. The oregano is usually topped off before it goes to bloom, but since we don’t use that much of it for food (Andy is strangely not a fan) I let a few stalks go to exquisite flower. They make a gorgeous alternative for the ubiquitous baby’s breath in any bouquet.
One of my favorite fresh oregano recipes is a basic sheet of roasted potatoes – cut into bite size chunks, drizzled with olive oil and sea salt, then topped with some feta cheese and sprinkled with fresh oregano leaves. It’s deceptively simple, delicious and divine.
15
July
2025
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July
2025
A Robust And Dainty Friend
This week we welcome back the first blooms of an old and dear friend – the cup plant. Extolled many times on this blog over the years, this is one of my favorite plants. Whimsical, imposing, delicate, robust – it carries all kinds of connotations, and provides habitat and food for some of our favorite visitors (yellow finches).
Rising dramatically over eight feet in height, it is impressive of size and stature, yet its blooms are delicate and small. Its immensity means that it does best with a couple strong cords of rope tied around its midsection when it’s about four feet tall as these get so high that they bend (though rarely break) in rain and wind.
These are statement plants that will take up a lot of space – a boon to gardeners looking for impact and size – while their daisy-like flowers in the brightest gold rise well out of reach of smaller hands or rodents. A winning plant on all fronts, and one that comes into bloom just as the first flush of summer bloomers is fading. We are in that initial lull, which is somewhat of an unhappy reminder that summer moves quickly. Too quickly. Stop and examine the flowers.
14
July
2025
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July
2025
#TinyThreads: An Insignificant Series
Am I the only one not hate-watching ‘And Just Like That‘ right now? I still haven’t seen any of the new season yet. My admiration is on ‘The Gilded Age‘ – it’s the guilty pleasure of our household and I’m not sorry about it in the least.
14
July
2025
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July
2025
Island Interim: A Weekly Blog Recap
Mid-July and summer turns to high…
The fun snack bowl trio and their palm tree holder seen here was a gift from Lorie, in honor of our Island Summer. It fits in perfectly, and formed the festive arrival set-up for dinner with some dear friends. Our weekly blog recap commences now, as another week begins, with the wind-up for a weekend of hospitality with other old friends…
A Tom Daley Speedo appreciation post.
Mars is still in Virgo. Fuck around at your own peril.
The lone Dazzler of the Day was Justinian Huang.
Ice cream summer, just a taste.
Don’t buck with me fellas – this ain’t my first time at the rodeo!
The trick to putting bread pudding over.
13
July
2025
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July
2025
#TinyThreads: An Insignificant Series
There are some people who don’t like bread pudding even though they have never tried it.
To trick a person into eating bread pudding, just call it ‘Deconstructed French Toast‘. Watch them eat it, love it, and never know what happened.
13
July
2025
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July
2025
When the Subtle Turns Stunning
This very basic bouquet of the old-fashioned Annabelle hydrangea uses blooms of varying stages to capture a palette of creams and soft greens. Lending a fresh look to this container (whose lid rests beside it as part of its charm) it’s a testament to the power of simplicity – and abundance. It takes more blooms than I thought it would – usually hydrangeas are large enough to form a bouquet with a single stalk or two – which also allows for varying degrees of bloom stage, giving it different texture and architecture.
At a time of the year when things are getting hot, and the weather is a rollercoaster, a calming bouquet is an easy antidote. I pause and study it, and whatever turmoil that is raging is immediately quieted.
13
July
2025
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July
2025
Putting the Masc On
The notion of masculinity is one of played-out stereotypes and tiresome tropes, one that we reinforce through repetition, one that we keep pushing forward instead of stopping at its limited idiocy. For me, it’s always been about play – no more, and very often quite a bit less. Masculinity so rarely has anything to do with men.
When you’re able to see its stupidity and social construct, you can pick up its various elements and present something wholly fabricated for public consumption. Sometimes all it takes is one accessory or pose – the people always fill in the rest with what they want to see, what they find comfort in seeing. It’s what they have always seen. Playing with this and upsetting expected notions was how I got off twenty years ago, and plays a major part in the formulation of The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale.
Imprisoned by the yellow tile of a locker room, our protagonist contemplates the various ties that bind him. Sartorially, he remains a prisoner. Socially, he stays an outsider. Stylistically, he is the ultimate trickster. Something about shape-shifting removes emotional earnestness. You do not know what to believe, you do not know what is true, you do not know what is real. There is the body, there is the brain, there is the heart, there is the soul. Science does not quite match up to style. Life is a pose.
~ The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale ~
- Pink Frilly Fairy: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three
- Homage to Herb: Part One, Part Two and Part Three
- A Purple-Hued Interlude
- Style & Panache: Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four.
- Purple Puff Confection: Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four.
- A Blue-Hued Interlude
- Fuchsia Fabulousness: Part One. Part Two and Part Three.
- Bad Boy Bangs: Part One, Part Two. and Part Three.
- Vanity Under Where: Part One, Part Two. and Part Three.
- Sugar Plum Ballerina: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- A Pool Frolic: Part One, Part Two. and Part Three.
- A Cemetery Interlude: Part One and Part Two.
- Powder Blue Fur Doll: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- A Milky Interlude
- Rock Out, Cock Out/ Hang Out, Wang Out: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- Cocktail Cocktale: Part One and Part Two.
- A Fairy’s Interlude: Part One and Part Two.
- Willy Wonkers: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- A Peacock In Everything But Beauty: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- Swan Lake Fantasia: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four.
- Black & White in Briefs: Part One, Part Two. and Part Three.
- Weave of Basket, Weave of Rope: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part Five.
- Chains of Gray to Color: Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four.
- Black Jockstrap: Back Entry: Part One, Part Two and Part Three.
- Super Fairy Interlude: Part One, Part Two and Part Three.
- American Psychology: Part One and Part Two.
- Jocks & Frocks: Part One and Part Two.
12
July
2025
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July
2025
Locker Room Scene
Some passages of The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale were simply for fun, much like the accompanying bop by Madonna, which loosely ties in to the already-loose football locker-room theme seen here. Sporty cosplay before we even had words for it, bringing me back to the lighthearted nature of the world in 2005, when violent romps were mostly of the imagined sort, not playing out literally on our streets and sidewalks. Madonna, take me away…
Fans can make you famous,
a contract can make you rich,
the press can make you a superstar,
but only luv can make you a player…
The music was silly, the poses were sillier, and the wardrobe was the silliest. Try on different guises was the main pelvic thrust of The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale, and in 2005 I had the body to slide like quicksilver into just about anything. It allowed me to inhabit people I wouldn’t have otherwise encountered on a daily basis. It allowed me to grow.
Back then I was just on the verge of turning 30, which felt slightly old to me then, especially as a gay man whose community put an impossibly high bounty on youth and beauty. Twenty years later I’m about to turn 50, and feel more at peace about it, which is a lucky turn of fortune, as fighting the fact of getting older is a losing, wasteful, and foolish battle. Still, it would be lovely to fit into a 30-inch pair of pants again, but that ship has sunk. At least there are pictures to prove that it once happened.
~ The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale ~
- Pink Frilly Fairy: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three
- Homage to Herb: Part One, Part Two and Part Three
- A Purple-Hued Interlude
- Style & Panache: Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four.
- Purple Puff Confection: Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four.
- A Blue-Hued Interlude
- Fuchsia Fabulousness: Part One. Part Two and Part Three.
- Bad Boy Bangs: Part One, Part Two. and Part Three.
- Vanity Under Where: Part One, Part Two. and Part Three.
- Sugar Plum Ballerina: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- A Pool Frolic: Part One, Part Two. and Part Three.
- A Cemetery Interlude: Part One and Part Two.
- Powder Blue Fur Doll: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- A Milky Interlude
- Rock Out, Cock Out/ Hang Out, Wang Out: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- Cocktail Cocktale: Part One and Part Two.
- A Fairy’s Interlude: Part One and Part Two.
- Willy Wonkers: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- A Peacock In Everything But Beauty: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- Swan Lake Fantasia: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four.
- Black & White in Briefs: Part One, Part Two. and Part Three.
- Weave of Basket, Weave of Rope: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part Five.
- Chains of Gray to Color: Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four.
- Black Jockstrap: Back Entry: Part One, Part Two and Part Three.
- Super Fairy Interlude: Part One, Part Two and Part Three.
- American Psychology: Part One and Part Two.
- Jocks & Frocks: Part One.
12
July
2025
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July
2025
Jocks & Frocks
We are what we are and what we are is an illusion.
We love how it feels putting on heels causing confusion.
We face life though it’s sometimes sweet and sometimes bitter;
Face life, with a little guts and lots of glitter.
Look under our frocks: Girdles and jocks,
Proving we are what we are!
‘The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale’ posits the extremes of the stereotypically-masculine and the stereotypically-feminine, and somewhere in-between, or perhaps far beyond, is where this current entry takes us.
We are what we are – Half a brassiere, half a suspender.
Half real and half fluff,
You’ll find it tough guessing our gender.
So Just {whistle}
If we please you that’s the way to show us.
Just {whistle}
‘Cause you’ll love us once you get to know us.
Look under our glitz: Muscles and tits,
Proving we are what we are.
We face life though it’s sometimes sweet and sometimes bitter,
Face life, with a little guts and lots of glitter.
Look under our frocks: Girdles and jocks,
Proving we are what we are!
Football and frocks go together in my mind like hot dogs and mustard. A magical mix, made better together than when separated out. Twenty years ago I felt fractured and splintered – in many ways I was just trying to put myself together. That began with reconciling all the opposing natures within my wayward head. That began with football fashion, fabulous frocks, and the amalgamation of all my compartmentalized pieces.
Two sides of the same coin, thirteen sides to a strange die, a multitude of factions, and a breakdown of fractions. The world is better viewed one tiny piece at a time, one broken shard and splintered bit of wreckage examined and studied and researched from the inside out.
How strange it is to feel so split, how lost it leaves the soul…
… and no matter how much you learn to reconcile, to join, to heal – it never quite comes together. We are never whole.
~ The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale ~
- Pink Frilly Fairy: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three
- Homage to Herb: Part One, Part Two and Part Three
- A Purple-Hued Interlude
- Style & Panache: Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four.
- Purple Puff Confection: Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four.
- A Blue-Hued Interlude
- Fuchsia Fabulousness: Part One. Part Two and Part Three.
- Bad Boy Bangs: Part One, Part Two. and Part Three.
- Vanity Under Where: Part One, Part Two. and Part Three.
- Sugar Plum Ballerina: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- A Pool Frolic: Part One, Part Two. and Part Three.
- A Cemetery Interlude: Part One and Part Two.
- Powder Blue Fur Doll: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- A Milky Interlude
- Rock Out, Cock Out/ Hang Out, Wang Out: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- Cocktail Cocktale: Part One and Part Two.
- A Fairy’s Interlude: Part One and Part Two.
- Willy Wonkers: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- A Peacock In Everything But Beauty: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
- Swan Lake Fantasia: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four.
- Black & White in Briefs: Part One, Part Two. and Part Three.
- Weave of Basket, Weave of Rope: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part Five.
- Chains of Gray to Color: Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four.
- Black Jockstrap: Back Entry: Part One, Part Two and Part Three.
- Super Fairy Interlude: Part One, Part Two and Part Three.
- American Psychology: Part One and Part Two.
12
July
2025
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July
2025
Don’t Buck with Me Fellas
The Buck Moon shone this week, fucking things up like only a full moon can, and Mercury will soon be in retrograde motion through August, so everything is about to get wonky. As if Mars entering Virgo wasn’t enough, Uranus is also in Gemini, so all hell is about to break loose for anyone toying with the idea of fucking with a Virgo right now. If you’ve seen the new ‘Dune’ movies, you have an idea of how I intend to handle the astrological sandworm monsters about to come my way: picture me harnessing all the energy and transforming all the fuckery into potent, piercing, damning empirical evidence like only a Virgo can.
A song then, deceptively mellow, for a deceptive summer.
I’ll dig my talons in like an eagle and ride those sandworms into the ground, as if I’d strapped a pair of great whites onto my feet and decided to surf the seal-heavy shore. Anyone can become a hunter when the moon enters their soul. Virgos are said to be entering their villain era with all of the astrological events currently in motion. Last fall I thought I might have turned to the darkness, but I ended up pulling most of those punches. This year that won’t be the case, and summer has me feeling all kinds of punchy.
11
July
2025
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July
2025
Tres Deseos
Gloria Estefan has never quite achieved the respect she’s deserved, and perhaps it’s from videos like this. I love its ridiculous visuals, and the bop of a song behind it. Summer Fridays are a good fit for such a song. It’s happy music, somewhat silly music, and perfect music for a summer weekend.
There’s a party to be had on any given summer Friday – and that’s a vibe we should carry with us each and every day of summer. I’m trying to remember that – trying to slow these sunny days, to still the summer – perhaps even more than I willed such magic in my childhood. Maybe I feel the quickening advance of time, ticking away faster and faster. On some objective plane, time may be consistent. Most of us feel it going by quicker as the years pass, even when it’s not the case.
And so I say dance – make your wishes and dance – just like Gloria.
