Hiking - Part 92

Big Island (Hawaii)

Today's photos were taken by a photographer who has a Flickr page where he shows photos of himself nude.  In March 2026 he took a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, the island where I live (I do not know him and did not meet him).

Above, a little side trail off the Chain of Craters Road in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the same park where the volcano Kilauea has been erupting.

The next day, he visited Kehena Beach on the south coast of the island.  The beach is backed by cliffs, above.

He was enthralled by the black sand.

Another "victory" pose on the black sand.  I should mention that Kehena beach is a local nude beach, although this photographer did not show any photos of other people on the beach.

The next day he did a hike to Pu'u Huluhulu, which is located off of the Saddle Road that crosses the island.  The hike is not long, but it includes a steep climb to the top of Pu'u Huluhulu, a 200-foot tall volcanic cinder cone now covered with forest.  Above, he stands on the top, from which there are views of the volcanic mountains Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, not visible in this photo.

After reaching the top naked, our photographer was surprised to hear someone else coming up the trail.

Oh, well, he thought.  Let them look, and we'll both have a story to tell afterwards.

Poem of the Day - Part 92

From Time to Time
by Matsuo Bashō

Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694) was the most famous Japanese poet of the Edo period.  He is considered the greatest master of the haiku poem.  Here is one of his poems:

雲をりをり人をやすめる月見かな

This has been translated as follows, accompanied by images that are probably not what the poet had in mind:

From time to time

The clouds give rest

To the moon-beholders.

Artists - Part 94

Arno Breker

Arno Breker (1900-1991) was a German sculptor best known for his public works in Nazi Germany.  Above, Breker in his studio, 1939.

In 1936 he created sculptures celebrating German athletes for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.  Above, Zehnkämpfer (Decathlete).

He loved to portray the male nude, but he also created other interesting pieces such as these lions in Hanover.

Breker became Hitler's favorite sculptor for works glorifying Germany such as Die Wehrmacht (The Armed Forces), 1939, installed at the German Chancellery in Berlin.

Here is Breker working on a preliminary model for Bereitschaft (Readiness) in 1939.

And here is the finished sculpture Bereitschaft, again playing up German military strength.

Der Seiger (The Victor), 1939.  Breker made many other similar statues of nude males in this period, many with the theme of German strength.

After World War II, Breker continued to work as a sculptor in West Germany.  Above, a more unusual work, Junges Europa (Young Europe), 1980, features the head of an eagle, the German national animal, so again it's a German patriotic piece.

He made a number of busts of famous people.  This is a bust of German composer Richard Wagner at the Festspielhaus, the opera house in Bayreuth, Germany, dedicated to performing Wagner's works.

And he continued to sculpt male nudes.  We end with another Zehnkämpfer (Decathlete), 1984.  The model was the West German athlete Jürgen Hingsen, who won a silver medal in the decathlon at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Beach Bums - Part 89

Little Beach, Maui

We began our "Beach Bums" series more than five years ago with a look at Little Beach on the island of Maui, Hawaii.  It's worth another look.  The beach is located in Makena State Park.  A trail from the parking area leads to Big Beach, aka Makena Beach, the beach at right, popular for sunbathing and bodyboarding.  It's not a nude beach.  A trail at the north end of Big Beach leads over a rock ridge to Little Beach (the beach at left).

The sign at the end of the trail says that nudity is prohibited, which is legally true, but it's not enforced.  Little Beach has long been a popular nude beach on Maui.

Little Beach is only about 500 feet long, and it can get crowded.  The beach crowd is a mixture of clothed and unclothed beachgoers, as seen above.

The surf zone is less crowded.

Here's a photographer looking for something scenic to photograph.

He finds a scenic view.

Little Beach is good for surfing ...

and swimming, if the surf isn't rough ...

and snorkeling ...

and sunbathing ...

and people-watching.

Gods, Myths and Heroes - Part 86

 Vulcan

The Roman god Vulcan, corresponding to the Greek god Hephaestus, was the god of fire, volcanoes, and blacksmiths.  He is often depicted with a blacksmith's hammer.

Vulcan was the son of Jupiter, the king of the gods, but unlike the other gods, he was not supernaturally beautiful.  Instead, he was said to be ugly, and and he had a crippled leg.

This 16th century Venetian statue of Vulcan shows his crippled leg.  All the other representations I've seen show a normal-looking leg.

For the Romans, Vulcan had a forge inside the volcano Mt. Etna in Sicily, and when he was angry, Mt. Etna erupted.

Because he was ugly, his romantic story was different from other gods, too.  Above, Athena scorning the advances of Hephaestus (Vulcan), painted by Paris Bordone, 16th century.

So Jupiter arranged for Vulcan to marry the beautiful goddess of love Venus.  But Venus did not love her husband Vulcan.  Above, Vulcan, at left, Venus, and Mars, the god of war, at right, who is attracting Venus' attention.

Vulcan found out that his wife, Venus, was being unfaithful, having an affair with Mars.  He made a net and ensnared them while they were making love (above, Venus and Mars Surprised by Vulcan, a painting by Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael, c. 1606) and dragged them up to Mount Olympus to shame them.

So if you're having romantic problems, you're not alone: even the gods had romantic problems.

Our last view of Vulcan is a statue by Mario Raggi, 1897, that stands atop the tower of the town hall in Sheffield, England.  Sheffield was a center for making iron and steel and became known as the Steel City, hence the statue of the blacksmith god Vulcan as its protector.  

Raggi did not depict Vulcan as ugly or crippled but as a typical handsome Greek/Roman god.

Labor Day 2026

Labor Day

Today, on Labor Day, we celebrate the construction worker.  

Whether his tool is a drill ...

or a hammer ...

or a shovel ...

or a wrench ...

or a saw ...

or a tape measure ...

or a screwdriver ...

there's no doubt that a construction worker makes good use of his tool.

World Naked Bike Ride - Part 95

Canterbury 2019

Today we look at the World Naked Bike Ride held in Canterbury, England on June 30, 2019.  Here are the riders gathering.

They leave to begin the ride.

Riding through town.  The ride leader, at left, has a sign saying "Air pollution will kill you.  Nudity won't."  That's one of two messages of the World Naked Bike Rides: ride a bike rather than driving a car, because cars cause pollution.

We've seen this rider with a top hat on other World Naked Bike Rides.  Behind him, another rider has a sign "Fragile bones on road", which is the other WNBR message, advocating for bicycle safety by trying to get drivers to pay more attention to bike riders.  But you probably weren't looking at that sign.

The riders continue.

The Westgate in the background is a city gate that was originally built by the Romans and later expanded in medieval times.

Here's our top-hatted friend again.  In the background is the Guildhall, formerly the Church of the Holy Cross, built in 1381.

The ride continues.

And they ride out of town.