Hiking - Part 81

 Putney Mountain, Vermont

This is another naked hike by Jim Bornholdt, whom we have seen before.  A few years ago, after a cancer diagnosis, Jim decided to embrace the idea of naked hiking, which he had done a few times before.  For him, shedding his clothes was symbolic of shedding fears and negative baggage.  He calls it "forest bathing", and he relishes the freedom of going into and out of the sunshine and feeling the forest energy across his skin.

He lives in Connecticut, but he found that public nudity is legal in Vermont (as long as you don't engage in "lewd and lascivious conduct"), and Vermont has many wonderful hiking trails, so he began hiking the Vermont trails naked and publishing photos of his hikes on his blog called Baring It All in the Woods.

Today we see Jim's hike to the summit of Putney Mountain on May 2, 2024, which was his first hike of that year.  As always, Jim posts a "naked hiker on the trail" sign at the beginning of the trail to warn people, which you can see taped to the board behind him.  And as always, people he met on the trail had no problem with his nudity.

Here he is at the start of the Ridgeline Trail, which goes up to the summit.  It's a short loop trail and is rated "easy".  You can see that many of the trees were still bare.  Spring had not quite come to the mountains in Vermont.

On the short hike up to the summit, Jim met an older woman who was friendly.

The temperature at the summit was in the high 60s.  In the background you can see a trail runner who passed Jim.  Jim said "Hello" to him, but the runner kept running.

There are nice views from the summit.  Jim also met two more ladies there and exchanged pleasantries.

Part of the trail back down.

And here's Jim back at the trailhead next to the parking lot.  Another successful naked hike.

Events - Part 82

Mardi Gras

Today is Mardi Gras.  In New Orleans, in addition to the parades and parties, there's a tradition that people gather on the wrought-iron balconies in certain places on Bourbon Street with a supply of beaded necklaces ...

And down below in the street, guys flash their dicks (and girls flash their boobs) ...

And the flasher is rewarded with a necklace thrown down from above.

It's a very religious holiday.  I think it commemorates when Jesus entered Jerusalem and flashed his dick, but I'm not very religious, so I could be wrong.

You can tell how many times guys have flashed by how many necklaces they're wearing.

This appears to be a flashing virgin.

But he probably won't be a virgin for very long.

We end with a unique flashing posture.  It's all very religious.  Happy Mardi Gras!

Presidents Day 2026

 Presidents Day

Today is Presidents Day, when normally we would honor U.S. presidents.  We do not honor our current president, who has dishonored everything he has touched, but we can document how he is viewed.

Joshua Monroe made five copies of this statue, above, to be displayed in five cities.  The plaque at the base says the sculpture is titled "The Emperor Has No Balls."

An onlooker commenting on the size.

And a closeup shows that indeed he has a micro-penis and no balls.

The policy of the New York City Parks Department.

This painting of Trump by Illma Gore also shows a micro-penis and no balls.

This 43-foot-tall marionette in Las Vegas was named "Crooked and Obscene."

This sculpture by Danish artist Jens Galschiot was exhibited at the COP30 climate conference in Belem, Brazil in November 2025.  It shows a naked Trump riding a small, frail man and holding a golf club about to whack a small sphere which is the Earth.  The conference was about fighting global warming, including trying to phase out fossil fuels.  For the first time in the conference's history, the U.S., under Trump, boycotted it.

We end with a T-shirt design by Danger Rabbit.  Another depiction that shows what the population thinks of him.

Weighing In - Part 82

Salvatore Burruni

Salvatore Burruni (1933-2004) was an Italian flyweight boxer.  In April, 1965 he won the World Flyweight title.  In November, 1965 he was stripped of the title when he refused to fight Hiroyuki Ebihara.

On June 14, 1966 Burruni fought Walter McGowan in Wembly, England, in a fight billed as defending the World Flyweight title, although Burruni no longer held the title.  At the beginning of this video we see Burruni weighing in naked in front of an audience.  There was no modesty shield.  At the end we see Burruni, who I think is still naked, smiling and waving to the all-male audience of sportswriters.

Burruni lost the fight.  His overall record was 99 wins and 9 losses.

Valentine's Day 2026

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day, a gift of chocolate is always appropriate.  Someone gave Carl chocolates and roses.

Carl knew what to do.

He ate a chocolate.

Delicious.

That was a treat.

Now on to the next treat.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Poem of the Day - Part 82

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Artists - Part 85

Oleksandr Balbyshev

Oleksandr Balbyshev, born in 1985, is a Ukranian artist.  His art has two different main themes.  First, he is gay, and he uses art to try to understand the nature of male identity and the stigma of the male nude.  Second, he reinterprets symbols of the USSR, the empire that occupied his motherland for seven decades.  In particular, he reinterprets old portraits of Lenin and other Soviet leaders into something funny, not scary.  We will look at paintings of his first main theme, exploring the stigma of the male nude.

The Hide and Seek in the Rocks, 2016, was an early work exploring this theme.  It's quite realistic and could almost be a photograph (but it's a painting).

Catboy, 2019.  Balbyshev commented: "About 30 years ago, a group of feminist artists, Guerrilla Girls, decided to determine the ratio of male and female nudes presented on canvases exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It turned out that male nudes are only 15%. ... I would like to see our culture represent naked men as frequently as we do naked women to remove the shock value of the nude male. And this is my goal as an artist." 

I Swear It Wasn't Me, 2020.  Balbyshev's comment: "Ukrainians have always been famous for their urge for excessive decorative effects and embellishment. That’s why I have a craving for decorativeness and the use of ornaments in my artworks."

Bather with the Great Wave, 2020, copies Hokusai's famous The Great Wave off Kanagawa and adds a foreground figure plus some rainbow coloration in the background.

St. Sebastian, 2022.  Balbyshev's comment: "In this series, I integrate a male body's sensual beauty with paintings of world-famous artists ... This is a kind of reflection on how the art of the last centuries could have been if the male body had not been discriminated against."

There have been many historic paintings of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, but none of them are nude; Sebastian always wears a loincloth.

Guy on the Shore, 2025.  Balbyshev's comment: "Within queer art discourse, the male body has often been commodified or censored—either eroticized as spectacle or erased entirely. By placing this nude figure in a lush, otherworldly setting of lilies and dappled light, I reclaim his form from voyeurism and invisibility alike. He is neither passive object nor heroic ideal but a being in quiet communion with nature—an act of radical self-acceptance against cultural norms that police desire and shame the body."

Lovers, 2025.  Balbyshev's comment: "In “Lovers,” I continue my exploration of queer identity through the visual vocabulary of Cubism, deeply inspired by the groundbreaking works of Pablo Picasso. This painting portrays two intertwined male figures whose fragmented, mask-like faces symbolize the complexities and hidden realities of queer love."

The Reclining Nude, 2025.  Balbyshev's comment: "The Reclining Nude revisits one of the most enduring archetypes in Western art — the reclining figure — to question who is allowed to embody beauty, desire, and vulnerability.  For centuries, this pose has been synonymous with the idealized female body — passive, sensual, created to be seen. In this work, I reclaim that gesture through a queer lens, offering the male body as both subject and storyteller."

The River's Son, 2025, is a queer counterpart to Botticelli's Birth of Venus.

Unconventional Hearts, 2025, is an exploration of love that defies societal conventions.

We end with Kiss, 2025.  Balbyshev's comment: "Kiss is a meditation on the fragmented nature of queer love ... Two male figures intertwine, merging and dissolving into abstraction, their forms simultaneously embracing and disintegrating. The kiss itself is obscured, reflecting the forced anonymity of same-sex love in a world that still dictates who is allowed to exist openly.  Kiss captures the paradox of queer intimacy: bound yet yearning, fragmented yet whole, unseen yet impossible to ignore. It is a reminder that love, no matter how abstracted or restrained, will always find a way to exist."

My comment: this recent work is more abstract than his previous work, but it's also the only one that I've seen that features an erection, so maybe the future of Balbyshev's art is looking up.