My Private Place for Naturism #28

2018-12-23

I’ve been working to prepare my house to put on the market for months now. Long 12 and 13 hour days with lots of hard active work later, DF and I are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. After a particularly long day’s work until 2am, we were awake at 5:30 to greet the photographer.

This schedule has slowed our sense of celebration, but we have a wonderful clear day in the 70F’s to enjoy. We had an intention for a sweat that was to occur the night before and a hike. We can’t do it all. Our long hike to the county line becomes a short walk to Havarock.

We take a camera, a bottle of water, shoes and a couple towels rolled up to rest our heads. We are going to share that big flat boulder and this blessing of winter sun. The sweat will come later. At 11am we’re going to work on our winter tan.

It is quiet out here. The stealth trail is overgrown with brittle bush. Each trip recently, I have been finding myself a little lost and misplacing the trail.

Young Brittle Bush in the Trail

Brittle bush is the plant that flowers in the spring in grand yellow bouquets. The weird changes in weather have many plants confused. This year, the brittle bush has had its mass of yellow blooms and mallow has lavender flowers in the dead of winter. We just had the Winter Solstice!

At the same time many plants are responding in a more traditional way. There are yellow tips on the ends of the branches of mesquite trees, as they shed leaves. Everywhere, there is vegetative confusion.

We wander on the trail. It soon becomes evident that the wildlife has been using the remnants. There are tracks kicked up all along the trail. We see deer tracks. The real-estate photographer had been startled by a buck this morning, as he climbed through the desert looking for good angles.

As we ascend up the ridge near our destination. There is a loud noise of a heavy animal on the rocks. A deer bounces away in the brush. She turns her head to look back at us, then springs forward and leaves.

We wander, ultimately stopping at our granite perch that I call Havarock.

There is another obstacle left for us. It is a line of debris on the rock, a borderline, a boundary and a message to stay away. This message has been left there on the rock often. Some critter wants to be left alone.

A Line of Litter and Prickly Carefully Placed

DF grabs a stick and clears the message away, once again.

We sit to take off our shoes. It feels good. Fully naked is a commitment to relaxing and taking care of ourselves.

I lean back and close my eyes, while DF sits and meditates in her moment here in the sun. We are at peace. After our hard work, there is nothing on the list to do.

The peace and quiet is abruptly interrupted. A helicopter comes overhead. We listen to the belligerent whooping bass of the props in the air. The relaxation is too good to give up, today. We can’t be bothered.

We rest. I fall asleep lying there on my back, mouth open. We have no idea what time it is. We have spent an hour out here, we think. Somehow, there is a natural sense of when we’re supposed to leave.

That Big Step Down

We take our time heading back to the sweat, just enjoying being naked in the desert sun.

Jumping Cholla

It is good to finally come back to a completed home instead a “to do” list.