Category Archives: Home Life

Winter 2024/2025 Update

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Hey there… long time since I’ve written a blog here. I appreciate encouragement from a loyal long-time reader to write an update.

Since I last posted, I began enjoying being a citizen of Canada.

Immediately on hearing the tragic results of the 2024 U.S. Presidential election, I went back to my Canadian home in Southern Ontario to figure out next steps in my life.

Since I am retired, I can travel freely and stay as long as I want outside the oUS (once-united states.) I say “once” because I clearly remember in my younger days, the U.S. was united, or more united, than it became during the first term of the self-centered egomaniac asshat who got re-elected when the oUS lost its ever-lovin’ mind on November 5, 2024.

Now, division, extreme hatefulness, and negativity rule the day.

I escaped to a country that is…
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My Authentic Leather Self

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I received a message recently from someone who told me that he and a family member have been following this blog for a long time, and said,

I wanted to reach out to let you know how much I appreciate your blog and the way you embrace and celebrate leather culture. Your passion for wearing leather with pride and purpose has been truly inspiring to me.

I am grateful for the way your writing has helped us bond and discuss various topics related to kink, fetish and leather in a more open and understanding way.

Thank you for the work you do and for being such a positive role model. It means a lot to both of us.

Wow… I honestly had no idea of the impact this lil’ ol’ blog could have. While I do not think of myself as a typical example of a gay Leatherman, I guess I have shared enough about my fetish interests that it has had some impact.

I titled this post “my authentic leather self” to describe how I have evolved to…
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Where The Heck Have I Been?

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I really hate letting this blog go sallow. Here it is July 2024, and the last time I posted was in April.

So where have I been?

Contrary to perceptions you may have that I have fallen off the planet, I have just been busy doing other things.

In May I traveled to Hawaii for 10 days (for an advisory committee meeting!) I just returned home after almost a month in Canada (for play!)

I do appreciate receiving messages from people who have read deep within this blog where I …
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Musings of Autumn

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I have not written very much for this blog, but it does not mean that I am laying on a hammock, sipping lemonade, and watching the leaves fall.

A few months ago, I added an email subscription widget. I am notified when a new subscriber is added to the list. However, some of the new subscribers may be “bots” that signed up for my email list. I am strongly thinking of removing …
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Catching Up

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I know I have not written on this blog in quite some time. Since I last wrote on March 17 (almost two months ago!), I have completed two trips, and have four more trips planned this year (Los Angeles, Canadian Rockies, Arizona’s biker highways, and winter holidays in Puerto Rico.)

I spent three weeks in Puerto Rico in April. One week for fun, one week for “work,” and another week attending and speaking at a conference. The “fun” part of this journey was not as much fun because someone I had invited to join me was unable to come. I felt let down, but made the best of it.

I visited my friends, swam in the Caribbean Sea with my husband’s spirit at our favorite secluded beach, and tolerated daily interruptions for virtual meetings that seemed to interrupt my free time right in the middle of each day.

While I am retired, I consider my participation on academic and professional groups that I lead and on which I am heavily engaged as “work.” Constant meetings, tons of email, writing papers, and preparing presentations were soul-sucking.

I returned home during the last week of April with a medical …
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Volunteer Work and Travel

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Now that I am retired and have completed renovations to my home to make it comfortable and safe, I have more time to do things I enjoy. I also have re-emerged from my deep well of grief over the loss of my husband. I still think of him fondly every day.

But I have a life to live and while I am still upright, I intend to do so.

2023 sees me being active with serving my community and soon will see me on airplanes, Harleys, trains, and roadways.

When I am at home (that is, not traveling), I keep busy by…
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Hibernation: Not

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This blog has been rather silent only for the reason that I continue to have ongoing writer’s block for what goes on this site. But I am not in hibernation, despite it being winter where I live in Maryland, USA.

Since I returned from my winter escape to Puerto Rico, I have been …
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Transforming a Vision to My Happy Place

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While I took somewhat of a break from blogging for a while, it doesn’t mean that I have been sitting around at home wallowing in grief over the death of my husband.

Today I realized completion of a vision that my husband had for our home.

It all began in 2019 when a large deck that my husband and I built on our house was falling apart. We decided that it needed replacement. The deck is 11 feet off the ground, leaving the space under it open.

We had a hot tub under the old deck, but it gave out. My husband and I decided not to replace it, but instead build a “three-season room” where we could relax in a bug-free environment and view our forested back yard.

Last year…
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Introverted

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It is hard for some people to understand that I am fundamentally an introvert. I enjoy meeting people in professional groups to which I belong as a member or group leader. I also have done and enjoy public speaking, but that is more of a performance than “the real me.”

The “real me” is quiet and happy with his life at home. When I travel, I keep pretty much to myself and go on self-guided excursions. I may see a friend or two for a meal, but that’s about it.

Why then do I have such a public internet presence? After all…
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2022 Plans

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Hey there… long time no see! I am doing well, though tolerating the below freezing weather here in the Mid-Atlantic has not been that easy after spending a month in Puerto Rico from mid-December through January.

With it being so darn cold, full leather (shirt, jeans, boots, and even a leather tie for closing the gap at my neck) and my favorite Schott or Langlitz jackets are keeping me warm. Also helps to allow me to turn the heat in my house down a bit to save on home heating costs.

While I was in Puerto Rico, I totally “reset myself” and feel much more positive moving forward in my new life. Mind you, I still miss my husband; the grief is less acute, but still there.

For my “2022 reset,” I made plans related to my boots and leather gear. Interested?
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