Growing Pains

Yes: they all grow up! And not just gymnast boys, of course. I’m thinking about our kids: my Leo and Dave’s Jaymee. With us here are Leo’s best friend Chris, who has designs on Jaymee, and Jaymee’s best friend Karla, on whom Leo has his sights! They are all 15, and the juices are definitely beginning to flow.

They all train together as acrobats, and with their weights. In our private facilities, the entire family and their dedicated friends have tended to shed their clothes altogether for training. Jaymee went through a ‘demure’ patch, after having grown up since birth alongside Leo and happily playing naked together for hours. However, everyone seems to have become comfortable with their recent bodily changes, and things are back to ‘normal’ so far as training goes.

What is fascinating is that their relationships during training are totally professional. At those times, it is all about the things which count for performing: strength, flexibility and balance, and supporting one another. Out of training time, however, the boys are becoming visibly more ‘amorous’ although the girls are slower to reciprocate. We feel that all four are now ‘capable’ of sexual activity, and this presents the assorted parents with something of a dilemma. Despite Jaymee and Leo being the product of gay parents on both sides, these young ‘uns are totally hetero!

They’ve had ‘the talk’. Including Chris, from his definitely hetero dad. But the two wrestler lads camping alongside us, with whom the boys have been sharing a tent, have been ‘egging’ Leo and Chris on. “Too young”, I hear you all say and, of course, we totally agree. Dave and I kept ourselves to ourselves until 17, although that’s hardly a simple comparison, given that we’re gay. All four of them are highly aware of the risk of teenage pregnancies, but we’re dreading the day when one of the boys plucks up the courage to ask about acquiring some condoms. Or just does. I’m sure all parents struggle with this. But we’re a peculiar collection of parents, to say the least.

Our particular problem is that Dave and I will be ‘abandoning’ our progeny when we return to Portugal to work (although they’ll spend the final two weeks of their vacation time with us first), and it will be down to the mothers, with whom they’ll continue to live. Mothers not happy! Any advice welcome!!

Meanwhile, to find out how we got ourselves into this mess, read the books: click on any cover or search on Amazon.

For all of them (and us) fitness has been the name of the game, and our livelihood, so here we go with the customary selection for today:

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Fire Safety: Pause for Thought

This week’s news gives pause for thought. Firstly, for the souls who perished in both the London tower block fire and in the appalling forest fire in our newly adopted home country of Portugal. We cannot begin to imagine what it is like to be trapped on a high floor, or to find yourself in a car with the fire approaching you from every direction.

In the still-under-construction complex in Portugal where we shall be working, we live on the top floor (the fourth) of a newly constructed ‘staff accommodation’ block. Central staircase and lift shafts, external balconies on the floors below but not ours, which instead has access to the roof. No flammable materials in the building construction so far as we know, thank goodness. But no external fire escape either.

To the great credit of the Russian-led management, there has been some serious re-consideration of the fire safety in not just our block but in the considerably taller accommodation blocks in which the holidaymakers will reside following the recent events, and our input has been requested. Each apartment has a smoke alarm, and the building has a fire alarm – seriously loud, as we knew from when it has been tested. There is no gas supply – all installed equipment is electric. Nonetheless, there is consideration being given to adding external ladders to our smaller block, although this leads to a reduction in security, with a re-think too about the taller blocks – sprinklers? – which could even delay the opening of the first half of the place.

I should also commend the local fire service (‘Bombieros’) who were already conducting inspections before we left for the US summer-camp work which is now into its third week. The Bombieros use huge fireworks to summon their teams, and have a ‘celebration day’ each year when the expired fireworks are let off as part of a public event to raise funds for the local volunteers. Unaware of this, we thought that world War 3 had broken out…

We have no forest near us  in Portugal. Having watched Eucalyptus trees exploding on the TV news, following a lightening strike in a ‘dry storm’ where the rain evaporates before hitting the ground, that is thankfully something we probably don’t have to worry about. Amazing temperatures, though: 40C in Portugal right now (hotter than here in TN) and even our homeland UK seems to blistering in 34C according to reports from home. And even we are covering up in the midday sun…

So, as our thoughts lie with those who died and their grieving families, I’ll keep this post separate from the usual display of fitness pictures, and deal with that separately. The image below comes from a wonderful location in the English Lake District which featured strongly in my second and third books.

A historic church next to a place of immense tranquillity in that circle of ancient oaks. The picture feels appropriate.

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Paradise Lost… and Regained…

We may be at summer camp in Tennessee, enjoying not only our own company but that of our very dear friends Zach and Ethan… but the ‘new job’ back in Portugal is still giving us plenty to do (and, to be fair, they are continuing to pay us during our six-week commitment here). And one recent ‘communication gave us great pause for thought. ‘Management’ said they needed to let out ‘our’ apartment during our absence, to accommodate some “VIPs” ahead of the official opening. Now our contract explicitly makes clear that that apartment, with its amazing roof terrace, is exclusively ‘ours’ as long as we remain in appointment. As we have already lived in it for six weeks, it now contains a lot of our personal stuff. It is, de facto as they say, our home.

A taste of more things to come, maybe? Well, we quickly objected most strongly, and I elicited the help of my old mate Roger back in Oxford UK who got us the job in the first place. it has worked out OK. It may have been ‘first round to the management’, but it is now ‘game, set and match’ to us. They seem to want not to lose us! So our apar5tment is securely and awaits us as we left it. Furthermore, we are to be allowed to fit our own locks in addition to the standard hotel-style ‘card-key’ system, which any cleaner or chambermaid can override and enter, of course. Natch, we shall have them clean the place from time to time, but we shall be in control. Whew!

So we can “get up to stuff” undisturbed!

To be fair, after we wrote a ‘nastygram’ mail to them quoting bits of our contract, we had a very contrite message back to the effect of ‘sorry, we didn’t mean to get your backs up…won’t happen again’. Fingers crossed that’s true.

And on the + side, the ‘backs up’ suggests a bit of a picture theme: the view of the torso we see far less of… lats, rhomboids, rear delts, traps…

Next, a back and an acrobatic balance thrown in for good measure…

A somewhat shaky arm balance…

Wide-grip pull-ups really show where the muscle power lies…

Time for a run… but outdoors would be better!

Outdoors then – but not running!

A back-handed selfie – original!

B & W can be so atmospheric… and here, with the contrast of the ‘tighty whiteys’, just look at the definition of rhomboids and lats…

Making use of the mirror, we have back and front…

And, finally for today, two for the price of one…

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Four of a Kind (or of three kinds, even!)

Four young gymnasts there, training their bodies hard. Four of a kind – but not ne f the kinds I really had in mind for this post! But, having started that trend, here’s another four determined young lads…

But we’re away from the gym and from our new leisure-complex jobs… we’re at summer camp, entertaining the happy young campers and trying to get them to take their personal fitness a little more seriously. Currently, there are twelve of us here, which is more than the camp operators expected, but they are pleased with what we are doing, so no problem! First of all, we’ve been joined by Zach and Ethan, meaning that Dave and I now have two more Tuan Jie guys here to share the love and get up to our gay stuff with.

In private, naturally; our camping bus has discreet partitions!

We have switched around the sleeping arrangements each night to take full advantage – waking up with Zach kneeling across my chest, fully charged and with that appealing look in his eyes, demanding relief…

…but enough of that stuff. For more of the same, read the books!

Loving the Boy: ISBN 978-1-907732-30-0

The Power of Love: ISBN 978-1-907732-41-6

Against All Odds: ISBN 978-1-908645-35-7

Towards the rear of the bus we have Dave’s mid-teen daughter Jaymee and her friend Karla (my son’s current girlfriend) – acrobats, fakir artistes; beyond them, Jaymee’s mum and her lesbian partner (also brutally fit ladies with a strong attraction to nails, glass and fire). Not exactly four of a kind there, except in the performance sense.

Meanwhile, currently outside sharing a tent, we have my son Leo and his best friend sharing with two guys here to promote folk wrestling and, from what we heard this morning, introducing the younger ones to the ‘joys’ of giving relief to their newly developing ‘morning woods’. No gayness in there – just ‘boys being boys’. Indeed, boys being very fit boys once that little ‘ritual’ is over with! Honestly, haven’t we all been there…?

So, twelve very busy people out here in the ‘great outdoors’, but Dave and I also needing to fit in responding to messages and questions relating to our new jobs, to which we return mid-July just as the first paying guests arrive at the first half of the complex demanding our attention as fitness coaches and, separately, as entertainers (and entertainment managers). Shirtless freedom there, and also here, although we find that so many kids have arrived at the camp with parental orders not to expose even a finger tip to the sun. A wider knowledge of the cause of Vitamin D deficiency wouldn’t come amiss, with limited sun exposure even by the pale skinned having some advantages. Given a choice, my son and his fitness friends would never wear a shirt at all – definitely assisted by living in a warm and humid climate: we’ll be working in topless in the sun back in Portugal too, so no more do we need to top up artificial tans to look good in acrobatic performances.

Definitely no need for artificial tanning beds…

Common sense should always prevail of course – never allow yourself to go red or get burnt if unused to the sun. Our lot (family/friends) often train naked, just for the ‘kewl’ feeling of being able to do it and to feel the breeze on your sweaty body. We have parked our camping bus on the far side of a lake so that we can indulge at first light while the camping kids are still asleep, and the two wrestle boys, after some surprise, are now joining us. Guys and girls, all together, running, bodyweight exercise and a dip in the lake: no better way to start the day!

There is a pool here but, curiously, wild lake swimming is definitely encouraged, and the youngsters, under careful supervision, love it. No parental angst here!

OK then – a few more pictures celebrating ‘the great outdoors’…

By the way, that’s definitely not my choice of attire for performing hand balancing!!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Here’s One I Prepared Earlier…”

The title of this post fits this picture, I think… but it also reminds me of children’s TV and those things you were always encouraged to make “out of sticky-backed plastic”. In this case, it is because we are living for a few weeks in the backwoods at summer camp here in TN with no WiFi, so when I got the chance to get a signal I prepared this post in advance and uploaded it to go out at noon on Monday. So we’ll see if it works!

Some more ‘preparation’:

Regular readers might notice that we are in the gym in Chelyabinsk with these pictures: let’s have a couple more:

Attentive gymnast boys – that’s what I like to see! Bit of a tough guy, their coach…

…but, today, our lake swimming is in a warm place, with daytime temperatures in the 90’sF! Here at summer camp, we are tending to go to bed when it gets dark and get up when it gets light, so that’s currently rather early. We’ve parked the camping bus in a discreet place by the lake away from the visiting kids (who are all still sleeping at that hour anyway), so it’s straight out of the bunk and into the water – skinny dipping all round. There are two guys – 18yo I think – who are helping with wrestling (their High School sport) and who are camping in a tent near us – and Leo and Chris have palled up such that they are now sharing the rather roomy tent with those lads – who are also quickly into our ‘naturist’ ways of exercising after an initial surprise!

Other sorts of water-based fun are set up for the real ‘campers’ – the kids whose families pay to get rid of them for a week or two in the school vacation(!)…

Plus acrobatics – sometimes both at once…

Not that we don’t encourage handstands in the snow, when available…

However, this is a summer camp. The two ‘collegiate-style’ wrestling lads have quickly converted to shirtless ‘folk’ wrestling under our malign influence (!), as here…

Even in their indoor collegiate competitions, wrestlers often push down their leotards in public anyway to cool off…

…thereby giving the lie to the notion that no American lad these days like to show a bare chest! Since neither we nor our boys have worn a shirt since arriving here, we’re definitely setting the trend!

No such inhibitions from these Russian lads in their bar workout!

Jaymee and Karla, with Leo and Chris, showed off their acrobatic routines last evening and so encouraged a lot of envious kids to show up for the acrobatic sessions this morning. All we want is enthusiasm and a willingness to give things a try. I’m always saying, anyone can do handstands provided they put in the practice after getting a bit of guidance!

The one-arm, of course, takes a bit more work, while doing it with a partner offers an interesting challenge…

By the time this post gets published, Zach and Ethan should have joined us for a few days while their respective partners are otherwise engaged – Gary working in the banking world again (but still training his virtuoso extreme martial arts) and Jack with family in Canada because of his father’s illness. So Zach and Ethan will be joining us in the camping bus (not too overcrowded now that Leo and Chris have bailed out for a while) and, as far as Dave and I are concerned, an opportunity to share some (gay) fun with them as well as to enlarge our own acrobatics options…

…and, maybe, both at once! …

So, there we are. My usual request now to support the blog through book purchases… all of the above themes are in there – click on one of the covers which you see below for more information, and remember that all purchases put bread in our mouths and allow me to keep on writing (yes, Let the Future Find Me, unrelated to the first three, is in production, and another is coming together in my head!).

Some final ‘fitness inspiration’ to make up our customary 20 images follows. Enjoy.

And a final ‘outdoor’ one, since we are in summer camp!

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

From the Great Outdoors…

So we are now at Summer Camp, fulfilling our obligation to provide “instruction and entertainment” to some less than fully -fit young teens! And enjoying it, as I knew we would. Warm weather, wild swimming, open-air fitness, acrobatics and gym classes, some elements of our shows which don’t teach them bad things (so we don’t plan to work on broken glass here… well, except just maybe once at the end)…

…some camp fires and, overnight, our ‘camping bus’ which has been around the country several times conveying us between shows and is now on its last legs mechanically. Maybe we won’t be doing much of that any more.

Did I mention wrestling amongst the ‘fitness’ items…

Not sure if posing on top of a pile of lumber for the fire is such a great idea, but it makes a nice pic…

…and shows nice flexibility too.

Before leaving we ‘enjoyed’ an evening helping Cody to entertain some his dubious ‘S & M’ guests – firstly with acrobatics and the fakir show and afterwards letting him beat us up (and tie us up). We had the fire-breathing girls with us and also son Leo and his mate Chris who both begged to be allowed to remain for the (shall we say) ‘more adult’ part. So proud of their bodies and their toughness…

…probably we shouldn’t have allowed it, but anyway we did. Any chance to get sweaty…

…or try training new stuff…

…and they’re in there.

Well. I started putting this together on Thursday, and it is now Sunday. One of the dis-benefits of being out in the wild… no WiFi! There’s been enough time to read several books – one could do worse than start with these…!

 Loving the Boy: ISBN 978-1-907732-30-0

The Power of Love: ISBN 978-1-907732-41-6

Against All Odds: ISBN 978-1-908645-35-7

So, in the meantime – we have done a lot of ‘wild swimming’ ourselves (dawn, before the kids wake up, and therefore au naturel), offering fitness training sessions in which our kids (inevitably) excel and show the other kids how it should all be done, introducing some simple acrobatics and generally enjoying ourselves. We can do more of that here, now, with some further images inspiring fitness. Enjoy.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Some Days in the Gym

A few days in our former home in Tennessee means not only time in the private gym (see previous post!) but some time to catch up with the lads we used to teach gymnastics to…

Some of them have come on very well, so let’s celebrate with a few more gymnastics images:

And, after ten shots of gymnast boys, one from the ballet school…

…and perhaps a little more stretching…

Yes, even just touching your toes (with straight legs) counts as a good stretch!

We had ‘a good stretch’ here in TN – 17 years in fact. In that time we’ve discovered our gay love, trained as acrobats and latterly as ‘fakirs’ too done loads of shows and some circus, and had plenty of adventures along the way. Most of all, we’ve made loads of great friends, and formed a special bond with eight other gay guys, so close that we have sworn to celibacy except within that group, which has kept us all ‘safe’ from STDs. It’s going to be hard – real hard – to give all t hat up, and perhaps that last thing – the Tuan Jie group rules, we will try to preserve. However, depending on who we meet in our new situation, our mates have made it clear that Tuan Jie is not ‘for life’ if things change. So long as we’re honest, and get a test before getting back together… who knows what the future holds?

For more info on what our past held, look no further:

And now, keeping the gym theme, it’s great results in the weights gym for the rest of today’s picture:

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reunions

Gyms and their changing rooms – places where good friends meet up to share their common fitness interests. So it is for us – re-engaging with all our fitness mates hereabouts in TN. There are, of course, eight other special guys with whom Dave and I have quickly ‘re-engaged’: our fellow ‘confederates’ of Tuan Jie, a unique group of ten gay guys prepared to share not only their training but their love, in complete security of knowing that no-one has engaged in any ‘acts’ outside the circle.

All ten of us duly assembled at Ron’s gym last evening, and were given exclusive use of the smaller room for a couple of hours, in order to have us ‘let our hair down’ with weights, wrestling (oil and the rest) and then our typical gay enjoyment. How this wonderful relationship will last with Dave and I ‘gone for ever’, as Zach sadly puts it, remains to be seen. We shall certainly welcome any of them as guests – and possibly guest performers – at our new ‘home’ in Portugal. A queue is already forming!

A reunion of equal – if not greater – importance is with our kids (and, OK, with their mums too!). We now have eight weeks with Jaymee and Leo (the last two with us in Portugal) before they have to return to school. I have to remind myself that they encouraged us to take the Portugal job – and also that they fully intend to spend as much of their time with us as  the school timetable allows. Not least – they want to come as performers too!

One interesting thing is that Jaymee has now come to terms with her developed body and trains with the boys again au naturel after going through a period of great demureness. We’ve always been a combined family ‘being comfortable in our skins’ with so much physical training to do and, since Leo’s best friend Chris regards himself as Jaymee’s boyfriend, he’s very happy to train with her. Leo likewise with Karla – and all four are on the summer camp expedition which starts Thursday. Outdoor gym and acrobatics for the teen campers…

…wrestling likewise…

…generally fun in the great outdoors for all…

We’re unlikely to have much time for reading… but you might…

…if you want to try that, at least use my books!!

And, having slipped that one in quickly, let us all have a reunion with some great bodies, illustrating the importance of fitness programmes for us guys!

Note the routine instructions on the white board!

Result!…

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

In Denial

Well, it is strange to be back in the country which has been our home for the past 17 years. ‘Back home’ after sampling life in southern Europe, and rather liking it. Liking it so much, in fact, that after another six weeks we’ll be going back there, and possibly for good. Well, for a good while, at any rate! Back to the land of low humidity when the sun is shining, unlike here! Here one constantly feels the urge to jump in some cool water (well, in the summer, for sure!). There – well, we’ll do it anyway!

My body wants to sleep, but my brain is wide awake. That’s what a six-hour time shift does for you. So while Dave tries for some additional sleep in bed, I’m slumped under a tree, thinking. Just like the boy who opens my forthcoming new novel, actually – keep an eye open for news of ‘Let the Future Find Me’, currently in production!

Thinking of something cool!

This evening, a very warm welcome from our mates (gay) at the private gym awaits us. For now, I’ve just been thinking about this place. We’ve arrived back on the day after Trump withdrew the country from the Paris Climate Change Agreement – joining Syria and Nicaragua. He’s promoting re-opening coal mines in Pennsylvania and firing up old polluting blast furnaces – America First, and sod the rest of humanity. He’s not the only one in denial. Half of Tennessee – the ‘rednecks’ who so strongly support him – are in denial too. They think his stand against the evil machinations of ‘the rest of the world’ is great for the country… all we can say is ‘thank goodness we’re going back to Portugal’, and let’s hope that we can get our kids and the rest of our extended group of family and friends out before the apocalypse!!

Everything seems to be turning upside down, and ever more pear-shaped.

Even some of our close friends are Trump supporters! They do seem to have a brain, but…

Fortunately, when we share with them what we love to do, politics is definitely off the agenda…

…not forgetting quite a bit of this as well…

…all of which you may check out for yourselves by clicking on one of these links and following the trail!

Loving the Boy: ISBN 978-1-907732-30-0

The Power of Love: ISBN 978-1-907732-41-6

Against All Odds: ISBN 978-1-908645-35-7

Meanwhile, Dave and I are still slightly in denial ourselves – in denial that we’ve taken the big decision to bail out of the USA and leave our 15yo kids behind. 15yo kids who are 50% American (their mums) and 50% British (us), born here in TN and following in our acrobatic and fitness footsteps. Still in school, they can only visit us briefly (two weeks in July after the summer camp commitments end, for a start – they’ll fly over with us and team up with some friends from UK)… a wrench for all of us, but in a couple of years they’ll want to fly the nest anyway and who knows where they’ll go? Still, it’s hard…

Cheer ourselves up with some more fitness images, I think. Training together always cheers you up!

…even if your gym is a bit tumbledown…

We don’t box, or even wrestle in a ring very often, but this place looks kewl…

And, of course, where we’re going to be, we do have a beach! Less than 3 miles away instead of hundreds, as here…

Every which way, sharing the fun and having reliable and honest companions is the key…

…and, at the end of the day, after the sweat from training and the refreshing shower after…

…sharing with that special someone…

I think that we can live with the overt racism of the southern USA, the negative attitude towards gays, and even with Trump, for just six more weeks. Family time with the kids and their fit mates at the summer camp. School’s out Tuesday until 31st July. We travel Wednesday and camp starts Thursday. Can’t wait! And to occupy the time, we’re still in daily communication with our new employers, as our ‘staff’ Alfredo and Seb continue putting the finishing touches to our new facilities.

Leo and Jamie will be back from school shortly – we’ve not seen them (except through Skype) for six weeks. I sense some challenges ahead…

Both they, and us, will need to prove we’ve not been slacking… and that we’re ready for performances together in just a few days!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

…well, gone tonight, actually, if British Airways don’t have another computer crash!

We’re in Oxford en route back to Tennessee for six weeks.

Summer camps! Time in the woods, time in the lakes, time helping them with fitness and acrobatics.

Time with our own kids and their friends too. Tim to relax. Time to top up the tan.

Time to get muddy!

Time to just chill.

Time for an open-air workout.

Preceded, of course, and before we set out from Oak Ridge, with some quality gym time with our friends!

Time, maybe, to read some good books (click covers for more info and, yes, they’re on Amazon!).

But time (right now) to ‘get off that computer and spend some quality time with your mum!’ says my Dad here in Oxford, and he’s right of course. I don’t get to see them that often…

Just one more pic then, and we’re done for now…

Catch you later. In the woods, maybe…

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment