She Danced Nude on Her Terrace......

Oh...this sounds like a movie! I LOVE it. 60 is hardly old! Her life is just beginning...oh how I wish to see what comes next.

Good for her!

Bravo!

Good for her! She could also wear a red hat and a purple dress(or pants) ! That would help too.

oompa!

(I don't mean to cut into your tale...but when "we" woman do it... we do it soooo well!)

Yes, I agree. I know alot of Greeks and respect the Greek-American community.

But all women can learn from this spirited kalOs (is that right?) woman!

SeaUrchin, thanks for sharing. How wonderful that she finally found her freedom and wasn't too heavily restrained by her inhibition to enjoy it. So many people never let go of their inhibitions, not even once, in the whole of their adult lives.

Interesting being the operative word.

Wonderful!

I hope that when I turn 60, I will do something spirited and happy.
Actually, I hope when I have my Next birthday, I will do something happy
why wait??

Robert Graves said the reverse.
I'm here to correct him (R.I.P.)
Man is, woman does.

I am woman...hear me roar.

I HEAR you!!!

I want to see the video.

Sounds about as attractive as Greco-Roman Wrestling !

It reminded me of "Shirley Valentine", one of my all time favorite movies!

What a refreshing story...

Although I must admit...sadly, if I were to have witnessed it (without knowing the context), I would have thought she was a little screwy.

But at least screwy is never boring!

Great story-First she remeinded me of a female Zorba, then Yes, reminded me of "Shirley Valentine" too. "To drink a glass of wine in the land where the grape is grown..."

60 is young, don't you know that birthdays start going backwards at that age?

Screwy? To all those who have never snuck in a secret naked dance under the Mediterranean Moon, try it! It is a kind of moment where everything makes perfect sense!

Should be compulsory




Muck

I don't think it's screwy to just let go of the inhibitions now and then - especially if you do so in a way that harms or disturbs no one else...

I think it's brave, exhilarating, fun, kooky...

You go girl! Now that I am 50 years young
the only regret I have is that I did not "live more" in my youth! I am now trying to make up for lost time. I am sure my next years will be full of excitement.

lol...no, it's definitely not screwy to let lose of your inhibitions once in a while, if not more often than that. In this situation it is especially poignant. But some people (or maybe just some americans?) who see a naked dancing person might be a bit taken aback!

Reactions to nudity are certainly culture based and some cultures do find nudity more or less offensive/ disturbing than others.

Oddly enough I was having a debate recently about the difference between nudity and sexuality - I was arguing that not all adult nude photos or paintings are sexual/ porn whereas the other point of view was, of course, that most are.

SHRUG!

That's interesting Kavey...I am in agreement with you. But there's SO much iffy stuff out there, that one could argue that the "majority" of it IS a bit x rated!

Since so many young ladies walk around with their underwear showing, their pants close to the point of no return with some colorful tatoos pointing the way, I am surprised anyone is concerned about nudity these days.

That said, I think those mostly concerned are Americans, having seen and heard European views on nudity .. they are SO much more relaxed than we are about these things.
Which I think is a Good Thing

Scarlett, are you going to get your belly button out on your next European trip?

(I'm just teasing, please don't take offence).

OK, I propose all of the posters on this thread make a pact to dance nude at least on our birthdays from now on and celebrate our Birthday Suits?!

I guess it will have to be on the honor system, w/o photographs, lol.

I recently saw a French film, "Who killed Bambi." There was some nudity and the audience did not flicker as they would have 20+ years ago. I remember going to see "Hair" on stage and several women walked out because of the naked performers.

SeaUrchin
You're assuming some of us don't already! And not just on our birthdays!

Wonderful story, SeaUrchin, and I trust when reaching 50 or 55, we'll be willing to take a risk and do the same, then perhaps doing it at 60 will be natural.

Yes, Kavey, I was speaking to those of us who don't already! You, kooky one, you !!

Ooopa!

I don't know what the Indian equivalent is ! What is it?

I dunno...
I'm ashamed to say I am not fluent in an Indian language though I can just about follow most of a conversation in Hindi I can't join in and I work on context as I don't know all the words.
I could ask my mum what the hindi word for kooky is but she'll just look at me and say "what does kooky mean?"!

I think it's wonderful. My 25th is this fall - can't wait to see my husband's face when I suggest we go to Europe to celebrate this way! It will be my most creative excuse for a trip yet, LOL!

Great story...thank you SeaUrchin for sharing! Can you imagine how exhilirating the years to come will be for her!

I'm not waiting for my birthday(next June)! July 31 will find me celebrating her liberation with a toast and dance of my own! Should I warn DH? (how do you insert smiley faces?)

And not to worry...no cameras!

I thought this was another of Degas' faux reports!!!

Scarlett, dahling, you are always spirited & happy!!

Wonderful spirit, wonderful story.

Just recently we watched a video of the old "Never on Sunday" with Melina Mecouri. Even in black and white, she was wonderful. J.

Just saw this thread, ha, great - Now I just might have to do a little happy (nude) dance on my beautiful little terrace in Montelpuciano - might take a few grappas tho --- no peeking now.

Barb, that's funny.

When are you going? We'll be there in September.

You think I'm kidding, lol. We are staying at the Poggiolio apts. from Oct. 6th to 13th. Sounds like we are just missing each other. I'll be anxious to read your report.

My first time in the area -- looking forward to it also. Staying at the Politian Apts. Don't know if I'll have a trip report done by then.

I'm upset now -- I'm going to miss the famous dance. I'll save you some grappa.

Oh, I'm sorry you are going to miss it too - it will be quite the dance I can assure you, wink wink. But you and Mrs. Budman can do your own little nude happy dance - actually I think all Fodorites should do a little nude happy dance on their vacation and report back on how it was!! If the Europeans think us Americans are crazy now, wait until they witness the mass nude happy dance craze.

Barb, I agree. How about this:

"It is just a jump to the left and a step to the right, put your hands on your hips and bring your knees in tiiiiight and do the pelvic thruuuuust?..let?s do the FODORITE again !!!! Let?s do the FODORITE againnnnn!!!!!"

Dear Sea Urchin. Really enjoyed this thread and as I write i am jigging around my room wiggleing and jerking with great gusto! (not actually in the 'buff' though as it's a tad 'parky' here in the UK at midnight!, though i am in my 'nightie' does that count!
I too decided some years ago that every year on my birthday I would do something exciting and different which I'd always wanted to do. So far I've swum with dolphins, gone scuba diving (and what a performance that was trying to get into a wet suit! but thats another story!) and watched the sun come up on top of a Welsh mountain. My husband wondered what next, sky diving! but I did see him checking the insurance policies so I think I'll give that a miss!
Well Barb us europeans have no room to talk, wer'e all mad as coots!, and I for one would pay good money to go to see a crowd of Yanks do the nude 'happy dance' it should be a rare sight to behold!
So keep on Foding and as we Europeans say If youve got it flaunt it!
CM

What a delightful story. I have a special birthday coming up in August and, without a doubt, I want to do something different and daring. I am meeting some of my classmates from high school in Las Vegas this coming January. I have already told everyone to put their thinking caps on. Life is too short to have to worry about what others think all the time, just so long as others aren't hurt in the process.

Hi Beatchick.

Karen

How funny....speaking as an American, it really just depends on where you live. Here in Oregon there are 2 nude beaches within 20 minutes of Portland and they are packed all Summer! Entire families go together, it's really no big thing. Its kind of a freeing feeling to walk about the beach with nothing on, social nudity as it were.

Yes, this is a wonderful posting. I can really feel for this lady and I hope the rest of her life is fufilling and happy.

I pictured her as Olympia Dukasis so I think she would be doing a Greek dance and not the Time Warp! (sorry S. Urchin!)

I think a celebration dance nude in the moonlight is a wonderful idea for all of us. I don't think I would do it on a nude beach though, I think it would be nicer as solo contemplation with no sand in any crevices!!

Hi Karen / Msdison : Happy birthday for august . I hope you find something really special to do. Are you a native of Vegas? that to me would be a great place to celebrate! Keep us posted.

Cole : I never imagined that you have nude beaches in the USA.
Here in Europe we have a much more casual attitude to nudity. Go on any beach in the Mediterranean and you'll come accross people wearing little more than a piece of dental floss!(not always the most attractive sight!) and we always seem to be stumbling accross beaches full of folks in the 'buff'.

nocinonut : I agree with alternative location idea for the nude dance in the moonlight. I too am not a fan of sand in one's 'important little places'!
Possibly the back garden would be a good choice, but only if you have high fences and dont scare the animals!
CM

CountryMouse,

There are plenty of nude beaches all over the U.S., however, I think I prefer never to go to one. I don't mind nudity, but so many people are less than delightful to see with their clothes on, I certainly don't want to see them naked. Of course, that probably would be the best diet in the world, 'cause seeing some of these people naked would take my appetite away for days, if not weeks. Somehow, going from eating a SuperSize meal at McDonald's to a nude beach, just doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

Hi lyb your so right. It always seems to me that the nudist beaches in Europe are populated by the sort of bodies that it would better not to see in the cold light of day! However each to their own and if it's confined to where no one is offended who am I to say them nay! Its a case of whatever floats your boat I suppose. I shouldn't think there are many opportunities in the UK to 'bare your all' as in my experience they would freeze to death!
Bye for now
CM

There's an article in this Month "France" Uk on the popular French naturalist village at CaP d'Agde.
I couldn't see one body that was not in good shape

I must be missing something in my life. I have never had the urge to dance nude in the moonlight.
Is this some kind of self-actualization ritual?

Thanks, SeaUrchin, for starting a thread that makes me feel not so alone anymore. I've spent many a night dancing in the moonlight, many of them naked, although it was usually hot flashes that sent me outside. Occasionally entire bottles of wine with no guests to share would have the same effect, especially if I have those hokey Italian love songs playing.

Yes, platzman, I'd say it's a rite of passage, from caring what anyone else thinks to just going with the moment and feeling very comfortable with yourself - at last. And I can attest that you will feel TOTALLY self-actualized. Just do it! And get back to us.

shanna, LOL,

By the way to all of you that are in the mood for a good moonlight dance, this is the rare month of the Blue Moon, (2 full moons in the same month, which only comes along, well, once in a Blue Moon, so here's a golden opportunity, especially you, Platzman!!!

I don't ever dance. Maybe this will open up a whole new world to me. I just missed one full moon I think.

Barb, I will be near Montelpuciano (at La Sarcaina) Oct 4-8. Santa Margherita before, Rome after. I am going with my girlfriend and leaving the husbands home. I would love to meet up with a fellow fodorite on a trip! email me if you are interested. Not to worry, no communal nude dancing this trip. Grappa or better yet Lemon Cello (SP) panucci123@aol.com

I think if my Greek lady friend would get a kick if she knew what she had started! I don't dare tell her that her tale made an international wave of nude dancers though!

Yes, the blue moon is beautiful tonight. So I did a little dance and the man in the moon winked in appreciation! (or was that the neighbor looking over the fence?)

Self-actualization ritual?

Sounds like psycho-babble to me. It's just about feeling liberated enough to live in the moment rather than always worrying about what others might think...

Freedom from the fear of rejection and ridicule is bliss - utter bliss.

Dancing naked is all the more liberating if you have more to wobble than the average Joe!

I was so inspired by this post that this weekend I did something I've never done before! Finding myself alone for a weekend for the first time in years I wondered what to do with myself. Should I visit friends, go shopping? and suddenly it came to me! The weather was perfect and on a trip to the local supermarket I saw tents in the sales. So on a whim I bought a tent and a camping stove and headed out into the wilds of Wales on my own.
I wandered around the edges of Lake Bala in Snowdonia National Park looking for a place with vacancies, without sucess. Then I stopped a couple walking their dog to ask them if they knew of anywhere I could camp for the night. They suggested a site around the other side of the lake and should ask for Megan or Edward. This I did and turned up at six in the evening just as the site shop was closing. As luck would have it the first person I spoke to was Megan the owner and asked her if she could possibly find a space for myself and my little tent. She was astonished when I explained that I was on my own and said I could stay. I said I'd love a place down by the lake and she said not to tell anyone else but if I went down the track until I passed a stone cottage (where she and her husband lived) I would come to a place where I could camp. This I did and found myself in paradise! Right on the edge of the lake with the hills all around so peacefull and beautiful in the evening sun. Soon I had the tent up and sat outside with a glass of wine watching the sun go down over the lake.
The night was so warm, still and clear that I just lay down and gazed up at the millions of stars overhead and I had such a feeling of wellbeing, and I slept like a log.
Next day I returned to civilisation and when my husband returned from his trip and I told him what I'd done over the weekend he could hardly believe it, that I could be so intrepid. It's something that will be a special memory for ever and will make me smile when I think of it. Thanks Sea Urchin for giving me the guts to try something new and exciting. Youre never to old to be daring.
CM

But you didn't take your clothes off ???

Countrymouse, what a wonderful adventure you created for yourself! It is amazing what we can do if we are willing to take a chance once in a while.

A woman dancing nude in the moonlight to music on a terrace?

My feelings about that can perhaps best be expressed by blind Lt. Col. Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman: HOO-HAH!

Steady on cigalechanta! One step at a time! Maybe next time I'll take my thermal vest off!
CM

A Country mouse no more - you are a lion!! I am so proud of you! What an adventure and a good start for more to come I hope for you.

HooHaa is right. OK, just the vest next time. Good for you, good for all of us to read!!

Thanks for sharing this with us.

Countrymouse, that sounds a wonderful experience and something special just for you, a little memory that will make you smile whenever you think of it. How lovely!

Thanks Seaurchin and Kavey.
I will keep you posted if I do remove the 'vest'. It would have to be somewhere more 'exotic' that north wales though as the climate doesn't lend itself to exposing too much flesh. Also I wouldn't want to scare the sheep!
CM (the 'mouse' that roared!)

Sheep around these parts take a lot of scaring, if you know what I mean! I've been reading your thread and I think it is wonderful.
I managed on my last visit to Spain to see my folks to get my mum to go topless on the beach. Shes 64 with great boobs that she hides when all around her are are showing theirs off.
My mum definately felt empowered by the experience and made my dads day too!!!

Way to go, Mouse.

Good for your Mum Moopoo
This thread has certainly made me try new things.
Last week down in a secluded cove in Devon THE VEST CAME OFF!
Granted there wasnt anyone around to witness the 'great event' but I certainly felt liberated by the experience and the seagulls didnt seem too startled.
What next I wonder, nude jogging!
CM
(note : no animals were harmed in the course of this activity!)

CMouse, good for you once again for trying new things! You are brave to be vestless under flying seagulls!

Be sure and keep us updated.

When life seems to be hum drum, I bring this up to read. It always puts a smile on my face.

I love this thread! CountryMouse, I am so inspired by your story! Stretching your boundaries does not have to be removing your clothes. Not removing my clothes also greatly lessens my chances of being arrested for Public Ugly.

When I am asked how old I am (yes, there are still people that rude in the South!), I tell them I am old enough to know better but still young enough to enjoy doing it anyway.

Remember our pact-
to dance nude on our birthdays and I noticed that alot of us are Libras, so get dancin'!!

SeaUrchin, I am a Libra and just celebrated my birthday. But dancing on my deck - think not.
Been telling management for the last year that the deck was tilting and jiggling.
Finally the city came out to check.
Oh oooops, deck ready to collapse. And building is only 5 years old.
So instead of dancing, nude or otherwise, on my birthday I have been living with construction men coming through, tearing deck down, rebuilding. Bang, bang, bang, don't think it will ever end.
But some of them are really cute, so I just sigh, wave to them as they go through the apartment and keep a smile going. LOL.

Thanks for that reminder seaurchin, and it's good for us Librans, since it's the time of the harvest moon! This year, while that moon shines over me, maybe I'll put on some old Hawaiian songs and dance a beautiful hula I learned some hawaiian ladies nexr door as a little girl.

LoveItaly,
Igot a chuckle out of your post because if one reads it closely - "I have been living with construction men......"," Bang, bang, bang......"
Sorry, couldn't resist!! I have woke up in some sort of mood i guess!!!

annesherod. Ooooh, this is too funny!
And I do try to edit my postings!
I am laughing so hard I can hardly type.
Thanks for the best laugh all week.
Oh by the way anne, the workers came through again this morning. Their work is finished. Guess I will have to find something else that needs repairing, hehe. Have a good day.

Countrymouse

how wonderful... inspiring - I may do somethinn like that when hubby is out of the the country this Christmas!!

Better it was the deck titling and jiggling than you!!

Watch out with the workmen, do your little dance with the curtains closed and leave them banging away outside!

Indie and songnatrice, we will need reports!

Perv!!!!!!

SeaUrchin,
Since my girlfriend will be visiting next week and her birthday is the 29th would it be OK to put a Tango on the CD Player?

SeaUrchin, well the workmen are gone (oh sigh!). And the deck no longer tilts or jiggles. Wish I could say the same about me!

Happy birthday Librans, may you always dance on your terrace, real or imagined.

Cigalechante...Whoa!!!! Hair!!! I knew one of the original cast members (Lynn Kellog) of Hair...and my uncle knew one of the producers (Butler) very well. Take Me Back...Country Roads!!! Re Greece....I have many fond memories of Greece...including being invited to abandon the tour I was on...and join a bazouki band in the mts of Cyprus. Alas...I was on my way to Mykonos. Perhaps I should have stayed. Re 60...I am on my way next month to Paris on...are you ready???....my Honeymoon!!!! Yes...things CAN happen...even at 60!!!! "It ain't over 'till it's over." (Yogi Berra 1960)

Congratulations Ramblero. Love is ageless, aren't we lucky.

Ummn! Seaurchin, dancing naked on your birthday eh! of course celebrating in ones 'birthday suit'! how appropriate. As my birthday is at the end of November and I live in England such activities need to be confined to indoors in case of hyperthermia which rather takes the 'liberation' out of it (also we are on the flight path for lots of birds flying south for the winter and it could set off an ecological disaster of epic proportions! There would be letters of protest from the RSPCB!) Would it count if I kept my thermal knickers on?
CM

Hey, ladies, are you still dancing?

Fun storey but I disagree that a woman, or anyone else, is actually living thier life if they have to ask their children's permission or get their blessings before doing anything. It's when they DON'T that they've finally started living their life IMO.

She just started out with baby steps. . .

I still love this story!

Drew Barrymore said she did the same thing in wheat fields in Ireland. She stops by the roadside, wanders into a field and drops her clothes.

I had forgotten about this fun thread!
Thanks for reviving it Starrs.

Dukey, we ask children's permission to do things not because they run our lives. We do it not to harm them in any way. To make sure they won't need us when we're away, for example.

Yes this is a fun thread. Thank you for reviving it starrsville.

I think we should start dancing again, ladies and gentlemen.

Funny posts

Not that I am biased towards or against women (really like many of'em ) but would you still applaud if it was a man who after going through a similar experience, went on the terrace and danced naked? I know I will feel a bit awkward with a naked man dancing on his terrace near my house Or may be not. Depends on the music, I guess

ha! now that's a story that is ageless, and timeless. we can all relate. or should at least!!!

That's great but she's very lucky she wasn't arrested. I'd sure hate to be arrested and detained for public indecency in a foreign country today!

Thank you SeaUrchin for that inspiring story.

I'm soon to be 43 and have never been skinny dipping. In May, we rented a gite in Dordogne. It was advertised to have a pool and I had romantic visions of me and my husband skinny dipping in the moonlight. When we arrived, we found no water in the pool...and the villa was surrounded by at least 5 others within a very short distance.

I guess my time will come.....hopefully I won't have to wait until I'm 60.

Topping once again for the new year. It may be too chilly to dance nude on the terrace but keep the thought of personal celebration anyway!