I came in from the fields today and Jake wanted to ask me something.

"Hey man, have you been over across the street after dark lately?"

By across the street he meant the little park called Mothers Rest that is on our side of the Muddy River. 

I said I hadn't. 

"Well, I was walking Oscar last night and he ran over to this tree..."

"Yes?" I said.  "And?"

"And there were two dudes, butt naked, having sex!"

That's usually how it's done.  That Jake is thirty years old and this is a revelation to him... I don't know what to say.  I wanted details. 

"Yes?" I said.  "And?"

"Right out in the open!  Like... right out in the open!"

I didn't get much more out of him than that.  He did mention that they were young.  But he couldn't — or wouldn't — say how hung, or how full of ... well, you know the rest.

Still, young guys fucking in the Fens?  When's the last time you heard of that happening?  On a recent google search of the Victory Gardens I came upon a website that rates gay cruising spots .  The Fens garnered this curt pronouncement: "Crowd: Mostly trolls but you do get some hot closeted men once in awhile." (It also mentions there's no wheelchair access — isn't there a law against that?)

Anyway, that's pretty much the Fens we've all come to know and love. 

Now it looks like the action's jumped the Muddy River to the opposite bank. It's hard to keep up with kids these days.  We trolls tend to get set in our ways.  In a regular rut, you might even say...


But the new spot's more convenient for me, anyway.  I mean, I can survey the action from my balcony with my night-vision binoculars and decide whether or not it's worth it to run down and join in. 

No, the truth is right now I'm looking for someone to take care of me in my dotage.  Once I find him, then I can start looking for hook-ups again.

No, the real truth is: I've been too preoccupied with my peonies lately (along with poppies, irises and lupines, too) to really think of much else when I'm over there anyway...


See more (flowers, not fucking) here .