Azalea City Images and Random Thoughts

Spring is one of the most beautiful times of year in this area (fall is the second most beautiful), particularly when the azaleas - a type of rhododendron - come into bloom with all the varied hues and sizes. My own yard has quite a few azaleas of differing varieties so that they bloom in a staggered sequence as opposed to all in one busts of color. Azaleas are great for lazy gardeners since they need pretty much no special care and many varieties do not even need pruning, naturally retaining a nice shape.

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Norfolk has a large azalea festival each spring which highlights the beauty of the area and also highlights the international connections of the area through NATO which brings personnel from 26 nations to the area. Each year an azalea queen is selected from one of the NATO countries - this year is the Netherlands - and there is much pomp and circumstance at some of the events, complete with young military officers in full dress uniforms.

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Yes, you guessed it, some of the military escorts are VERY hot. Moreover, often some of them can be found in the local gay clubs nothwithstanding Don't Ask Don't Tell. I have known a couple former military guys who have photos of themselves in full dress uniform with the President of the United States from the time when they were honor guards at the White House. It's ironic that while the Chimperator panders to the Christianists, he frequently has gay boys as his guards. What would Daddy Dobson say? It clearly shows that DADT is an utter farce and serves no purpose other than aiding the Christianist agenda of marginalizing and stigmatizing LGBT citizens whenever possible.