The Bare Essentials.

'If you love Irish men, raise your hands!

If you don't...raise your standards.'

FH readers know how much I love featuring calendar imagery, especially on holidays.  Given calendars are meant to cover the span of an entire year, it's logical many would pull from that month's holidays in their visuals.  My love of calendars goes back to my childhood.  I used to love to see the new calendars hit the stores near the end of each year.  I always bought, or was gifted several every Christmas, usually one with whales or dolphins, or one featuring my favorite movie or television show.

I also remember when I was old enough to notice the calendars featuring hot men.  They were usually fairly tame, just shirtless hunks meant for a wide audience.  You could buy them for a boss, an aunt or a friend, more harmless fun than erotic enticement.  On several previous Saint Patrick's Day posts, I've featured images from the Irish Framer's calendars. (above)

This year, I wanted to feature a more diverse selection of Irish men other than farmers, so took a little deeper dive into the selection of nude, (or semi-nude) calendars that the Emerald Isle produced.  At first, I was going to go for the Irish doctor calendar, (in the pics above and below) but instead, decided to pay a visit to the Irish town of Abbeyfeale.

'A cluster of townsfolk from Abbeyfeale, County Limerick have stripped off for a nude calendar in partnership with the Irish Cancer Society. '

I'm not sure there's a more fitting name for a quiet and quaint Irish country town than Abbeyfeale, County Limerick. The calendar is titled, The Bare Essentials, was shot by local photographer John D. Morris and is made up of citizens of the town of Abbeyfeale.  

There were more than 100 volunteer Abbeyfeale residents who stripped down, to take all, or at least some of it, off for the charity calendar.  As you can see, the calendar is as much about promoting showing off Abbeyfeale, as it is about showing of skin.  Either way, it appears the residents of Abbeyfeale had a fun time posing and I love the vibe, and the variety of men, that Morris captured.