Neverworld Underground

 For the second hour of our tour, we went on an underground trip on Neverworld Grid.  Our visit today was to a very special build called The Caves. It was a great contrast to AI Austin's build, and here we saw another face fo the incredibly diverse possibilities of using Opensim as a way to reflect our lives and creativity.

Andron Rae

It's beautiful and poignant and also interesting from a technical/aesthetic reason, because we all know that cams and tunnels do not really go together. Yet Andron Rae has made it work here, and in the most magnificent way. 

Arcanquest looking old school

Some of us couldn't directly jump from Space City to The Caves, I noticed this glitch all week, something going on in the intertubes between OSGrid and NVW, so I had added in the LM Pack a second LM to the Neverworld landing area, and that seemed to work for everyone who was unable to Verify Identity when they tried the direct tp.  A special shoutout goes to all those who have been trying to make an effort to lessen lag by having much less complex avatars. Here is Arcanquest Frank is a heroically retro avie,  although I'm honestly not sure how much we help or hurt with all our efforts.  

Govega (center) with Joshua and Lucy

Neverworld Grid owner Govega was totally unafraid of lag, her avie had a complexity of over 400,000 and indeed the region seemed to shrug us off.  There was a brief moment of crisis when all 25 of us arrived on The Caves, to be greeted by Govega, Joshua 7, Alba Wyrril, and Oliver Grashnar (not to mention Franco Thirza who got jammed in the corner by some barrels of what she hoped was brandy and, on reflection, was probably gunpowder).
Andron has prepared a walkthrough of the build, which is available on Youtube here.

The build involves following a trail and reading the notecards, but it's not a hunt as much as a meditation on life and love and beauty and creativity, a stream of consciousness accompanying you on your journey. Wherever you see a glowing spark, there you will find a notecard. 

Val finds a bright spark *reading*

One of the coolest parts of the build, that you may miss if your volume is low, are the sound effects, like the splash when you fall off a bridge into a rock pool. The route is pretty easy to follow, though being a big group who wanted to stick together as much as possible, there was a fair bit of TPing - thankfully point-to-point TPs are enabled here, and that saved us all a great deal of frustration. 

Whirli (foreground) with l. Nara and r. Alan

The heart of the build is a sort of cavern - or is it open to the sky? I don't think I checked - where you will find an incredibly beautiful ring of singing stones, set in a glade full of soft green foliage. Nearby a beautiful statue nestles in a watery corner. It is captivating, and had us all standing quietly, just enjoying the place and the moment.  The build is dedicated to the memory of the late Pasha Theas, who was one of the earliest members of Neverworld, and the partner of Andron Rae. She was a talented builder and her creations can still be seen in many parts of the grid, including the Welcome Center.

Apollo Star admiring the statue among the ferns.

Thirza Ember: there is a gift at the end, if you do not find it, let me know, I will pass it to you, Andron wanted all to have it

Alan Scot: got a "Conclusion" notecard but no gift, what was the gift ?

James uses his head to display the gift from 'The Caves'

Oliver Grashnar: that's an interesting structure, so much up and down I didn't know fully where I was going

Lifted Pixel: I met a ghost dog

From left to right Aphra, Jeff, George, Oliver, Truelie, Loru, Kelso, Govega, Nara, Thirza, James.
Congrats to all those who survived to the very end! 

Dabici Straulino: very nice, I love the sound installation - fountain and crystal. Thank you for the visit, this is a great work

Kelso Uxlay: Nice sounds

James Atlloud: So great to have audio effects in the experience!

George Equus: Very impressive build!

HG Address: 

A Packed Safari

 Safari people can fit a lot into a small space, whether it's time - a bare ninety minutes - or the narrow tunnels of the unusual Andron Rae build, 'The Caves', on Neverworld, our second destination this week = read about that on the next post.  But before the spelunking, there was the great leap forward, in terms of bag and baggage, as imagined by Ai Austin, who you may have come across on VUE grid, or (as happened to us) encountered him on Space Camp, a Gerry Anderson inspired region on OSGrid. 

Ai Austin at Venus' beach house on Space City

But before we went anywhere, everyone came to the Clubhouse, which is such a delight, as familiar faces and old friends and new pals all show up. Community organizer  Valibrarian Gregg joined us, I think for the first time, and Prax and Alexina, who were Safari regulars back in the early days came along, as did musician Whirli Placebo, who has played for the Safari many a time, and was this time in off-duty mode.   For the address of the places we visited, look at the end of this post, as usual.

Safari Glows

 It's all a question of perspective. Prims have been somewhat overlooked of late so it was a treat to revisit the medium, a sort of historical trip. But with plenty of fantasy thrown in. You learn something every time on Safari, about what works and what doesn't and sometimes something literary. Case in point: Beth Ghostraven found some chandeliers all green and glowy, like cavorite. I didn't even know what that was, but our host Cyberglo Cyberstar was immediately on her wavelength. It's that kind of a place.

The place?   We were visiting LoveGlo castle, a sort of poetic throwback to the beauty of building with prims. Cyberglo constructed the whole place in a day and filled it with legal freebies, hidden passages, caves, and all kinds of surprises. The proper address of the region is at the end of the post, as always.

Dream Trip

Virtual Discovery organizer, Vladimir Djannovic

 Every Tuesday, there is a hypergrid adventure with the Virtual Discovery group run by Vladimir Djannovic out of his grid, Virtual Dream. (Yes, there is a VD theme going on, you're not mistaken.) Show up on the Welcome region of VD, and join in the fun. For details about upcoming trips, the best thing is to look on opensimworld, or follow Vlad on Facebook, where he gives the heads up a couple of days before each trip.  This week, for the first time, I was lucky enough to join them for a little while. It's the best fun!  

This week the excursion was to the Zoo on Serenity Grid, the address at the end of the post.

Best Practices in Jumping

 Anyone can leap about in opensim, exploring regions by themselves or maybe with a friend. We've all done it, often finding pleasure in the big empty spaces of the hypergrid. But it is also fun to grid jump  with a crowd, to meet the grid owner, or sim builder, and spend some time laughing and dancing and learning more about the infinite variety of opensim. 

But traveling in a pack can create its own unique problems. So what makes for a successful hypergrid trip en masse? Our group is called Safari, because there's a good chance you won't survive to the end, and there are dangers lurking! I asked a bunch of Safari regulars who have joined our trips many times to give their advice for a successful and enjoyable trip around the metaverse.

Still Standing

The dance floor at HG safari clubhouse

Kelso Uxlay: Good idea to warm up safari goers before going.

          Dancing really does do it. This week, two animated destinations, a big crowd of avatars, and a roaring success for our hosts, Dorena Verne and Anachron Young on Dorena's World, and Karima Hoisan and the scriptastic Dale Innes on Kitely. 

Addresses of the destinations, as always, at the end of the post. 

It really helps if you come to the clubhouse on HG Safari, OSGrid and get the LMs before we depart at the top of the hour, and thanks to everyone who showed up, including Lux, Dabici and Kelso who entertained us by dancing so well. A good omen...

Open Season

 The first real Safari after a pause of over three years, and about thirty people showed up! Would we survive to the end? And not just because the first destination promised death by dinosaur - would lag or confusion defeat us? 

The answer was a resounding No! Thanks to all those who showed up for this Hunting and Fishing Safari, where we played, stepped in dino dodo, fished, got squashed, fished, crashed boats... and, most of all, thanks to Ange Menges and Royale Mobian, the hosts of the two hours of the Safari. As always, the addresses of the two destinations are at the end of the post.

Counter Tops

 Havoc Rau is an unmissable figure. Tall, with dark good looks and impeccable manners. He has his own city, and knows about mesh, heck, he makes the stuff (free for us opensimmers, for money to those unenlightennd types in SL who don't know about the Free Worlds). He is, to me, a hypergrid hero, a man who spans the gap between complicated role playing and HG Tourism. 

A couple of weeks back he came to save me from the Zombies on OSGrid, as you may have read in an earlier post. This week, he offered to show me his etchings, I mean his tarns, on CounterEarth. What could a girl say, except for 'yes please'?

CounterEarth, if you didn't know, is an amazingly beautiful grid that takes its theme from the novels by John Norman, who began writing them in the 1960s. (The grid address is at the end of this post.)Here is a pretty unbiased review of the first novel to give you an idea of what it is all about. The grid, on the other hand, has to be seen to be believed, and believe me, it's the tops.

Post Pre Safari Safari

 Just as a test, and to make sure we are all on the same page, we had a meet up on the new HG Safari region on Wednesday. The event was advertised in Facebook and Mewe and in the OGgrid and Craft HG Safari inworld groups. Thanks to all who attended, and those who IM'd saying they saw the event even if they couldn't make it this time.

It was a chance to catch up with old friends and to meet new Safari fans. Also, a learning opportunity for those unfamiliar with what '12 noon Grid time' (which is Pacific time, just like back in Second Life) calculates to where they live. Anyway, about 25 of us managed to navigate the time zones, and  cope with the fact that the Safari's main base is on OSGrid now. Oh, and there is a space between HG and Safari in the name of the new sim. Which is quite a lot to take in, if you think about it.

Ball Park

We all have our foibles, even you. Well, OK, especially you, don't imagine for a moment the rest of us haven't noticed. Anyway, mine include not being able to resist clicking on a free raccoon, and being the world's worst Hunt player. You can guarantee that in any Hunt game, not only will I not find any of the prizes, but I may actually break the mechanism.  Imagine, then, with what trepidation I went to the Tangle Grid Christmas Ball Hunt, which ends on January 15. Would there be raccoons? I had to know.

Total Annihilation

          Today, Ubit killed me. He has probably been wanting to do that for years.  Unfortunately for him, it didn't take, and here are the photos to prove it.

Ubit's Revenge

          You probably remember sim Outbreak on OSgrid. The zombie game was set in a lovely European town, with trees and squares and alleys and a big old church in the middle. The textures were, if I remember correctly, by Michelle Theiss, but the heart of the matter, the scripting, was by that Queen of Code, Total 'call me Louise' Sorbet. I had the great pleasure of catching up with her the other day and hearing her news. 

Metrodämmerung

 It started with Maria Korolov, during one of her OSCC presentations, when she was talking about grid statistics.

Anyone who knows me knows that I spend most of the OpenSim Community Conference gossiping and flirting with whoever will put up with me, especially during the more arty or bookish parts. But I sat still and attended during Maria's bit (and also that brilliant Graham Mills lecture, with the ship. That was awesome.) 

Graham Mills' Liverpool history project is on Kitely

Anyway, Maria was talking grid stats and there was a slide showing traffic on the hg and so on, and somehow Metropolis got mentioned, and a voice from the audience, in what I can only describe as a contemptuous font, said something along the lines of 'Oh you can't hg to Metropolis.' 

Present Joy

          A landmark is a bit like parmesan. It looks so solid that you think it will last forever, and it kind of does, until one day you open it and find it's gone off - or offline. Usually when you need it the most.

 Since returning to opensim, I have been checking out Freebie places old and new for this page Facebook, and for the updated Freebie LM  collection you will soon find inside this poster at the HG Safari clubhouse. 

          Someone mentioned that  Rayvn's Roost Concourse on My Virtual Beach was worth a look. I headed over there, and was lucky enough to find online Trizaria 'Trizzy' Hunter. She is co-owner of the grid, with her partner Rocky One. Trizzy kindly took a few minutes to tell a little of her story.

Frost Burn

I was with Lucy Afarensis when the call came in. 

Dabici Straulino: do you have 15 minutes? I would like to show you our winter build.

"Want to go skiing?" I said to Lucy. 

 "Sure, why not."

We were not dressed for it, because as you all know OSGrid has ongoing asset problems to the point that even if the item you click on is present in your Inventory (and that happens only once in about 100)  you still do not dare change clothes, because your current outfit is quite likely to disappear. Never mind, we shower twice a day, so  it's all perfectly hygienic. And I have been barefoot skiing before, so decided to risk it.

A New Safari Season

         After more than three years absence, the Safari hypergrid tours are coming back.

        The ten week season begins on January 12.  Currently Francogrid is experiencing maintenance issues, so although the old base is still there, we have a new home (courtesy Ange Menges) on OSGrid. the name of the sim is... you guessed it, HG Safari (note the space between hg and safari when you type in the address. In satellite view you'll see this on the map.

        As many of your know, OSGrid is itself in the middle of an asset crisis (*insert here your witty remarks on the subject*) so it has not been all plain sailing to get the new sim up and running. So if you notice some content or textures not working, please be patient. It's a work in progress.

          The Safari Market has a few of the old favorites, and you will find the Meshanthropy store on the island too. I am most proud of being able to import the lovely sailing ship built by long time friend of the Safari, Aime Socrate.

          The new HG Safari trips will depart from OSGrid on Wednesdays at 12 noon SLT (Pacific time, that is) which, for Europeans, is 9pm Paris time. We have invites to 17 different grids, and will be doing a range of activities, from talks to dances to hunts to art installations. 

          The slots in this first season of the Safari filled up in less than a week, so if you are interested in being a destination during the second season, which will begin around May/June, please contact Thirza Ember on OSGrid.

The Last Safari...

 It is a hard thing to write about, the last Safari. We stayed home, uncharacteristically for us. And lovely Wizardoz Chrom made a wonderful machinima of the event. 

  Cherry Manga made all kinds of amazing big art for us to be dazzled by, all around the simple clubhouse and the great sailing ship, handmade by Aime Socrate so long ago. 

Hunting and Racing: the Penultimate Safari

               Our last trip out and about took the intrepid Safari goers to two activity sims, one golden oldie, and one so brand new that it was still being tweaked a couple hours before our arrival.   

 

              Kodinpump is a twist on the word 'pumpkin', for this is a Halloween Hunt build from 2015, one of a long series of fantastic ephemeral builds in SL and opensim by nani Ferguson and Ange Menges, who put it back online especially for our visit.

Safari goes from Alexandria to Arizona

           Two horse riding opportunities this week, and two beautiful places to visit any time. The Safari group was honored to be the first visitors to the latest grand attraction on Outworldz, where 16 regions of ancient history, NPCs, architecture and drama awaited us (the good kind of drama, Shakespearean, naturally) and then an opportunity to meditate in the vast open spaces of the Rift Valley on Afar, OSGrid. HG Addresses at the end of the post as always.

Pharos of Alexandria

              Egypt is a collaborative build, bringing together the creative talents of Debbie Edwards aka Nyira Machabelli, Joe Builder and of course the legendary Ferd Frederix. Avia Bonne also did some of the artwork, she's a talented lady. Outworldz is a great grid with many themed activities - Dragons, Fairy Tales, and the African bush to mention just a few. The Outworldz website is undisputably Opensim's greatest treasure.

Zen and the art of Gridhopping

         For the final few Safari trips, I decided to indulge myself and just organize visits to some of my favorite places. This week, we went to TGrid, also known as ViewTwo, and to Kalasiddhi Grid. HG Addresses at the end of the post. These are two of the smaller grids on the hyperverse, and both have a distinctive look and purpose, that goes to the very heart of the owner operated HG friendly virtual homestead.

TG Lucan

     First up TGrid. It's small and built for testing the very heart of opensim. The Welcome region has a musical theme with clean lines and unscratched vinyl. For a long time, hg visitors would arrive on top of the satellite which was a sort of bug but a fun one. TG Lucan was there to meet the group, where we did some dancing before moving on to the massive 256 Var, so see (let's be honest) if we could break it.

Safari Regulars

The Safari trips have come to an end after four years. Thanks for all the kind comments and compliments - they are much appreciated. Organizing the weekly trips has been fun and fascinating and frenetic, but the purpose, and the success, isn't down to a single person, but a special group of strangers who have become friends, the Safari Regulars.
There are hundreds of posts on this blog about the builds and content creators we have visited, this is the only post dedicated to the Safari Regulars, who are also builders, scripters, coders, grid owners...

The calm before the storm - meeting at the clubhouse before the Safari starts

      

An Illuminated Safari

           This week we went to see the TanGLe grid Expo of Fashion with emphasis on the new Ruth mesh avatar, then over to Sanctuary Grid to tour the Ivory City complex,created by Tosha Tyran to celebrate the life of Lumiere Noir, of Ivory Tower of Learning fame. 
            HG Addresses, as always, at the end of the post.

Rusty and the TanGLe gang keep us entertained as we cam the Expo

           First up, a chance to see TanGLe grid's latest Expo, this time, fashion for the new Ruth Mesh avie, made by Shin Ingen to provide a totally home grown mesh avie for OSGrid, with, you know, moving hands and all those interesting attachment points. A good place to learn more about this interesting opensource piece of goodness is on G+ at the Ruth and Roth 2.0 Mesh Project.

An Open Space Safari

           This week, we met two grid owners, and some happy residents, on Discovery Grid and on Kitely, and were treated to some very beautiful and interesting places to visit... addresses at the end of the post, as always. Kitely is one of the most long-established of all opensim's many grids, while Discovery is just about a year old. We were particularly grateful to our hosts for taking the time - for Angel Discovery, who's in Australia, it meant a very early morning meeting, for Kitely's Ilan Tochner, who's in Israel, it was a fairly late evening meet-up, and we were very glad he took the time, especially considering it was a big National Holiday in his country... rl comes first, as we all know.

          First up, Discovery Grid, and three very interesting regions reflecting the spirit and interests of the grid. This is a sporty, out-doorsy place, just packed with interesting scenery. We arrived on Spirit Rock Ranch.

Safari Town and Country

         This week's destinations reflect the best of opensim, the passion that underlie the creative urge. We visited Magnolia Mountain on OSGrid, and Keng City on Digiworldz, and the HG Addresses are at the end of the post.

          Magnolia Mountain is the project of CelticMaidenWarrior Lancaster. The talented singer still plays regular gigs in Second Life but she has discovered the joy of opensim, both as a builder and as a performer. She plays a 12 string Blue4u Nowicka, and offers a mix of tunes from the likes of the Eagles, Carol King, Carly Simon, and Van Morrison to mention just a few - her repertory is as wide as it is delightful. The region she's working on will soon host weekly events.

Sweet April Whirls

          This week, two of the best opensim performers, at two of the greatest OSgrid regions. On Amsterdam Bingyi's Zweet ZurroundingZ, an audience with Emil Jannings, a star of the spoken word, and then, a fascinating visit to the Belfast regions of Stiofain Mactomais, culminating with a concert by talented guitarman Whirli Placebo. HG Addresses are at the end of the post.



          The origins of Zweet ZurroundingZ, romantic arcadian hills and woods topped by ethereal palaces and rotundas, are lost in the mists of Second Life.

A Copy/Mod/Trans Safari

          This week was probably the last ever three stop Safari. It's a scenario that invites confusion, crashing and endless IMs of folks who are looking for the group, yet strangely, everything went perfectly smoothly, we didn't even lost the self-confessed Safari newbies, so for anyone thinking of picking up where the safari is leaving off, and starting their own tour group, it's a good sign. Three stops, and the HG addresses are at the end of the post.

Our first stop was to see the gallery curated by Katia Parcdesarts, now on Craft grid. The theme is "La liberté guidant le peuple"  or 'Liberty Guides the People' and people have certainly taken liberties with the original meaning of the painting... to learn more about that, watch this video.

Safari does Art and Ice

          Two vastly different destinations this week, from Europe to Australia and even farther South as we count down the final ten Safari tours. Both regions, Guinguette on Ignis Fatuus Grid, and Ambiant Antarctica on OSGrid,  are beautiful and intriguing and the HG addresses are of course at the end of the post.

        First, to mark the Equinox - the Spring Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere - we visited a beautiful exhibition on Ignis Fatuus, curated by Wizardoz Chrome and Aime Socrates.

Safari Countdown

           There will be a big party on May 23, it marks the 4th anniversary of HG Safari, which began on May 20th, 2014 when Wizard Gynoid joined me for our first trek around the hyperverse. 

           A week later, Fuschia Nightfire and Wizardoz Chrome joined us, on an epic five stop tour that involved a lot of crashing and cloudiness. 

Safari Meets its Destiny

               A beautiful outdoor gallery, a live concert with singer songwriter Tom Albury, a couple dozen friends, and the digital art of Tryad Destiny. That's all the ingredients you need for a perfect Safari visit to Metropolis Grid. HG Addresses as always at the bottom of this post. 

Tom Albury, known in SL as Moses Rae

              If you don't know Tryad Destiny and his wife Loru Destiny, they're two of opensim's impressive field of creators. Loru is well known for her fashion line and her many builds, visited in previous weeks by the intrepid Safari band.

Art and Kart Safari

There was an Unexpected Peruvian Incident in the Safari this week, though I don't think anyone but Larysa and me knew it. Ostensibly, it was a simple trip to an Art Sim by ieko catnap on Francogrid, and then a Kart sim - is it sacrilege to call Bill Blight's desert landscape and hit-the-coin-with-the car game a 'Kart sim'?   HG Addresses at the end of this post, as usual. And please, don't forget to 'Like' the regions you visit, by going to opensimworld.com... it may seem a small silly thing to you, but it means a lot to the creators.

           We tried to hard to make Ieko Catnap rez during our visit to imaginaire-de-ieko-18, with no success - luckily I got this snap of her earlier. Otherwise,

Safari and Cornflakes: Made In Opensim

         Cornflakes Week is the last seven days of February and, since this February ended on a Wednesday this year, it was a Safari Finale to a week of celebrations and silliness.

        This was the 4th year of Cornflakes Week, and once again people got creative in the best way. The event even got a mention in New World Notes, a blog about Second Life.

Cars Coins and Canvas

       A sudden change of plans, caused by internet outage sounds like the beginning of a bit of a disaster, but this week, the need to postpone our visit to Freda Frostbite's fascinating Floridiana build actually turned into a hilarious adventure on opensimlife grid, with Bill Blight  and Leighton Marjoram followed by an interesting new project on Mobius with Zoliea Yifu and Sprocket Watchclock. HG Addresses as always, are at the end of the post.

Desert cities add intrigue to the game on Desert Oasis region

       

Corny Calendar 2018

Cornflakes Week 

2018 

22 February to 28 February         

Thursday marks the beginning of the 4th annual Cornflakes Week in Opensim, and yet again, many grid owners have pulled out all the stops to make it a fun and silly one. 
If you missed previous years, here's a video of last year's event, to give you an idea of what happens

Seeking Cinderella's Shoes

 Our second top was the splendid region by Debbie Edwards and Ferd Frederix, called Snowgarde, which is based on Cinderella.

            The visit begins with Fairy Godmother providing you with your own pumpkin-based horse drawn coach. Next, you ride up along a roadway that curls around the castle like a tail. 
This is a great way to see who's a good driver, and who isn't...

Safari does Chromosomes and Cats

              The Safari was on the road for Valentines Day this year, and what better way to celebrate than by meditating on our genes, and dancing in an enchanted castle... and for some of us, doing both at the same time, such is the joys of multiple avatars! Two places you need to see, and the addresses are, yes you've guessed it, at the end of the post. This is the first part of our two part trip, this time on VIBE grid, the HG Address is, as always, at the end of the post.

              Our first stop was at one of the VIBE grids, this time the Genome regions built by Max Chatnoir.
              Clowey Greenwood, who manages these four regions, named for the heroes of genetics, Crick, Mendel, Huxley, Hooke,  met us on the welcome region and showed us around.

A Higher Safari

              This week's trip brought us to great heights in every way! First, up to a theater in the sky on Metropolis, to hear a talk about High art with Art Blue and Juliette Surrealdreaming, followed by a formal ball, and then on to Neverworld Grid, for a luxurious all dancing, all sporting extravaganza with Govega Sachertorte, Pasha Theas, Nexus Storm, and - in my book - one of the High Princes of Opensim, Locked Semaphore. But more of the latter later.
             HG Addresses as always at the end of the post.
             Our first stop was in a cube theater on South Horizon, given the name ' Onawero' for the occasion, to hear about 1biennale. We were greeted by Juliette and Art outside an interesting, almost matrimonial, build, with places to sit at the end of a long red carpet.

              Art Blue delivered an address using Screenleap, so rather than each of us touring the

Swon-fari

          This week's Safari trip was a celebration of two paragons of opensim longevity. First, a conversation with Sylvia Sonoda on Swondo, then a dancing and feast of art on Craft Grid to mark their 8th anniversary. HG Addresses as always at the end of the post.
          Swondo on OSGrid is one of those names we've all heard, or perhaps one should say seen, on OSGrid - the Swondo estate is adjacent to OSgrid's go-to region, LBSA. But what is it? What does the name mean, and who runs this place? All was revealed...

Sylvia Sonoda

Sylvia Sonoda: My name is Sylvia Sonoda and in Real it is also Sylvia, ok we are here in OSgrid and I guess everyone knows how Opensim works right?

Safari goes Big

          For no reason at all, we had a surprise party for Zinnia Frenzy of 3rd Rock Grid this week. I say for no reason, but really, it was an opportunity to celebrate her and all the work she does for her grid and for the No Borders annual charity event. Her husband Kered Owl helped set up the surprise by telling her she had to come over to the Lodi Ballroom and fix a problem....
Jessie Campbell: S U R P R I S E !!

Zinnia looking elegantly surprised

Zinnia Frenzy: I am speechless lol
Rosy Ogrady, a regular performer on 3rd Rock Grid, aid a few words, and it was so nice to see her along with other musician friends of Zinnia's, Truelie Telling and CelticMaiden Warrior,  there to cheer her on.

Safari Buys the Farm

          Metropolis and Tangle were our two destination grids this week, and two wonderful regions... the common thread, beautiful building, and farming! HG Addresses at the end of the post as usual.
          First up a trip to see Satyr Aeon, sometimes known as Satyr Gator. This lovely man is behind one of the hypergrid's most valuable tools, opensimworld.com - a web directory you have already bookmarked I'm sure.

Satyr

          Satyr has a number of regions on Metropolis, including Opensimworld, Priape, and Roman. You can get Satyr's Farming system available in box form on Opensimworld, and there is a farm on Priape, but for this week's trip, he set up a farm on sim Roman, in order to avoid some lag issues.  

Safari goes High Seas and High Tech

This week was a cross your fingers, don't dare breathe kind of Safari. Two destinations, both on OSgrid, both exceptionally beautiful, interesting, and highly recommended - addresses as always at the end.

First up, a trip to a brand new region on OSgrid, built by Azi Az and Danger Lytton, one of OSgrid's most famed couples, for their talent, for their

Poetry and Particles

                The poetry of big, collaborative art - that was the theme of this week's trip, once again two great destinations, both highly recommended, HG Addresses at the end of the post as always.

Karima Hoisan on The River of Forgetting

                 First up, an invitation from Karima Hoisan to visit Kitely. It's always a joy to visit Karima's many regions on this grid. They are as varied as they are colorful, and The River of Forgetting is a special place because it's where Karima and Natascha Randt filmed their latest machinima, which they have entered in the prestigious SLartist@UWA Machinima competition in Second Life.

2018 Safari Calendars

            This year, there are two Safari Calendars.
             As always, the calendar features many of the people and places who have made the past year so varied and vivid. From Furries and Burlesque, to literature and fine art, to racing and relaxing beaches, this past year has certainly proved that OpenSim is full of wide open spaces, and lots of friends too.
            Both calendars are available inworld as free, full permission items, at the safari clubhouse. hg.francogrid.org:80:hgsafari  and they'll be available at other venues over coming days.

You can also buy a real world version of both on Lulu.com  if you are so inclined, then you can feel like you are inworld even when your internet goes wonky.
The Women of Opensim                                     The Men of Opensim
           The calendars inworld come complete with the Landmarks for all the destinations photographed, so you can go and visit the lovely and in some cases little known corners of opensim. Inevitably, there are more destinations and more intrepid grid jumpers than there are months in the year, so all our models consider themselves representatives of the wider world of interlocking grids.
           A big thanks to all the models for their time and patience and trust. I leave it to you to pick up the calendar and see if you can identify all the victims...

Puzzles and Poles

                  A unique gallery and a brand new game were the destinations for this week's Safari adventure, the last for 2017. Both places you'll love, so look to the end of the post to see the HG Addresses.

Antonio Salamander

               First, we headed off to Antonio Salamander's region on OSgrid. It's called Art of Puzzles, which really tells you everything about the subject matter.                 It was a particularly international event, as Antonio speaks German and his native Spanish, while most Safari regulars are fluent only in typonese and gibberish.