Canadian Advent - ure

It's always a warm welcome at Novale. As every season comes along it offers a unique opportunity to explore the landscape. The winter is of course an enormous part of the culture of this part of the world, and so the snow lies thickly over the sim, the perfect backdrop to the colorful festive fun.

But there is jeopardy here too - of course! We are, after all, in the land of Alec Trebeck.

 Seriously, take heed of the warning and do not touch Rupert's nose.  Or if you do, be sure that you're wearing warm and tightly fitting underclothes.

Nell'ora del dolore

 Ed è una musica che va

There are perhaps only three Toscas in the world worth knowing about: Tosca the opera by Puccini, the singer Tosca Donati, quoted above and featured below, and the sim Tosca on Soul Grid. 

Tosca is the social heart Soul Grid. Soul is a predominantly German grid, but this sim has an Italianate feel, as though you had stumbled into a village  in Emilia Romagna. A church and an arengario, a piazza, subtle brown stone buildings under terracotta roofs, and a long table set for a village feast beneath a floral pergola.

One sim - but multiple venues. It's no surprise that sim Tosca has often topped the charts  on OpensimWorld for the number of active avatars. Events on Tosca at have a family feel, where no-one is a stranger for very long. The wall of friendship is testimony to this.

The Magic Auer

Shapeshifter, by Elif Ayiter, the Turkish artist and academic known in virtual by names such as Alpha Auer and Felix Ringtail,  is a magical sim on New Genres Grid, owned and maintained by Max Moswitzer. Over the many years that is has been here, there have been sea changes - alterations as irrevocable and gradual as the work of ocean waves.

It is a playground for ideas, a counterpane of imagination, a toybox full of concepts and genres. 

Sand Castle

It is an island, and yet it it not. It is an important religious seat, and yet only sometimes. It is a unique place, and yet not exactly. It is a place of sanctuary, and yet not always. It is a piece of ancient architecture, and yet not entirely. Mont Saint Michel, on the Northern coast of France in a sandy bay where Brittany meets Normandy, is a spectacular paradox in space and time. 

Mont Saint Michael, Serenity Grid

Erwan Elan has reconstructed Mont Saint Michel on his Opensim grid, Serenity, and it's a realistic piece of magic. The island takes up an entire sim, and is walkable in a way that creates a perfect sense of place. There are gaunt defenses and soaring vaults, dizzying heights and a warren of narrow streets. It is a tour de force, and most of the images here come from Erwan's build. Why not make the trip to see it for yourself, the HG Address is, as always, at the end of the post.

RL Photo of  Mont Saint Michel in the late 1800's

The White Stuff

A three dimensional mandala, a work of lace and light, a fragile skeleton hanging weightless between the sea and sky, that is Ivory City by Tosha Tyran based on an idea by Lumiere Noir.

If there is one point in the hyperverse that might be defined as its spiritual heart, this build is it. 

The location of Ivory City has not always been the same, and the configuration of the

Conference Call Ten

 This year is the tenth annual OSCC, and you're invited. Great! But what is that?  Who's behind it? What's happening? How much do I have to pay to go to this thing? Where is it held, and when?

Conference Hall, OSCC

Let's start with when and where. The OpenSim Community Conference is held on a dedicated grid with the snappy address cc.opensimulator.org:8002. The grid is online all year round but it is most

Outgoing and Upcoming

 After 60 destinations - well 62, if you count the two special Safari trips to the seasonal Hunt builds of Ange Menges and Nani Ferguson - over three seasons in 2022, the Safari is taking a break for a bit. 

Mandjelia on OSGrid was our first destination this year

In 2022 we went to 36 different grids, from Kitely to CopyKat and back. At last count, somewhere between 60 to 70 people joined us in person as Safari tourists, forming part of the group that gathers at the Clubhouse before setting out on the adventure - plus many more who came along to support their friends, our Hosts, at each destination. 

Safari trips begin at the Clubhouse -  last minute information, gossip and jokes