Wonders of Washago

Our first stop this week was on Pangea grid, predominantly but not totally German language, we were there to see a build by Lilly Topas, who has been resident on a number of grids before finding her home among friends. Due to a last minute situation, the tour was led by grid owner Marlon Wayne,  together with the gorgeous Tutz Zabelin, a talented builder herself.

Tutz Zabelin and Marlon Wayne. Nice gloves.

Sven Ingersoll: hello avatars... ah...now everyone is materialising

Marlon Wayne -> en: Good evening everyone, I would like to welcome you all to Washago. The owner Lilly Topas is unfortunately in bed with a fever. In order not to cancel the event I will show you something from Washago today. Lilly says that she will be happy to answer questions at the medieval festival in November that I can't answer today,  I'll send you the date again tomorrow. I have known Lilly since 2009

Thirza Ember: wow Marlon, a long time!

Marlon Wayne -> en: In 2009, washago was still an Indian sim. Hence the sim name. Washago means clear water in Native American. In 2010, Lilly discovered her love of the Middle Ages, she redesigned her sim... unfortunately 1 hour is not enough to discover everything but you are always welcome, so let's Start!

Thirza Ember: yay we are ready to go!

Marlon Wayne -> en: we now enter the castle of washago

Tosha Tyran: hail to the king

Forest Azure: /me curtsies

Gorgeous Norge

 Built by Jimmy Olsen,  Norge is a residential region where lots of his friends have houses, some even farms. Our driver was Xenon Darrow (you may remember our last outing with her at the wheel, on Iceland). Tessa aka Contessa Lacombe provided all the info and was a charming, elegant guide.

Our perfect guide, Tessa Lacombe. 

The pictures may seem a little grey and gloomy, but that's the desired effect here. Jimmy, although located in RL in Brazil, is a huge fan of Norway, and he tries to mirror the RL Norwegian weather and time of day on this region... more about that later! In this picture you see Tessa, easily distinguished with her elfin features and to her left, Forest Azure, dressed in a warm sweater. It's always hard to dress 'right' for a Safari, unless the two destinations have the same theme, which they rarely do. In this case, the first hour was medieval and the second contemporary/Viking Norway, so between us all, we were perfectly appropriate for the whole thing.

Arriving was a tiny bit rocky so, quick note - if you've been having trouble teleporting to Wolf Territories Grid, as a few of us did during this Safari tour, please don't dismay. Many of us have been getting 'Unable to verify' type messages when hypergrid jumping here - it is just a passing glitch. No offense meant.

OSFest 2025

 This year's OSFest will be held from October 12 - 27, a shorter and a different format than past editions. It is late in the year, seasonably close to Halloween which we all know is a very busy time in Opensim, with endless parties, hunts, and Freebie freakouts, and the new OSFest format is set up with this in mind - the integration of your events in a HG-wide general 'Fest' atmosphere. 

Poster by Banker Ibor

Yes, the OSfest grid still exists, with the key sims still online including Zen, Events, Welcome and HG Welcome etc, and some gigs will be held here during Osfest 2025, but anyone wishing to attract an audience back to their own home grid can do so with ease, and without feeling 'guilty' about working on a 'competing grid' as sometimes happens.

Kinky Kruise

Representing all the ladies of Kinky Haven grid, Wynter Blackthorn and Freya Blackthorn were on the waterfront to greet the HG Safari group as they arrived for the second hour of this week's tour, an epic cruise. The magnificent Dalaran Icebreaker with its iconic beaked figurehead stood waiting for us - it had seating for 40 so there was plenty of room for our dozen or so visitors who arrived slowly, since a lot of us relogged after stop two, hoping to leave behind us the accumulated lag we had built up on OSGrid. This ship cruises the grid all day every day, if you show up at the right time you'll see it magnificently going by - but for us, Wynter held the ship up until we could all arrive. 

Nara Nook: are we supposed to get on the boat?

See, right there. People who know proper naval terms know to call a ship a boat. Points for Nara.

Wynter Blackthorn: Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard the Dalaran Icebreaker. I am your host, Wynter Blackthorn, and this is an exclusive and custom built tour spanning 20+ regions of Kinky Haven and showcasing many others. Please remain seated while the ship is in motion. I'll encourage you to look to either side during the tour to highlight some of the unique sights, please find your seats and, the ship will depart shortly, we hope you enjoy the ride. And now without further ado, lets be on our way.

Wynter Blackthorn: we recommend a longer draw distance while on the open waters, but a reduced one in some of the heavier resident made regions. if we're lucky we might see the roaming sea monsters that randomly swim in our oceans, but they are kind of shy.

Sven Ingersoll: lol

Wynter Blackthorn: Each bench has seats for 3 and the slave cages on the mast and at the bow of the ship are also sittable

 eva.Nowicka: nice ship

Thirza Ember: I actually managed to sit! I'm usually a terrible sitter.

Sven Ingersoll: turning on transparency makes things easier

Wynter Blackthorn: we've never had this many people on this ship before

Nara Nook: it's running really well

Thirza Ember: Am I right in saying this is probably one of the longest cruises in opensim? how many regions does it cross?

Vicky's Eros

 Eroticism has always been a big part of virtual worlds; maybe it's the excellent weather and unlimited beaches, or the chance to have a killer body and even better lingerie, or the option to connect with.. well, all sorts. From the comfort of your own Viewer.

Victoria Logan, from Argentina, is a long time resident of OSGrid,
 known for her art and her work in cultivating the artistic community of Opensim

Art is also erotic, or should that be inherently erotic... on Arts-&-Friends2  Victoria Logan, known in Opensim for her beautiful lagoon galleries, has another collective of artists who have dedicated their talent to this theme - the previous two themes you may remember were 'Women' and 'We are OSGrid' and both were stunning and are still visitable in the Arts-&-Friends archipelago. 

Curating art can be hard work. Finding artists, choosing a unifying and broadly appealing theme, encouraging people to participate and supporting and promoting their work, and presenting it in a pleasing environment requires hours of dedication. The participants this time include Azi Az, Youca Golden, Gabriel Solstician, Tina Bey, Malcolyis Fadian, Morning Glory, Caro Fayray, Victoria Logan, Bonnie and Victorious Oppenwall, Deanna Janus and Elmo Figaro, and Lando Maremagnum. Tina, Caro and Vic joined us for the tour. There wasn't time to visit the whole place, so we have every excuse to return!

9-11

 Each year on the eleventh of September, a ceremony is held on Littlefield grid to remember the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001 when planes were used to smash into the twin towers in New York, and the Pentagon. Another flight, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, rather than the intended target in Washington DC, thanks to the heroic efforts of the passengers. 

This year's 9-11 memorial event on LFgrid.

The story of that day, or better, the thousands of stories, personal testimonies and remembrances of the many and varied people who were caught up on the events, fill millions of pages both printed and on websites and blogs. Many of the stories are harrowing, some are inspiring, a lot are heartbreaking. Those events were so shocking that people who had only the most tenuous links to the buildings - maybe they visited one of the locations a day or two before, or knew someone who had once worked there - still feel a dramatic bond to the places and events of that autumn day.

Almost a quarter of a century later, and the recollections of bravery and loss are still tangible when you visit the RL site of the 9-11 Memorial in the real life city of New York, but if that is impossible for you, the the virtual venue on Littlefield is an unforgettable alternative. The photos in this post are all of the region 9-11 Memorial, on LFgrid.

SoA and the Cat's Paw

SoA BAD: Hello, Hello, and welcome to the CCI Grid and today to the Lofoten Islands and please be quiet for a moment. 

Our second stop of the day, and a very optimistic SoA prepared to give us an uninterrupted explanation of a very beautiful, large, accurate, and enjoyable region on his grid, CCI  which he shares with Siwas. She's Norwegian, he's German, and their home grid is a delightful mix of the two cultures and sensibilities, with a lot of fantasy and humor thrown in.

SoA BAD: First, a quick note. Set your lighting to regional lighting to create an atmosphere that corresponds to a sunset at this time of year. You can take a look around the horse farm while I provide some information about Lofoten for those who are really interested. After that, we will walk across the island together.