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. 

            Luckily we had the likes of the lovely Victoria Logan with us. The Spanish speaking cohort in OSGrid is not large, but they are very supportive of one another, and the whole community, and that's always so nice to see.

Victoria Logan

               The Gallery is a modern gem built by one of OSgrid's finest, Tina Bey. It's inspired of course by the Louvre's glass pyramid, with additional water gardens adding to the charm.

Lucy Afarensis had the great idea of translating via Google the presentation Antonio made ...here it is:
"Antonio Salamander: Puzzles are my Passion, my Hobby. Since I was a teenager, I always watched others when they did the puzzles and I always admired how interesting it is to have a lot of small pieces on the table, be it 1000 or more and that all fit together. Well, I never bothered to try it, once I tried it, but because I did not have the right information, I got bored and left it. The Poor Puzzle went to the trash. Then 3 years ago, and at my adult age I saw others putting together Puzzle and I decided to try it. I went to the store and bought my first 500-piece Ravensburger "Romantic Bridge"  With patience and relaxation, I began to draw the frame piece by piece and I can say that in 6 weeks every day a little bit I finished it and it was the first and the beginning of All. "

Antonio by the puzzle that began it all.

"Antonio Salamander:  Every time I finish a Puzzle in rl I paste it and I frame it many I have given to friends and many at home, but where they will always be with me will be in my Gallery that is where they deserve to be and where they can be seen and acquired completely Free to decorate the residents in Opensim. I am very grateful to all the people who advised me, gave advice, to have made my dream come true in virtual worlds, especially my friends Tina Bey, and Victoria Logan."

Lux Tergeste: Do you prefer to do it alone or with other people?
Antonio Salamander: Well if there is someone present and you want to do it, I invite you too, because it is a relax, and when you put the last pieces, there is satisfaction.

Selby Evans inspects the presentation boards

        It's a great way to tell the story of what is, of course, an ephemeral hobby. Few people can put on show all their hours of hard won victory of the ins and outs of jigsaws. And who of us can boast this kind of elegant structure, complete with leather-bound notice boards, explaining the location's purpose and genesis?
         The group ended up in the VOP room, full of cake and of course, more puzzles. Art Blue impressed us all with his fancy foot work, and we all relaxed and talked about the fun and frustration of jigsaws.
Bink.Draconia: this room does remember me to an episode of < Baldy Man > .... where his last piece of the big puzzle was missing ;))) ... and he bought a new one- but at the end same piece was missing again....lol

Art is able to do puzzles with his toes!

             After our fun trip around the greatest puzzle purveyors, and in the company with the greatest puzzle maker any of us know, Antonio Salamander, it was time to move on to our second destination, on Mobius grid.

'Big' (aka Santa) needs your help!

             Mobius owner Royale Mobian was on hand to welcome the gang to his gird. The real celebrity was Big !

          After a conversation about Bento, (which, if you can't see it, you probably need to update your viewer, and that's all that needs to be said on the matter,) we got stuck in with some serious fishing! 

          The game is this. you approach Big, and he will say something in chat. you'll see one word underlined - click on it, to get the next piece of chat, which in the end will get you a HUD and a fishing rod or pole. Then, having attached both, you can go fish for 11 presents, in the fountain and further afield, on the iced over pools.
          Not everyone had immediate success with their fishing attempts, and some of us, like the very zen Drang Po, seemed not to be trying too hard...

Drang meditates on snowy palm trees

... but many really got stuck in! We also met local resident an fisherperson extraordinaire Serena Foxx aka Air Chomp, who managed to get all 11 gifts in the time it took most of us to figure out how the HUD fitted into our universe. 

        The gifts come in lovely boxes, and are charming toys including a train and a boat, but of course the real fun is just being in good company and testing your skills with the fishing pole. And, please, read the Instructions, they make all the difference!

Sunshine Savanna and  Larysa Firehawk bonding on the ice

Big: It's a nice day for fishing...
Big: Boy it sure is cold today...
Big: I really love the holidays...
         Well said Big. Here are the Addresses, go see if you can fish some gifts for yourself!
HG Address
Art of Puzzles by Antonio Salamander     hg.osgrid.org:80:art of puzzles
The fish game on Mobius                       grid.mobiusgrid.us:8002