Creanovale: Tout Doux

 If you're in need of some R&R, far away from the draining drama of world events, and the vociferous, but luckily not too many, angst-mongers inworld, why not take a little time to enjoy the season on Creanovale.

This grid is built by Dabici Straulino and Kelso Uxlay. They live in the French-speaking area of Canada, and their grid is based on the beautiful countryside, traditions, products and history of their part of the world.

Each year, they modify their VAR region to reflect the passing seasons, so you can experience everything from surfing to skating here, depending on when you come to visit. The sim is a resort, a wilderness and a fine collection of perfectly assembled tableaux, complete with appropriate sounds that bring the sights to life, and here and there animesh...

Summer on Novale

 Novale, the Canadian landscape region, is up and ready for summer visitors. The islands have largely retained the form and features we've all come to love, with additions and tweaks both to the decor and the scripts, just as you'd expect.

Dabici Straulino  and Kelso Uxlay  are the imaginative inventors of this wonderland. They reccommend you use 'Shared Environment' which, just in case you don't know, is quickly achieved by clicking on the 'Quick Preferences' button at the bottom ov the viewer, and then clicking on the X next to Personal Lighting - that will remove any custom settings that may still be hanging around your sky. It's always interesting to see in what light the builder intended their world to be seen.

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.

Spooqued

 It's noon SLT on the first Thursday of the month, so that means it's Frenchie time! This month the Soiree Franco involved a visit to Quebec, in the form of the grid Creanovale, home to Kelso Uxlay and Dabici Straulino.

For those who don't know, once a month the French-speaking community of opensim has a grid jumping event. Things start off on Eden Cat's little grid, where there is a meet-and-greet, in Voice and in French. A great way for you to polish your pronunciation and irregular verbs! But don't worry, if you

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.

Safari Goes House to House

        Three destinations, and all the Hypergrid Addresses at the end of the post, the first house of this week's trip around the magnificent metaverse was a lighthouse. 

          It represents a point of reference, of illumination, and security, while hinting at the feelings of loneliness  and isolation that can afflict all of us, any of us, at different times in our lives. Leighton Marjoram is here to help, specifically people dealing with gender issues, and where they fit in to the spectrum of attraction and identity.

Var Out

Aime Socrates: i'm looking much more intelligent with those horns

Dabici Straulino: certainly more brilliant

The Xmas season is getting close and of course all the decorative instincts of opensim people are coming out in force.
Lucy Afarensis: Like your Xmas decoration Snowy
snowbody Cortes: oh ty Lucy .. a gift at Friday party , mattie mcbride
Lucy Afarensis: she makes nice things
James Atlloud: Do love the horns.
Lucy Afarensis: lost my glasses
Prodyck Theas: hello all
PatriciaAnne Daviau: ok going to try and get to first stop...without crashing