Fan Dancing & Dragons

I found myself in Lovelace in search of an elusive Tigris mushroom to make my collection complete. I also found Miss Ellison there as well, and I told her of a lot of the hidden places that I've travelled to in Caledon during my explorations of our fair nation. She told me to visit the sewers again as there is more there now. We were also joined by Mr Despres, who tried his best to distract me with catnip. Nice try sir...Then he tried to distract us both with a provocative fan dance...No such luck.
I had to leave, so I do not know which one (if either) got it. Later that evening, I surprised Mr Goodliffe at his home in Caledon I. I had received a special "Solar Dragon" AV from artist Madcow Cosmos for my RL birthday (it's this Saturday!!) and thought he might like to see it. It is gorgeous, with images of the planets and stars. Do ask me to show you if you see me! I made the mistake of saying Mr Goodliffe's hair made me think of broccoli and I roared. He went in and locked his door and shut his windows. It took much coaxing to convince him I had no intention of making him an appetizer...

Merchant Talk

Last night I had a chance to really talk to longtime Caledon resident and former steward, Mr Gerami Fizz. We have shared a shop in Steelhead for quite some time now, but we've never had a chance to formally chat beyond exchanging pleasantries while out and about.

I always enjoy talking to other shopkeepers and creators. We were both in Antiquity Shouls looking at shop space and discussed retailing inworld and new creations, and he showed me a new sword he has been working on. I don't know if folks realize how much work actually goes into shops. These are by no means complaints, as I love what I do, but I think most merchants I know will say the same thing: they love creating, but the retailing part is a lot. First, you must create the piece, but then it is a matter of photographing it, boxing it, loading the vendor, and placing it in your shop space or aethernet shop.

Not to mention that your groups become eaten up by land permission groups. A good deal of my 25 groups are merchant-related. I have always felt that land owners should have a land rez permission list similar to that of the add and ban list so that they may add/remove names as necessary. And if you have multiple shops, such as Mr Fizz and I do, there is also a matter of general maintenance. Somewhere that I can just leave my vendor and--even better--not need a land group is even better! Those who know me know that I perform shopkeeping duties on Mondays. I am always prompt when customers have questions, but on Mondays I check rents and vendors, box and photograph items, and deal with general store concerns. And yes, that is my new little storefront behind me!

Mushroom Mania

And so my search continues. As I arrived at Winterfell, I appeared right at an extremely rare Elf Ear, so now I am only missing two Caledon ones and two of the new Lovelace ring ones. Those who have shroom hunted in the Realm of the Roses know how absolutely fun it is, although sometimes it can turn a little dangerous as Mr Epsilon found out...Miss Davies even became a shroom at one point and this fun avatar is for sale during shroom season...We found her in Glengarry taking a group photo of the Magic sisters...
Later, I tried to introduce Mr Eclipse to the hunting fun and met the same fate as Mr Epsilon...

Caledon RFL Swashbuckler's Auction

Ah, today is was the men's turn, and thanks to generous bidders today's Caledon RFL Swashbuckler's Men's Auction raised over L$287K, which brings Team Caledon back into 3rd place in SL overall with a total raised so far of L$1,350,700!The posters were created by portrait artist Mr Jaksoi Pak. Three of my favorite gents were brave enough to put themselves on the block today: My dear friend Sir Tele, who I actually met at and became good friends with after last year's event...
Talented steampunk inventor and my wonderful building and business partner Kheph...
And Phin, the gent who makes me rather giddy on a regular basis that I actually won my bid on!
Everyone had a good time dancing in their pirate-y best, including Dr Bob Margulies here!

Nighttime Hunting

Looking out of the windows of my Regency apartment, I realized it was nighttime and thought I would try to find some of the nighttime mushrooms that have eluded me so far. I arrived at the Eyre ring with Phin to a group that included the Duke of Murdann, Miss Davies and a gentleman whose name I have regrettably forgotten. I found only one that I did not have so far and the nighttime ones are still not within my possession. Well, I least I didn't knock myself out with a nibble this time!

'Shroom Searching!

Caledon's gone mushroom hunting crazy. Mushrooms are appearing all over the Realm of the Roses, and some only appear during the night. There are 24 documented ones, but there are rare ones out there too. Gryffin invited me to go hunting with him and I resisted at first, given my normal streaks of bad luck regarding hunts in our fair nation, but I was reassured that it would be fun...and it was! Until I took a nibble of a Caledonus Ordenalis... While in Glengarry, we were joined by Miss Discovolante and Mr Fourwzy when the Guvnah appeared and gave us a preview of things to come involving hunts in Caledon. He filled the ring with them before reassuring us that the 'shrooms will be a permanent feature and there was more fun to come!
As you can see, I did not learn my lesson well and took a nibble of a Xenobiologus Horgidae...uggghhh. Gryffin told me to quit that or I'd get grass stains...
We had a great time running all over Caledon and Winterfell waiting for the mushrooms to appear. Join the hunt!
Later on that evening, I joined Phin at the Aerodrome where Miss Wind was showing us new uniforms for the RCAF paratroopers...

Secrets of the Pyramid...

I thought I would give the Greystoke pyramid another go. You would think that I would have learned my lesson from the last time, or that my experience in the Barrow would've deterred me, but nooo...that is not the life of an adventurer!I roamed the quiet corridors, torch lit...
I looked upon art centuries old...And then, the pit--with stakes...and snakes. I took one look down at the blood-stained spikes and scrambled to make my way across the rope.
But given my inclination towards danger and jumping into unknown holes and such, I had to keep going. At one point, I watched as a personal belonging fell off of my person and took quite a while to hit the bottom. I had climbed too far by then. There was no way I was going back down for it. I was relieved when I finally made it back out into the arid desert heat. Where's my camel?!

Miss Qinan's Rez Day

I went over to my Steelhead next door neighbor, Miss Krystine Qinan's, conservatory to dance and celebrate her first Rez Day! Congrats to you! Afterwards, I moved my meadow from Regency to Laval Point in an effort to redistribute prims and it worked. Now I can put more items up in the new shop.

A Lovely Walk Through Boomtown

Between the shop move and the festival and other things, I have been so very busy inworld that I am ashamed to admit that I just got around to really taking a walk through Steelhead Boomtown! I will certainly tell you one thing, that it is just gorgeous to me compared to my own part of town, Harborside. There is more of a cohesiveness of look and it struck me as simply being quite pretty. I have talked about its central meadow before, but I walked around in general today and visited places such as the Gearz Club with its amazing floor with flowing molten metal...I had a look at the dam, which will soon have salmon ladders...
And crossed the bridge over the gorge with the dam in the distance. You should visit it as well and see how pretty it is for yourself!

Beside the River Nile

The Duke of Greystoke held a hafla dance and get-together at his wonderful Egyptian build over Caledon Greystoke for RFL. Ululations rang out, there were shouts as brave explorers were chased by a mummy in the pyramid, and dancing--lots of dancing. I made a 1860s Egyptian dancer's outfit, complete with full "Turkish-style" pants. It will be for sale in the bazaar and at my shop.
Here I am joining the Duke at the hookah...
Mr Sands looking regal...
At one point the men decided to dance for us and we women took the drums...
The Duke impressing us with his sword balancing skills...I had a lot of fun. Do stop by and enjoy the sights yourself!

Eight Wonders of Caledon Ceremony

I accompanied Prof. Phin Messmer to the Wonders of Caledon Awards ceremony in Tanglewood, as presided over by Dame Lapin and organized by Mr Denver Hax. Phin was accepting the award of behalf of his sister Zoe Connolly, whose Aerodrome in Penzance was voted the #1 Wonder of Caledon. The Grand Award went to the amazing Steam Sky City. Also awarded honors as a Wonder of Caledon were the following: Mr. Peccable's Botanical House, Mr Hubble's Planetarium in Eyre, Mr & Mrs Mordecai Scaggs' Rakehell airship, Miss Falcon's Falcon Tower in SSC, Miss Gallindo's Gaeity Theatre in Penzance and Miss Trudeau's airship in Caledon I. Congratulations to all of these deserving winners!

Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand"

I attended an inworld discussion at the Music Academy Online about composer Gustav Mahler and his choral Symphony No. 8, also known as the "Symphony of A Thousand", due to the almost 850 chorus and symphony members needed to perform it. The moderator was Juniper Eames (RL: Judith Ecklemeyer), who is a professor emerita of music history at Cleveland State U. I had the privilege of hearing this rarely performed work almost two years ago in RL and I can honestly say the experience of being literally surrounded by the performers was amazing. The music samples we were listening to and having explained to us was performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Robert Shaw, who is considered one of the greatest choral conductors of all time. It is nice to be able to experience things like this inworld.

Rezzable Garden of NPIRL Delights Open!

What has had Kheph and me building like crazy for over a week now? Our build for the Rezzable Garden of NPIRL Delights, based upon the work one of my favorite artists, Hieronymous Bosch! The Festival opens today and is a must-see with some of SL's best creators together on four sims! Other Caledonians present are Mr Darkle Sands and Miss TheDove Rhodes!My original vision was "aethereal steampunk" and inspired by the central "Earth" panel of the triptych. It has been a truly collaborative experience and every time one of us visited, the other had added something new...The builds there are amazing and I can promise you that you won't be disappointed! We had a lot of fun making this and hope you will enjoy it too! And yes...I am riding a flying fish...

Pardon the Dust! E.Laval is Moving!

I wanted to downsize. Gryffin wanted to downsize. I didn't want the gallery build or the gallery itself to go away, so I came up with a solution. I have outgrown my shop, so I bought the rights to the Inkyboy Gallery parcel from him so that I may move my shop there instead. I know I'm biased, being its builder, but it's larger and lovely and closer to the hub and Gryffin will still be able to show his work. The Guvnah stopped by and switched it all over. Exciting!

A win-win situation for everyone...

Waiting for the New Duchy

After over a week of building like crazy, Kheph & I had finally wrapped up things with our Rezzable build. Gryffin got me to take a break and listen to traditional music with him atop the pretty church on Middlesea...We then joined the Guvnah and a small group of folks expectantly waiting for the arrival of the newest sim on Penzance's Northern shore. But alas, it was not to happen just then as--much to the Guvnah's chagrin--inworld went borky. It did arrive however, and I would like to give my congratulations to Lord and Lady Primbroke, the new Duke and Duchess of Caledon Argyll.

[SOLD] Regency Parcel Available!!

SOLD!

I am selling the parcel rights to my beautiful 1536 waterside lot in Regency as I would like to relocate to another lot closer to the hub there.

It is at #10 Thornfield, Regency's main road, just at the bend. The neighbors in Regency are friendly, the architecture's pretty, and yes, you really can sail from there (I've done it!).

I am selling it for $18,432L which is the original price I purchased the land rights for from the Guvnah. You will continue to pay tier to him. It is a double prim lot with 702 prims available and if you would like to a copy of the pier with its Caledon bunting, I will be more than happy to give you one. Click HERE if you would like to visit and see the property.

Please contact me inworld if you are interested. Thank you!

A Meadow Grows in Boomtown

Inspired by my personal meadow, Mr Eclipse has created a lovely wild beautiful thing of a park in Steelhead Boomtown. Stop through to see it for yourself...

The Nation Grows

The Guvnah sent out a cryptic message on the main chat, giving only a hint of "something to do with cats." Of course, most of us assumed it had something to do with his "thing" for neko catgirls, but actually...it's an island! He created the Saint Kitt islands as Caledon's first Crown Colony, where those of us in the Caledon group can rez and build as he creates on a higher altitude above! Here I am with fellow Steelheaders Miss Hilra and Mr Eclipse, Baron Wulfenbach and Miss 713 Ayres...Afterwards, I went to Laval Point in Harborside for a moment. Mr Eclipse had recently landscaped the common area of the Point and I love to watch the waves crashing onto the rocks...

Follow the Yellow Brick Road...

To Emerald City in Steelhead! I rummaged through my closet and found my Dorothy costume and had a nice time dancing with my Steelhead neighbors!

Congrats to You Eds!

A group of us gathered to congratulate Edwina on Hoy, her new void sim in Otenth's Wyre region...Along with Mr Jameson Despres of the Shapinsay sim on the other side, Wyre has expanded! Dia, Sir Zen, and later Mr Despres gathered for easy conversation and laughter on a hillside overlooking Wyre. I look forward to many get-togethers and much swooning!

A Very Busy Elle...

I've been rather busy when I am inworld lately and that is good as it is keeping my mind off of my very good friend inworld Vittorio's RL serious car accident and hospitalization.

I am involved in the Rezzable Garden of NPIRL Delights, inspired by the painting by Hieronymous Bosch. When I was in Madrid, forget "Guernica", forget "Las Meninas" or Goya's "3rd of May" (all fantastic unto themselves btw)...El Bosco was who I wanted to see! My build is a true collaborative effort with Kheph, and we can't talk about it much or show build photos until after it opens on the 16th. This photo here is a recent meeting of many of the builders and collaborators.

Just trust me when I say this will be a spectacular, SL must-see event!