Don’t forget: scheduled maintenance means daily restarts Nov 17th-21st, 2014

Don’t forget that the coming week (commencing Monday, November 17th, 2014) will see all regions on the main SL grid undergoing daily restarts – which may occur more than once for each region.

The restarts are a part of grid-wide maintenance which requires all of the sim host servers to be inspected, with work commencing at 07:00 SLT every morning from Monday through Friday.

The Grid Status announcement on the work reads in full:

Scheduled Maintenance

[Posted 10:00 AM PST, 14 November 2014] Beginning Monday, November 17, we will be undertaking a full week of scheduled maintenance.  This maintenance will take place at approximately 7:00 AM each day next week. Each region will be subject to one or more restarts, as its host takes its turn for inspection.  A five-minute warning will be broadcast for each restarting region. Additional warnings will be broadcast to regions where multiple restarts are necessary. Please be cautious about going AFK for extended periods in the middle of build sessions or handling no-copy objects, as you may miss the shutdown warnings. Please keep an eye on this blog for further updates.

 

Art in a park – and it’s me (at least in part)!

Art In The Garden - Kirsten Smith
Art In The Garden – Kirsten Smith

OK… time for full disclosure. The following is a mini-review of a place I previewed earlier in the month, and which is now open to the public. I have a vested interest in re-visiting and covering it, as it features some of my work, in what amounts to my first gallery-style display with art for sale.

At the start of November, I wrote about the redevelopment of Holly Kai Park, a public space on the region of Holly Kai, to the north of Blake Sea. As I noted at the time, the new and expanded park offers a lot of amenities to visitors: one hour quayside rezzing time (so you can leave your boat safely moored while exploring), a beach area, parkland, trails to wander, an events space, and places to sit and rest.

Art In The Garden - Kirsten Smith - Marga
Art In The Garden – Marga

The Park is also the home for a new gallery space – Art In The Garden, and I’ve had the honour of being invited to participate in the inaugural exhibition, which had yet to go on display when I first visited the park to write my preview about it0.

Artwork by Yany O’Real, Kirsten Smith, Em Larsson, Elvira Kytori, Marga, Mirabelle Sweetwater, RickerR, Io Bechir, Carelyna, Madi Fray, and Bambi Foxdale is on display throughout the park, together with efforts by yours truly. Taken together, it offers variety of themes and styles, ranging from photography through painting to pen-and-ink, featuring landscapes, portraits, wildlife, and a touch of abstract.

Art In The Garden - Yany O'Real
Art In The Garden – Yany O’Real

Pieces are displayed so that they encourage visitors to explore the park, following the various paths and trails, with each artist being displayed in a specific location, almost like individual display spaces within a gallery. While all of the art can be seen whether you start from either the west or east side moorings, I’d recommend starting on the east side of the park (if there is space to moor there, should you come by boat), and then follow the route as indicated on the maps there.

If you’re looking for art for your home, all of the pieces on display are available for sale, and I believe all are modify, and so can be resized, offering flexibility of placement. There is also an Art In The Garden group, with free enrolment, you can join to keep abreast of events and activities related to the gallery.

Art In The Garden - Yep, and yours truly ...
Art In The Garden – Yep, and yours truly …

If you’re looking for a new gallery to enjoy, Art In The Park may well offer you exactly what you’re seeking, complete with the opportunity to meet with friends, chill out under the park awnings and even, should you have one available, rezz a boat and take a trip around the local islands.

I admit to feeling very privileged at being included in the gallery’s first exhibition, the pieces on display from the other artists are of an amazing standard (and I’ve quite fallen for Yany O’Real’s sea and sailing paintings). My efforts aside, a great place to visit.

Related Links

 

Stories from childhood, tales of kidnapping and adventure, and legends from the sea

It’s time to kick-off another week of fabulous story-telling in voice, brought to Second Life and Kitely by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library.

As always, all times SLT / PDT, and unless otherwise stated, events will be held on the Seanchai Library’s home on Imagination Island, or at their Kitely Homeworld.

Sunday November 16th

Having solved the mystery of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes and Watson are taking a well-earned end-of-year break to recharge their mental faculties and (hopefully) enjoy some festive faire. They’ll be returning to Seanchai Library in the New Year, doubtless with a tale yet to be heard within the Library’s hallowed walls.

Monday November 17th, 19:00: Witches, Magic and Other Strange Things

Gyro Muggins returns with new tales to tell.

Tuesday November 18th,19:00: The Thanksgiving Visitor

Capote1First published in 1967 in McCalls magazine, and then printed in book form the following year by Random House, The Thanksgiving Dinner is a further tale by Truman Capote focusing on a young boy called Buddy.

It forms one of three semi-autobiographical short stories written by Capote focused on Buddy, and which also feature Buddy’s older cousin, “Sook”, his best friend, said to be based on Capote’s older cousin, Nanny Rumbley Faulk. As such, it sits between A Christmas Memory (originally published in 1956) and One Christmas, (originally published in 1982).

All three stories in the series received a mix critical response when they first appeared, with one member of his own family stating, after reading a Thanksgiving Dinner,  that Capote had “invented” a trouble childhood, although he and Buddy share much in common – both suffered their parent’s divorce, both were sent to Alabama to be raised by relatives. Others have accused Captoe of “romanticising” his past. Nevertheless as works of fiction, they offer a trio of intriguing tales, with The Thanksgiving Dinner carrying a particular message on the the subject of harassment and revenge. Read by Faerie Maven-Pralou.

Wednesday November 19th, 19:00: Kidnapped

KidnappedCaledonia Skytower continues reading from one of Robert Louis Stevenson’s most well-known works. First published in serial form in the magazine Young Folks
between May and July 1886, Kidnapped is perhaps best summarised by simply giving the story its original full title:

Kidnapped: Being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: How he was Kidnapped and Cast away; his Sufferings in a Desert Isle; his Journey in the Wild Highlands; his acquaintance with Alan Breck Stewart and other notorious Highland Jacobites; with all that he Suffered at the hands of his Uncle, Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws, falsely so-called: Written by Himself and now set forth by Robert Louis Stevenson

When first published, due in part to its title, the book was at first thought to have been autobiographical, and David Balfour a real person. This impression was added to by the fact that several of the characters – including the Alan Breck Stewart mentioned in the title – were real people, while a part of the story involves matters related to the very real Appin Murder, which followed the Jacobite Rising of 1745. The novel has also drawn strong comparisons with the true-life story of James Annesley, which also influenced Sir Walter Scott in writing his Guy Mannering.

Thursday November 20th

09:00 The Last Mermaid

Shandon Loring resumes reading from Shana Abé’s novel containing three haunting and seductive loves stories which reach beyond time, featuring one of the more romantic legends of the sea – mermaids -, with all three stories connected by a locket as they span the ages.

mermaid“531 AD: The tiny island of Kell is said to be enchanted, inhabited by an extraordinary creature who comforts shipwrecked sailors passing into the next world. Prince Aedan of the Isles believes in no such nonsense—until he awakens on Kell itself and meets the sensuous siren who rescued him from the sea.

“1721: Ronan MacMhuirich, Earl of Kell, is the target of an unlikely assassin: Leila, a mysterious woman from an exotic land. But his irresistibly beautiful would-be slayer is in just as much danger as Ronan when she falls for this man with a magic of his own.

“2004: What do you do when you inherit a Scottish island you never knew existed—and find yourself pursued by a handsome stranger who wants to buy it from you? That’s what happens to Ruri Kell when she accepts Iain MacInnes’s invitation to visit her birthright, and listens to a proposition as sinfully tempting as everything else about him.

21:00 Seanchai Late Night

With Finn Zeddmore.

Saturday November 22nd, Seanchai Kitely

09:00 Tales from the Sea

I believe that Shandon Loring will be returning to Seanchai Kitely with further tales from the sea and featuring mermaids – check back with the Seanchai blog for details in the week!

10:00: Beat to Quarters

beat-to-quartersCaledonia Skytower continues reading this tale from C.S. Forester’s Hornblower series.

June 1808, somewhere west of Nicaragua, Captain Horatio Hornblower commands the 36-gun HMS Lydia, sailing under unusual orders from the Admiralty: to ally His Majesty’s Navy with an insane Spanish landowner against the Spanish colonial government and find a water route across the Central American isthmus.

Nor is that all; Hornblower also has orders to locate the Natividad, a Spanish 50-gun ship of the line and either “take, sink or destroy” her. His orders make it perfectly clear that the Admiralty will not accept any failure in the mission, informing Hornblower that a court-martial awaits him should he be unsuccessful.

For Hornblower, the orders are tough enough; but matters are barely improved when, with his wife far away in England, he finds himself distracted by the presence aboard ship of Lady Barbara Wellesley, a passenger he is obliged to allow onto the Lydia at Panama.

 

Again, please note both of these sessions are at Seanchai’s Kitely homeworld, as indicated in the title link, above.

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Please check with the Seanchai Library SL’s blog for updates and for additions or changes to the week’s schedule. The featured charity for November – December is Heifer International, which is working with communities to end world hunger and poverty and to care for the Earth.

Related Links