The Dickens Project And Party At The Bellisseria Fairgrounds

 
By Gemma Cleanslate

The first minute you enter the Square at the Dickens Project, you know you are in a different time and space.  Pick up the map and wonderful TP hud in poster near the Gazebo. 

This will take you to places you will want to visit with much ease.

The Gazebo has a few offices and stores around it . Visit them. On the walls of two stores are wonderful free outfits to help you get into the era that is being celebrated here , one for men, one for women. You will feel much more comfortable clothed for the era and they are very smart.

To tour the nearby area before you use the hud take a leisurely coach ride and view the environs near by. It will take you by important places from Dickens books.

Every year it is a pleasure to see what is old and new in the project. This year there is a whole new region exposing the coal mining of the day. Find Sultan the horse  and take a tour of the mines themselves and then walk nearby to see the housing and other building associated with life then. 

If you want to attend an event during the week here is a schedule to check  https://irelandslstory.blogspot.com/p/dickens-events-calendar.html

If you have time explore the buildings surrounding the Christmas Past Square. I found two galleries , one with people who have played Scrooge across the ages, and one with posters from familiar remakes of the story in cartoon and film. On the way back if you walk stop into some of the homes along the way to experience some of the decor of the past.There is plenty of food almost everywhere you go!

I made it to an area I had missed in past years I guess,  a fascinating display and education of horses of the Victorian age . Find a tp at the stable near the homes. If you use the hud it is on there. There are so many locales for you to visit. I will leave some for you to find. This is a wonderful project and I hope it continues for many years. There is much to learn here  thanks to the Seanchai Library and the whole staff under the direction of Caledonia Skytower.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Dickens%20Project/125/118/22

Saturday I went to a holiday ball at the Bellisseria Fairgrounds. 

It was elegant and so well attended by many in formal dress dancing to the music of  FAR (fwdfwd Farslider) DJ while I was there .

The whole event was arranged by Giselle Lacombe.  I told her how lovely everything was and she explained the she had done it all with  help from Christhiana  of Needful Prims. She was really shocked by the response at the ball and I heard her exclaim later, ”When I had this crazy idea to do  this, I never thought it would turn out like this! You all are incredible.” It was lovely !

I think this will be my last article before Christmas so I want  to say Happy Holidays to all the readers of the SL Newser . If you are stuck where you are, rely on memories of past Christmas days that were so enjoyable and look forward to a better time coming. Our lives here in second life are safe!  I am telling Santa to grant you all your wishes!

Gemma Cleanslate

Caledon's Thirteenth Anniversary

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Tuesday February 26, Caledon celebrated it's thirteenth anniversary. Caledon enjoys the distinction of being the largest Steampunk-themed community in terms of land area and residents. And on this day and evening, it would be celebrating it's birthday.

At 1PM and 4PM SL time, there was the "Party at the Pub" at the Book and Tankard Pub in Victoria City. At 7PM, the celebrations moved to the Dragon Ballroom hundreds of meters over the Caledon OnSea sim for the 13th Anniversary Ball.

The ballroom had a decorative fountain in the middle. It was fitting that there were lit candles for a birthday celebration.

Caledon's governor Desmond Shang, known locally as "The Guv," was among those there.

He had a dance animation that made him look a bit whimsical.

There were a few conversations on the dance floor, "No the church invented shame, the Victorians added to it." "The Church invented shame. The Victorians made it a sexual fetish." I thought it was, 'Gotta have my corn pops.'"

As it turned out, someone's pet in real life was having a birth on this birthday, "Tonight, one of my guinea pigs gave birth. We wanted to name the pups after Caledonian regions. ... One of them is albino. I'm gonna name that one Desmond." That got the attention of "The Guv," "Does he have glasses?" "Not yet, but piercing red eyes."

At 10PM, the Anniversary Ball wrapped up, and it was time for the "Late Night Caledon/CCB Birthday Bash." The location of this last event was "sooper sekrit," so it wasn't revealed until that evening. As it turned out, it was underground. I was shown a secret entrance to some passages, and went down.

I had to go past a fancy doorway or two. As one put it, "Wow, it's a real secret lair, it has one of these iris doors!"

 Since part of the fun of secret passages is the location of the entrances being secret, readers will have to ask the Caledonins where one is. Someone would later say, "I got VERY lost and ended up in Kamilah's secret ballroom instead."

Eventually I noticed activity, and it was inside this rather catty underground secret venue.

Desmond joked, "Shhhhh! this is the catgirl dungeon!"

The floor had a symbol of a black cat over a gear, over Caledon's colors.

Some of the people were a bit on the catty side as well.

Including one taur. "Trilby, you have the cute centaur on."

And a neko. "You're the cat's meow yourself."

And of course in a Caledon anniversary event in a feline-themed venue, Vicerine Kamiliah Hauptman showed up.

Lady Aev (Aevalle Galicia) remarked, "I've had so much fun putting this place together." Another lady responded, "I love the cat tree next to me here too (grin)." Lady Aev grinned back, "There's also the trapeze hoops above us, if you want to play on those."

JJ Drinkwater was joking about, "Killer warrior catgirl fembots from Mars."

There were a few jokes about mindwiping the guests to make sure the location of the place stayed secret. That of course never happened. Just a "gentlemen's agreement" to keep quiet about just where it was.

There were a number of conversations about Caledon and things. Lady Aev was saying she was writing a book, "It was a good way to work out my rage during NanoWrimo. (laughter)" Someone responded, "Should have a book club and meet every week when it comes out." JJ Drinkwater suggested, "Would Madame The Author consider doing a reading?" Lady Aev answered, "Probably wouldn't be a good idea, JJ. Southern drawl meets Sidhe. Not a good match. (grin)" One lady joked, "Well, as long as you don't go 'pew pew pew!' to imitate clashing swords, you'll do much better than some narrators I've heard." "Swords don't pew!" "'Pew! Pew! pew!' is a raygun sound." "Depends where they've been." "Just say your from the Appalachian."

"And all those people calling me weird and confused and I say how dare you say things about me that are completely true!"

Eventually, the hour got late, Desmond himself saying, "I'm getting even more giddy, almost never stay up this late ... so if I'm acting weird that's why." And soon people started leaving. "Happy 13th everybody, thank you Des for making our realm, and we're teenagers now!" "I was expecting the 13th Anniversary seal to say 'You don't understand me!' and recite emo poetry when clicked."

Before I left, the place started changing color. With the jokes about memory wipes, I figured it was time to make my exit.

 I looked around the underground tunnels a little first. Here was a nice little rest stop.

Two days later, the celebrations continued at Cynthia Farshore's Goblin Cave in Caledon Downs.

Yours truly was too busy to attend, so I sent Rezzdammit to get a picture.

Due to events elsewhere in Second Life, Rezz couldn't stay there for long. Cynthia would send me this picture of the party at another time.

On Saturday March 2, Caledon would have it's last anniversary events, both Mardi Gras themed. At 1PM was the "Skull and Bones Revelry." At 5PM was a parade.

 The parade would go across fourteen sims. starting in Caledon Kittiwickshire.

There were a number of vehicles, floats, balloons, and more in the parade.

As well as horses.

And horse-drawn carriages.

The parade would go down the route through the sims.

The parade ended in Port Caledon.

Following the parade was a party for both participants and watchers.

A fun time was had by all.

Happy Anniversary Caledon

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted: Scenes From Caledon's Anniversary

Pictures from Cynthia Farshore

Monday February 26 was the 12th anniversary ball of the Independent State of Caledon. Among those there was Cynthia Farshore, who took a number of pictures.