Daily Archives: March 24, 2014

Flamingoes

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Occasionally, when in Spain, I’ll witness a couple of flamingoes flying parallel to the beach. They’re on their way down to Cabo de Gata National Park, where there are nesting/breeding grounds. I have to confess I don’t know a lot about birds or birdwatching.

There are a couple of naturist beaches within the park itself, but I’ve never visited them. It’s still nice to see less common wildlife ‘on the wing’, though, and we keep promising ourselves a drive down there some time and match a bit of naturist sea & sunbathing to connecting with wildlife.

Not so much in the way of wildlife breeding/nesting grounds in SL, but Diane took a model along to an SL zoo, where we got this photo of a naturist ‘communing’ with flamingoes. I think the lesson here is ‘look hard enough and you’ll find all manner of human (and wild) life is available in SL’.

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In case you aren’t sure…here’s the real thing, wading around in the real Cabo de Gata.

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Ella

Mud, mud, glorious mud.

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Mud, mud, glorious mud,

there’s nothing quite like it for cooling the blood

So sang popular (in the UK) 1950s/60s ‘music hall’ act Flanders & Swann. You can see/hear them performing the song in question here. (It’s actual title is ‘The Hippopotamus Song’).

Now, we naturists have a thing about mud. We can’t wallow around in it enough, it seems!

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And why not? Mud baths have long been associated with providing health benefits, and many of France’s naturist resorts will have some sort of spa on-site where residents can indulge themselves in all manner of hydro-therapy treatments, mud baths and massage. But even away from a more organised ‘well being’ sense of a mud bath making you feel cleansed and refreshed, we -naturists- also seem to enjoy rolling around in it too. Not just naturists…there’s textile mud baths around the globe where people enjoy the experience of being enveloped in the stuff!

Cards on the table here. It’s something I’ve never done. More through a lack of opportunity than lack of desire. Oh, sure, I’ve gone for spa weekends with girlfriends (generally as part of a ‘hen do’ -readers around the globe may know these as ‘bachelorette parties’) but frankly the idea of wearing a swimsuit in one of these places seems to defeat the purpose. So that’s on my naturist ‘bucket list’.

In the context of SL, I’ve not yet seen a ‘mud’ layer for a skin (probably would be best designed as a tattoo layer), nor have I seen any any ‘mud baths’ either in the wilds, or as part of an SL spa, so I can’t really give you SL photos of that experience. A few years ago ‘mud wrestling’ seemed to be popular at some of SL’s naturist locations, but that’s not quite the same thing. So a mud bath is something I’ve not been able to try in SL either! Maybe someone will come up with a mud skin tattoo layer soon, and then we can replicate this RL naturist experience in SL.

Ella.

Edited to add…Shortly after posting this I was surfing some SL blogs and noticed the Kirstentacular blog had a gardening scene in which a tattoo layer called ‘digging in the dirt’ was used to denote mud on several parts of the avi’s body. So far my attempts to locate Miss Shippe’s Studio in world have come up blank, as has this tattoo layer on Miss Shippe’s marketplace presence. I’ll keep looking and get back to you.

No Swimsuit Day

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Dimanche 29 juin 2014, c’est la “Journée sans Maillot”

Sunday, June 29, 2014 is the “Day without Swimsuit”

I’ve previously been aware that Spanish naturists have a day where they promote a ‘dia sin ropa’ (a day without swimsuits -it’s in July) but I’ve just recently learned that the French have an equivalent, a ‘journee sans maillot’.

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As far as I’m aware, the International Naturist Federation try to promote naturism by encouraging people (naturist and non naturist alike) to leave their swimsuit at home and just use their birthday suit for swimming and sunbathing, even if the beach is ‘textile’.

I recently heard a rumour that the Spanish variant, in the Vera Playa area, is to include and entire weekend of events, with a nude run through the area on the Saturday, another attempt to break the World Skinny Dip record on the Sunday (the actual ‘dia sin ropa’ -day without swimsuits) and then the nearby water park block-booked on Monday for the exclusive use of naturists. Still waiting for confirmation of this, and still considering us heading out there for that weekend, but I’ve not booked yet. I think it all sounds like an extremely exciting, positive range of events that can only show naturism in a positive light.

Even if we don’t make it out for the weekend, we’ll certainly be covering both the French version in June, and the Spanish version, in July here on SLN!

Ella

please note: if you hear of other national naturist associations doing anything similar, let me know and we’ll do our best to a) keep the readership informed and b) do our usual ‘replication in SL’ coverage.

Fab Free 30 Days List

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The Fab Free 30 Days List has been updated! I’m not in a postion to avail, but there’s some fab (free) items to gather if you’re a new avatar. Even naturists need a wardrobe, and I note that some of the stops on the updated list include skins and hair, so there’s no excuse not to have a fab (free) looking avatar whether you’re clothed or naked.wendy2930_001b

 

Harry says…‘I tp’ed over to the current new player landing point and, in open chat, asked if anyone wanted free skins/hair to make themselves look better. I got little positive response, and I guess that was on the basis that people are naturally suspicious of others’ agendas. Which is reasonable enough. I would have been the same in their position. Eventually, however, I did get one new avatar to agree. I did position my agenda -‘can I take a nude photo of you for the blog’- upfront, mind! 30 minutes later, the new avatar had lost her handbag and ginger hair, and was in possession of a good looking skin and hair from stores on the 30 Days List. I think she was rather pleased to have taken the chance on trusting me in the end. I’d suggest that new avatars, if they don’t wish to trust a stranger with a camera, work their way through the list from top to bottom and get an inventory full of good looking fashion sorted out as their top priority. 30 days goes by so quickly! The lady’s ‘payment’ for agreeing was a decent sized wardrobe, and I provided her with a portfolio of photos for her to use as she wishes, plus a profile pic’.

There you are ladies (and gents). Great advice. Yes, Harry is correct. Bookmark the 30 days list and begin to work your way through it, pronto!

Pookes