In previous years, my RL naturist season might have been underway by now.

Looking through the archives, that was certainly the case last year.

This year, winter continues to cling on, with almost zero temperatures for days in a row, frost and snow by night, high winds and an arctic vortex blast dubbed ‘the beast from the east’.

We’ve had two periods of this weather sweeping in, with a third promised for the middle of next week.

So no naturism in real life yet this year, despite us having the Spring Equinox last week and British Summertime daylight hours coming into effect overnight.

However, the new naturist season is upon us, in theory, and I’ve been working more behind the scenes than blogging in recent weeks, with some ideas for the summer ahead of us.

So without further ado, let me present Amaris, who has joined the writing team on SLN.

Amaris doesn’t describe herself as ‘naturist’ but will, instead, be writing about topics that are part of the naturist lifestyle, such as yoga and meditation, diet and exercise and how -while SL may not offer direct benefits from these- will perhaps point to locations in SL where such practices occur and where we, as avatars, can visit in order to educate ourselves in matters that may improve our real lives.

‘While I wouldn’t say I’m a naturist’, Amaris says, ‘I’ve no problem at all getting naked in certain contexts. I like hiking, for example, and I’ve stripped off to swim in rivers and lakes on hot afternoons, in mixed-gender company. So I may even grace the pages of SLN in my skin!’

I’ve another new writer to introduce to you, and I’ll do that next week. And while Pookes is back in SL now that motherhood has established a proper routine, she says she won’t come back to the blog on a full time basis, but is happy to contribute the odd piece of writing and photos. With these additions I hope we can up the volume of posts that have become sporadic in recent weeks.

Ella

Previous posts on the practice of nude swimming at ‘the Y’ are exceptionally popular, months and years after they were written.

I’m of the opinion that the ‘nude male, clothed female’ angle is a total myth, but it’s certain that nude, male only swimming was considered standard practice in the past. Curious when there’s none of that now, and we live in more ‘liberal’ times, allegedly, while a less liberal era -the post war years- saw it as quite normal.

Our model emerges naked from the ‘Y’s’ pool

Someone’s CFNM fantasy, but almost certainly not a real life scenario at the ‘Y’ or anywhere else.

Ella

I dropped into Lake Nekid resort earlier and noticed a trampoline has been installed since my last visit. It’s something I’ve never done before in SL and it was kind of fun. This got me to thinking if naked trampolining is a thing that is do-able in real life, so I did some research.

It looks like it’s a little bit of a theme, but not really something that seems to be much of a thing in naturism, oddly enough.

Ella

A story this week on the BBC’s web pages is of our Foreign Office’s (i.e. Department of the Exterior/State Department) advice to travellers abroad. Occasionally we’ll read stories advising Britons not to travel to some of the world’s war zones, for quite obvious reasons, or rethinking their holidays in the wake of, for example, a terrorist atrocity. It’s a little more surprising to read of the FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) issuing reminders on more mundane etiquette abroad, such as E-cigs being banned in Thailand.

It was in the wake of reading this story that I became aware of a British nurse, in 2014, being arrested in Sri Lanka for sporting a Buddha tattoo, despite being a practicing Buddhist herself.

And, of course, there are regular stories of backpackers posing naked at religious shrines around the world, a ‘stunt’ that can often land the perpetrators in hot water!

Imagine combining a Buddha tattoo with some public nudity at a religious shrine…

…in SL all things are possible. It’s not something I’d recommend for RL. Even in SL some might take offence, for either ‘indiscretion’. No intention to offend is intended by the above photo, but even if our model had been dressed, the chances are her tattoo, alone, might offend.

While being an enthusiastic naturist in RL & SL, I always try to ensure I never offend, and that goes for SL too. It’s not to everyone’s taste, and it’s inappropriate when going shopping in SL, never mind visiting other types of sim. So, as in RL, practice good manners in SL when visiting sims. In RL, offence can get you arrested, jailed, deported. In SL it can get you banned from a sim. Enjoy your naturism in SL, but take care to display good manners to others’ feelings too.

Ella

Here’s a surprise!

I’ve been alerted to a new ‘nudist’ sim in SL called Hot Moon.

Just as interesting than the fact that we have a photo-essay featuring it is the fact that it is Pookes, formerly a correspondent in this parish, that provides it. Yes, she’s back -to SL, if maybe not to SLN (just?) yet. Oh, believe me when I say I’d love to have her come back on board.

Anyway, it looks like a lovely, photogenic sim with lots of different activities, and one I’ll be personally checking out in the near future.

Ella

Plunging into icy waters or running naked through the snow isn’t my first thought regarding naturist activity, but it appears someone swears by it! 

Ella

I’ve been reading about a naked cycle protest that has taken place in Brazil.

This is to protests against reckless driving, with 37 cyclists having been killed in Sao Paolo alone in 2017.

As is often the case, it’s the act of nudity that can still make such protests ‘newsworthy’.

Ella

Howie, the ‘publisher’ of SL Naturist, retired and moved to Spain a couple of years ago. A symbol of good luck in the area is Indalo Man.

As several of his naturist friends sport Indalo Man tattoos, Howie decided to get one done. But he didn’t want some huge ink statement, rather a little inking that would be private except in a naturist context. And thus, I’ve created one and he’s applied it to his avatar to replicate his real life! So small, it’s practically impossible to see, and it does apparently be invisible if he’s ‘natural’ down there, if you know what I mean!

The Indalo Man symbol as seen across Almeria

I don’t think tattooing is a skill I necessarily wish to pursue much further, unless friends ask me to do one, but it was an interesting exercise in developing SL skills. Normal service returns, with us concentrating on naturist activity on and off grid, next week.

Ella

No real posts this week as I’ve busied myself with a new skill…designing tattoos for SL. Why? A friend, a recent arrival in SL, was surmising how she could apply tattoos as based on her real life tattoos, onto her avatar. Being a little bit more experienced in these things, I said I’d give it a go, despite having no experience in how to do it!

She’s quite pleased with the results, and I’ve learnt a new skill! 🙂 I’m not 100% entirely happy with the results, the upper back tattoo shows a ‘shadow’ rather than being entirely transparent, for example, but it’s nice to be able to do something for someone, and also pick up a new skill at the same time. It’s something I’ve wanted to try to do in SL for some time -create- and it’s the first step in me maybe being able to create other stuff that will have some naturist relevance. Not everything that would be RL naturist is freely available in SL, so maybe it’s time to try that out and maybe stick some of them up on the Marketplace?

Baby steps first, though.

Ella