Hi. Of course ‘Flower Fairy’ isn’t my real name! 🙂 It was something I picked for my Second Life avatar to reflect the sort of character I wished to represent, and also be a reflection on my real life personality.

You can all call me ‘Flo’, though! It will be easier than calling me ‘Flower Fairy’.

I should begin by saying I’m in my mid-20s, and grew up in communes in places like Denmark and Wales by alternative lifestyle parents, an English father and Polish mother. I guess my life has always been beyond  most people’s usual conventions. Home schooled until I was 18 when I undertook a conventional baccalaureate and embarked on a conventional degree course which I finished a couple of years ago.

That communal lifestyle did have some aspects of it that were very unconventional, I suppose. I was taught by my parents that a naked body is not something to be ashamed of, and I’ve been comfortable with nudity since before I had memory or understanding of what nudity was. Even the awkward puberty stage wasn’t something that presented any horrors to me, and I watched my friends, male and female, develop from girls and boys into men and women, with an easy sense of being comfortable with both their and my casual nudity.

I’m not a naturist within any sense of how you might regard your naturism. Nakedness has always been part of my life, and I’m fine with that. I have visited nudist beaches and had no fears undressing, so in that sense I am the same sort of naturist as you are. But when growing up, certainly in summer in commune life, it wouldn’t be unknown for me, or others, to go days or weeks without wearing clothes at all. There wouldn’t either be any feeling of shame when naked if others were clothed.

I feel as if I could write much, much more about myself, but perhaps it’s better if I allow myself to become known over the next few posts I make.

Flo

Hi, Gigi has just posted her first post. Flo (Flower Fairy) will follow tomorrow.

I didn’t realise how much work  there was to replicate Ella’s posting style and keep some continuity. I apologise for that. Ella made it effortless. I have been on a learning curve. I think we’ve cracked it between myself, Gigig and Flo.

I can now go back to being the publisher and nothing aelse. Thanks s for your paritience.

Howie

Hi, I’m Gigi, and I’ll be taking over from Ella (with co-editor Flo) at SL Naturist. First thing you need to know about me is yes, I’m a real life naturist with many years holiday experience behind me in France, Spain, Croatia and Germany (mostly thermal centres in Germany, more than resort/beach experiences) as well as some here at home in England. I’ve also been something of a semi-regular reader of SL Naturist over the length of my 3 and a half year Second Life.

As for my name? I’ve been a long term fan of Audrey Hepburn, whose breakthrough came in Gigi (on stage and on screen). And Audrey’s mother was Baroness Van Heemstra. So I put the two together to create a Second Life persona which I played in Second Life in the early months. Although I guess that my own personality is much more to the fore than Audrey’s. It was also the case that my own name was ‘taken’ in Second Life and so I was required to adopt a new name. It worked out OK, as Gigi offers a patina of glamour absent from my real name 🙂

Reprising the ‘Audrey’ look I wore almost constantly in the first few months of my SL.

I’m not quite like Audrey’s demure personality in real life, though. I can’t imagine Audrey having tattoos, can you? I have two, one on each shoulder. And for my birthday a couple of years back I decided, at a relatively advanced age, to get my first piercing (beyond my ears, which have been pierced since I was a teen). That belly piercing was something that I liked so much that I’ve more recently had my nipples pierced and also a clit piercing. None of which I could imagine Audrey doing! And I can’t quite believe that I’m telling you so many intimate details straight away.

Of course, having been a semi-regular reader of SL Naturist over the past three years I was entirely aware that Ella did share a little bit of home life on the blog, so to that extent I’m merely following the conventions she set. What I and Flo intend to do is initially steady the ship, for it to be ‘as you were’, while we establish our own style. We’re also agreed that we shall initially attempt to do one blog entry per week, each, so don’t expect an upturn in the volume of posts. As I’ve said, we will establish our own style and volume of blogging in due course.

I am pleased, though, to get my first post out of the way and move forward in establishing my own style on SLN

Gigi

No posts from the new girls yet, as I finally took the decision to move off the Eden Naturopolis estate after several years of living there. The destruction that occurred following Brenda and Elbag’s effective eviction, something Ella alluded to in one of her final posts, was the reason why. It no longer feels vibrant or alive in the same way it did when under previous management.

I’ve got somewhere new that will serve as SL Naturist HQ, so I took the opportunity to give the girls some building rights so they can effectively create the space they need and want to make SLN a continuing success. We all know ho SL time can sometimes be limited, so the girls have been helping me build, rather than spend time on actually posting stuff. But they’ve both filed their initial posts, and trust me when I say that I feel SLN will be in safe hands.

Posts to follow from both Flo and Gigi next week!

Howie

Hi everyone.

I’m not a writer, so I’ll keep this brief. It was pretty clear immediately when I stuck that poll thing up that you, the readers, wanted SL Naturist to continue. It’s a difficult decision for me because this blog WAS Ella as far as I’m concerned. But I took a punt on her a lot of years ago to lead the blog and it was an inspired choice. The poll wasn’t questioned as accurately as it could have been as I’m preaching to the converted. But 61 in favour? Wow! I never imagined the blog had that much reach.

I’ve put feelers out amongst friends and fellow travellers regarding anyone who might like to pick up the mantle of editor. In the end, I’ve decided we will keep the blog going, despite my own reservations, I imagined we’d run our course, and was already thinking about a new blogging SL experience, and I’ve appointed two people to the role of running the blog. It’s always difficult to know if anyone will have stickability, and Ella found that out when seeking help in the past. Some people delivered. Others liked the idea of it until the work required became apparent. Gigi and FlowerFairy (who will be known as Flo) are the two ladies I’ve picked out because both showed abilities to write and have previously blogged for SL blogs and real life blogs so there was evidence they could do it.

Both will introduce themselves tomorrow, or Sunday, and I can go back to simply running the thing in the background.

Thank you to everyone for your continuing support for this blog. Equally, it’s testament to the brand that Ella grew, and I thank her for that.

Howie.