It's Midsummer's Eve 2017

Bock in SecondLife wishes all it's wonderful 

and sexy readers a very happy Midsummer!

And the Winner Is...

Yesterday I posted a picture puzzle and asked if you could guess the meaning of the pictures.

You were asked to post your guesses in the comments.

The pictures depicted were the following:

1. Three Swedish football fans (Their nationality is shown by them being painted in the blue and yellow colors of the Swedish flag and wearing the jersey of the Swedish National football team)
2. A blazing sun
3. Six varieties of pickled herring (It should have been at least seven, sorry for that...)
4. A bundle of freshly harvested chives
5. New potatoes, with skin still on, boiled with dill
6. A bottle of aquavit (an alcoholic spirit, made from potatoes, that gets it distinctive taste from spices or herbs)

Thank you Ricco Saenz and Kahvy Smith for taking part in my little game. The answer I was aiming for to this riddle was indeed "Happy Midsummer!"

Now without further ado, let me announce the following...

And the winners are...

*Bwow-Chcka-Bwow-Ba-Doom*

Mrrs. Ricco Saenz and Kahvy Smith!

Congratulations guys, you have both won a handmade Jester's Hat in Multicolored Rhinestone by BMcM™. 

Keep the object safe in your Inventories for a while and you will make a fortune some day, I am quite certain of that!

Second Pride Festival Starts Today

The Second Pride Festival 2016 starts today!

This is going to be so fun and exciting! I'm sure it will be "the best Pride ever", somehow that is mostly the feeling I walk away with at the end of every festival.

Just being there, meeting the people you like but still haven't seen much of since last Pride because our timezones are different and our circles don't overlap. Every year it is also exciting to make new friends - who may become "Pride friends" but, with any luck, closer.

Bock in SecondLife is going to be there - of course - and I will eagerly report back to you almost everything I encounter, but perhaps a bit more sparsely this year as I will not start my vacation until Midsummer's Eve, which is next Friday.

To celebrate the Pride Festival I have made a blog header of my own, I forgot to consult my clever and talented husband Tomais in time. I am graphically challenged but it will suffice for the coming nine days.

I hope to see you all at Bock in SecondLife's booth at Second Pride South or at the blog's event on this Saturday, 2-4PM SLT, when I and Kahvy are starting a new tradition - hopefully - with this event.

Happy Midsummer

Bock in SecondLife wishes all it's readers a very happy Midsummer!

Random Thoughts

"Hands-To-Hold" by Tomais Ashdene

I started my four week long, glorious and wonderful vacation at 12.00 PM local time today. Well I didn't get away from work until a bit later, but who cares. It's going to be wonderful, just to relax and recuperate and enjoy my two lives. I am also going to try to use this opportunity to get back into a proper blogger mode, I have been slacking in my happiness of being married to Tomais.

The vacation was planned to coincide with the celebration of Second Pride Festival, which starts on Friday, because I so want to enjoy the festivities this year. The board of Second Pride made it despite all the many obstacles we have had along the way. I must confess that there were times I actually didn't believe we would have a festival.

The opening of the festival also coincides with the Swedish celebration of Midsummer. On Midsummer's Eve tomorrow I am taking my old parents to one of my nieces homes to meet the rest of the immediate family to celebrate in the traditional manner, loads of pickled herring, fresh strawberries and snaps. It will be great for them to get out of the house and meet their grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The other day, I was upset when i learned that a ghoul from the past has showed it's ugly head again. One would think that almost a full year would be enough to get over losing an election and move on with ones life, especially since the ghoul himself once told me personally "that he really didn't have time for all this with his important first life studies and the rest of his busy life". But nonetheless, here he is back spewing his ugliness and viciousness on the Internet again. I have decided I do not wish to waste time or energy on him and his small army of supporters anymore.

I have been thinking about the two largest gay organisations in SecondLife, Second Pride and the Gay Archipelago. Mostly I have been wondering about the strange armed peace there seems to be between them. I know the history of course, but so many years have passed by now that there really should be openings for some mutual support and collaboration. I have noted and welcomed the news that Gay Gor, which is a part of the Gay Archipelago, will participate in the festival again this year. (It will be so fun to see them in action again! I really loved it at the last festival.) I have also noted that Petr made a peace gesture by attending the send-off party for Garth Raleigh, the former lead of Gay Archipelago. Other than that I haven't seen any tangible progress in the dealings between the organisations.

"The Dark Knight" by Tomais Ashdene

Yesterday I learned that that The Dark Knight (a.k.a. Batman for those of you who aren't well-versed in Superheroes) has actually had two Robins? The first one left to become "Nightwind" (never heard off) and was replaced by another young man. (Today I was told that there have actually been s-e-v-e-r-a-l Robins, oh my!) That's what you learn from being married to a man like my hubby. That man makes me so happy and calm and safe. Who would have thought that a year ago?

I don't like the fact that my doctor has sent me to get a CT scan to check on my pneumonia. Once the doctors start looking closely, who knows what absolutely unrelated things they may find with their high-tech instruments.

About the Gay Archipelago again, I was saddened to note not long ago that this venerable club of sim-owners seem to have drastically lowered the standards of whom to allow within their circle. The venerable club must believe it can control any damage that could be caused to their reputation from that recruitment by their meetings being completely secret and having none of their dealings exposed to public scrutiny. Let's hope they are not in for a surprise.

Midsummer's Eve

Today is the day of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. The solstice marks the peak of summer and takes place when the sun is at its highest point in the sky. After today, the days get shorter until the winter solstice on December 21 when they start to get longer again.

The day is also called Midsummer's eve and is in Sweden, together with Christmas, the traditionally most celebrated holiday of the year. Midsummer is however without a doubt the most loved of the two. Contrary to Christmas there is no pressures or obligations of consorting with relatives, cooking huge festive meals or buying gifts.

On midsummer you hang out with friends and people you like. No gifts are involved and meals can be extremely simple to prepare but still delicious. Besides the weather is warm, daylight lasts around the clock - almost - and it never gets really dark though.

For meals you can get by with boiling small, new potatoes (preferably just washing them lightly in water first to get the dirt off but without peeling them) with some dill, boiling a couple of eggs, opening one or more cans or jars of pickled herring, pouring up some sour cream and cutting some chive. Nothing more is needed except possibly beer or aquavit for snaps. For dessert you simply use fresh strawberries with some cream and a little sugar (if you must). It's absolutely delicious!

If you wish, you can go out go into the bright summer night and pick seven different kinds of flowers and tuck them under your pillow, so that maybe - if you're lucky - you may dream of your future husband or wife. 

Happy Midsummer, dear friends and readers of Bock in SecondLife!. 

Happy Midsummer!

On June 22 we celebrate midsummer eve in Sweden, which is the start of our prolonged weekend of Midsummer celebrations. This holiday is with out a doubt second only to Christmas in Sweden. I would also say it is the most popular as it comes without religious connotations, family pressure and financial strains.

Midsummer is a time for socializing with friends (and family members you like) while eating loads of mainly herring in hundreds of various tastes and mixes, swallowed down with any good snaps, akvavit or beer you can lay your hands on or wish to try out. For dessert the best - I think - is to keep it simple with fresh Swedish strawberries, a little sugar and lots of cream. Every time you drink a snaps you have to sing a silly song in unison with the others.

After the meal the natives (that´s us) and the youngest kids dance silly but quaint dances around some sort of midsummer pole that is erected nearby, not all beautiful but fully functional to dance around in circles. When the kids have been put to bed, you talk and laugh and enjoy yourself some more long into the night that never gets really dark.

I love midsummer in Sweden, but this year I will not be celebrating mainly because I haven´t really gotten my appetite back, cannot mix my medication with alcohol and don´t feel much for socializing just yet, besides the Second Pride Festival 2012 is starting and I want to cover it. Anyway, I would like to wish you all a 

Wonderful and Happy Midsummer

Let me share a secret. What I will do, like some other young - 42 isn't that old is it? - men and very many women is to pick 7 different kinds of flowers tomorrow night to put under my pillow so that I will hopefully dream of the man I am to marry in the future.


P.S. My buddy Apmel Goosson shows a video that can aid you in understanding My Avatar+s Name is Apmel; Midsummer For Dummies (but I don´t understand why they are telling you to have a BBQ - darn silly idea)