Today finds me sending you back to the same blog as last time, but how could I not, the photo is so special. The rest if great fashion or lifestyle blog posts and one post with guidance on pronunciation.

1. A Midsummer Nights Dream: Wise Sandalwood had half of Plurk agog yesterday wondering how she did this. I assume she used a mix of different texture layers and brushes in Photoshop. Part of the magic is not telling. The other part is recognizing how perfectly the Doll Coco Avatar is for creating illustrations.
2. Loneliness: Wicca Merlin  does a stunning exploration of hard and soft textures and moods in styling her Gizza-centric outfit yesterday. The pieces she pulled together should have been disjointed, but somehow they work together.
3. The FIC Is Back! (Or It Never Left) – This is a few days old as I hesitated to include this post from Prokofy Neva whose infinite capacity for argument is well-known. However, I have been mispronouncing FIC all this time. It rhymes with BIKE, not SICK. That is one of the things covered in this op-ed full of speculation that is debunked in the Update at the end.
4. Soleil: Eve Kazan has a beautiful travel/fashion post featuring the arid FAS sim and her finds at the local market, the spice, the pottery, the flowers…
5. 229: Nati Williams did a post featuring her garden. I want to live there.

It’s Income Tax Day in the US. Also my birthday. So, for my set tonight at The Velvet I am playing some of my favorite songs. Not all of them. That would take s day or more, but a few of them. Lots of that old-fashioned rock and roll. I hope you can come. I DJ from 5 to 7 PM SLT.

1. SL10B Applications are open: SL’s 10th birthday is coming and applications for performers, exhibitors and volunteers are open. The theme is Second Life – Looking Forward, Looking Back. I cannot wait to see what folks come up with.
2. On the Hunt: Wise Sandalwood has the most amazing photo, one that seems more like an illustration done in real life, not in Second Life®. I love her work all the time, but this is one of her best ever.
3. Nobody Knows the Troobles I’ve Seen: Tymmerie Thorne shows off the new SL® gift via Amazon, the Troobles. Like me, she has no answer to the mystery of the Troobles, but she always writes with wit and humor and is not going to, as she said, “look a gift Trooble in the mouth.”
4. Just Know You’re Not Alone. Cause I’m Going to Make This Place Your Home. Rockstaroo Gossipgirl has a fun post highlighting the enchanting little food truck from What Next for The Garden.
5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Inaugural Address. While I was preparing this, bombs went off in Boston casting the shadow of fear across our country. At this moment, we have no idea who is involved or even whether it is all over or if there are more bombs yet to explode. Uncertainty adds to our collective anxiety. On this horrible afternoon, I think it is worthwhile to read the incredibly wise words of President Roosevelt who assumed the presidency during the Great Depression, an economic nadir far more extensive than our own Great Recession and in a world threatened by imperial fascism and communism across the globe. Those threats were far more existential than what we face today and we persevered and triumphed in large part because we did not let ourselves be paralyzed by fear. So on this terrible day, I am suggesting you take a moment to read this inspirational speech and find comfort and strength in its wisdom.