Travelling on the SecondLife Railroad

I may have told you before about my wonderful husband Tomais need to own every vehicle created in SecondLife from 2010 and forward.

Previously this urge was mainly centered on unicycles, bicycles, tricycles, cars, trucks, sailboats, motorboats, barges, blimps, balloons and airplanes of every size, shape, and type known to urbanized man. Well, now my sweet and lovely man has found a new kind of vehicle. Trains.

Yesterday we were traveling on the SecondLife railroad (SLRR) which covers a couple of hundred regions of SecondLife mainland, while Tomais was introducing Lee McMay to his new addiction. Connor Collins, one of Lee's friends from Steamworkz was with us.

We traveled from where Tomais and Lee have their "siding", I believe that's what the parking place for the train is called, all the way to our friend Petr's station at Burn.

I always thought that the mainland was rather ugly, but parts of the landscaping along our route was beautiful.

The U L T R A™ Event, July 15 - August 15

"Roman Godde of The SL Registry™ in collaboration with Bad Unicorn are proud to present a brand new event called, U L T R A™ Event, that will commence on May 15 to June 15, 2016 and every other month thereafter.

A fascinating cluster of shops flanking a modern, one of a kind atrium promenade, rich with Palm Springs charm. A total of 35 elite Second Life designers will offer a truly unusual array of exclusive fashion, furnishings and all things from antique to contemporary.

From July 15 - August 15 (the) U L T R A™ Event will showcase the products and services available from the most prestigious luxury brands across the grid, which include men's and women's fashion, luxury automobiles, real estate, fine jewelry, mesh avatars, animations, skins, hair, accessories, furnishings, home and garden and much more.

For connoisseurs seeking the very best and the latest that Second life has to offer, The U L T R A™ Event is the essential one stop luxury resource."

Your luxury transportation awaits to take you to The U L T R A™ Event (SLurl).

Pool Party, Today Saturday July 25

Tomais and I are pleased to welcome you all to a pool party today between 1-3 PM SLT at our home on Southern Charm.

This event is to inaugurate our new pool and also to give you the opportunity to roam around the sim and take a look at the new mansion and the amazing landscaping by Samuel Fallen of Lytton & Fallen.

Entertainment will be provided by The Smith Boys, DJ Kahvy and host Garrett, assisted by my brothers Dejerrity Mycron and J.J. Goodman.

If you are so inclined, you will have the opportunity to leave a charitable donation to The Ali Forney Center (AFC).
The Smith Boys are graciously donating their time and labours to the AFC.

Your transport to the pool party at Southern Charm (SLurl).

The Ali Forney Center (AFC), based in New York, is the largest LGBT community center helping LGBT homeless youth in the United States. The AFC both manages and develops transitional housing for its clients. The AFC helps approximately 1,000 youths every year, most between sixteen and twenty-four years old. The AFC is named after Ali Forney, a transgender youth who was murdered in New York in 1997

The Amazing Samuel

As you all know by now, I have engaged the skilled landscaper Samuel Fallen, of Lytton & Fallen, to help with some landscaping around the new mansion.

Shabby-chic stuff from Apple Fall combined with a
Quidditch set from somewhere else in a beautiful way.

Well, you should also know that Samuel isn't "only" a landscaper and gardener, he in fact designed The Luton Manor (the new house I have bought) for Redgrave Houses & Homes and is also a marvelous interior decorator.

I got clear and irrefutable proof of the latter when I logged into SecondLife the other day,

The evening before I had dragged out some things by Apple Fall, that I knew I wanted to use in the decoration of the house, out of my Inventory and just left them in a mess on the floor to deal with another time. Well, when I logged in, the things had been tastefully arranged in a shabby-chic display by Samuel. I couldn't in a million years have done anything as good or better with them.

My new strategy will be to - sort of recklessly - leave things floating around and see what marvelous things Samuel will come up with. Please do not tell Samuel!

Otherwise the landscaping project is at somewhat of a semi-standstill as we are awaiting the arrival of spring and new stuff to arrive at Botanical. Tomais is busy interior decorating, while I tag along and help where I can, mostly by carrying the heavy stuff around and saying "Oooooo" and "Aaaaaa" at suitable intervals.

Project -15: The Work Begins

On Wednesday my landscaper Samuel Fallen, of Lytton & Fallen, started work on the project. I first noticed that because I started getting offline messages about returned objects. Later on I also received a shopping list.

I was eager to log in to my SecondLife to see what had been done, so a few hours later I did just that. I am not lying when I tell you that you I almost fell out of my chair out of surprise and joy when I saw the master landscaper had been working on.

Samuel had in his very first day done accomplished everything I needed - or could have wished for - to justify my hiring of a professional landscaper.

Just look at the stairs leading up to the main entrance from the duck-pound. I hadn't even dreamed of anything like those stairs, but once I had seen them, they made p-e-r-f-e-c-t sense! I loved the rest of it too.

From now on I will put my worries aside and completely trust Samuel's instincts and professional ability to see what can be achieved and how it should be done.

We haven't yet found a perfect system for how to see to it that Samuel uses my objects so that I can work the HUD in the future. Our present system is that I buy the stuff that Samuel tells me to buy and I follow after him and replace the objects he has put out with mine. This means that Samuel has to do the same work twice, which is unfortunate and time consuming, because he then has to resize and replace my objects where he wants them to be.

Project -15: May the Works Commence!

Yesterday I and my home-team met again with Samuel Fallen of Lytton & Fallen (L&F)  for further discussions and to see if we could seal a deal on the project. L&F consists of Samuel and his partner Spliff Lytton. The company provides services in interior design, landscaping and custom builds for SecondLife.

Although it is still winter on Southern Charm, the first touch of spring can be felt. It was a rather mild day yesterday so I decided to show some leg during the discussions. To be quite honest, that has been a highly successful tactic and has in hindsight landed me with more advantages than I would otherwise rightly deserve. 

So with bare legs I, my royal consort Tomais and my royal groundskeeper Butch "Bj" Diavolo-Gracemount met with Samuel at the site. We had a very good discussion in which Samuel evidenced some qualities that I appreciate very much in my fellow humans. Samuel was receptive to our thoughts and ideas but was also outspoken and straightforward in his responses in a pleasant manner. He also has a no-nonsense attitude and strives for a realistic look in his designs.

I am happy to inform you that we sealed a mutually advantageous deal yesterday and that the work on the project will now begin.

After the meeting I was totally thrilled and excited, this is going to be so much fun!

"Project -15" - The Before Pictures

As I have already told you, my dear readers, in my post "It's Time for A Change", I have decided on some exciting developments for Southern Charm.

Yesterday I and my advisers, my husband Tomais Ashdene and my groundskeeper Butch Diavolo, met with a professional landscaper. (Who turned out to be another old friend of mine, I really do need to make a list about what skills my friends have. More about in another post though!)

The landscaper we met with was Samuel Fallen of "Lytton & Fallen". Samuel took a look around the parcel and we discussed a few things that are important to me. He will hopefully get back to me soon with a cost estimate for the necessary works. If all goes well the work itself will hopefully start during the coming week.

Another good thing that I have decided, which came out of the discussion with Samuel, was to update all the vegetation on Southern Charm to season changing stuff from Botanical. In that way future season changes on the plants will be accomplished with a click on a HUD instead of the hassle it has been up until now.

Today I documented the project site to get some before-pictures. The new house has been temporarily placed and it's positioning may well be changed according to suggestions from Samuel.

View from the North-West

View from the South

View from the West

View from the East

View from the South-East

View from above

It's Time for A Change

Those of you who have been following my blog may already have understood that major changes aren't really my forte. Or as my stepson Guyke bluntly tells me, "You don't like changes!" 

I don't completely disagree with him, but I would hasten to add that my qualms with change are mainly on an emotional level. When I feel safe and loved I don't mind changes in other areas of my life one bit.

It's a new year and time for a new project at Southern Charm! Faithful readers may remember the last major change on the sim happened during the summer of 2013 when the old ugly house I had been living in since 2008 was torn down and a new modern house was erected in it's place.

This year I got a new house as a Christmas gift from Guyke, after he had carefully showed it to me twice beforehand. The first time I saw the villa I was adamant and told him I didn't like it at all and that I wasn't ready to go through the hassle of moving again so soon after the last rebuild. The second time I saw it I absolutely fell in love with it!

It is a classic french villa with large open spaces called Luton Manor and is made by Redgrave Houses & Homes.

My building team this time around consists of the royal consort and the royal groundskeeper, Tomais and Butch. The two have also benevolently agreed to advise me concerning decorating and other interior design niceties.

The old house has been emptied and taken into Inventory, the beautiful villa has been placed in a preliminary spot, I am awaiting advice on the definite placement from a landscaper who has been contacted, but not yet contracted. He will hopefully also be hired to help with the necessary work on the immediate surroundings of the villa.

Relaxing

It's been a hectic time with much going on in both my lives. When my husband yesterday came up with the amazing idea that we should just sit on the back porch of the barn and relax I jumped at it.

My English Bulldog Bilbo was there also, whimpering and pining for Dej, who is visiting with his mother and first life family over the holidays. After a while he realized it wasn't helping and went to lie down and catch some sleep.

After Tomais had logged for dinner, I went up into the skies and took into Inventory all the summer and autumn landscaping we had stored up at 1,500 m and 2,000 m in the hopes that the lag that has hit Southern Charm since we started the snowing would lessen, at least a bit.

The Fishing Hole

"A sim-owner's work is never done!" (Old jungle saying)

There is always something that needs updating, repairing, landscaping, gardening or a general overhaul. Yesterday my Tomais had the brilliant idea that we should convert one of the many ponds at Southern Charm into a fishing hole.

Although fishing has never been a great interest of mine, I like the idea and view it as yet another place on the sim where we can sit and talk with friends or just the two of us. As always when Tomais is involved it turned out beautifully.

We are not going to put out fish in the hole and it will not be one of those fishing contest places either. The fishing poles are just to make you relax and look good while you are talking.

The New Gazebo

After the ball at SP my lover Tomais took me to look at a gazebo. I fell in love with it immediately and have now set it up by the ice-skating area.

To get away from the cold we teleported to Tom's place, which is located at a milder latitude, and prepared our Holiday photo. I was able to follow part of the work-process when Tom shared his screen with me on Skype. 

 

It had been a long day so Tom tucked me in and put me to bed around 2AM (my local time). There are a couple of noteworthy things in the picture below...

Labors of Love

When the Much Honored Bock McMillan, laird of Southern Charm etc. etc., returned home yesterday evening after a 24-hour excursion to first life he was completely blown away, baffled and extremely excited, elated and exhilarated to see the work that his loved ones had been up to in his absence.

Southern Charm looked more beautiful than ever before. My loving family and friends had undertaken to perform some of the landscaping and winterizing on huge parts of the sim. Beautiful winter trees had been planted in many places, while the previous trees and plants had been lifted far into the skies.

I cried out with joy when I saw what they had achieved, and to be honest, I kept on yelling much of the evening as I noticed the details one after the other. Tears of happiness flooded my eyes repeatedly, but especially when I saw what they had around Ars' Memorial.

The hairs on my arms, legs, neck and back stood to attention most of the evening as I saw what my loving family had done. They know me and my tastes so well that I was completely overjoyed. I was much too happy to take many pictures, but I am using two were taken at my new ice skating pond (where the meadow used to be).

Thank you so much, my sweet darlings and lover, this was the most wonderful gift I could get. I cannot even imagine how I will ever be able to repay you.

And here is a bonus picture of Guykechen in snow.

Catching up...

There is so much happening in my lives now, mostly the second, that I have a bit of catching up to do.

I have started a huge landscaping project to update Southern Charm while still keeping it beautiful. The creators and gardeners have been busy the last three years and there are so many better and more beautiful trees and plants on the market now. It is also something I firmly believe Ars and I would have done gradually if he had still been alive.

To my help in this project I have forcibly enrolled the assistance of my boyfriend Tomais, my son Guyke, my brother in-law Dej and my dear friend the intuitive, sublime and brilliant - yet amazingly humble - builder Butch. They - sometimes with the assistance of other friends - have guided me gently in this new world of seasonal trees and plants and other beautiful things that can be used in modern SecondLife landscaping. 

I started by clearing of the old "flat" trees and only kept the old pine trees for the time being. Then I returned a shitload of stuff to the original landscaper, the original sim owner, former tenants and a few strange visitors that had somehow managed to rez things where they should be able to. This freed up almost 3.000 more prims (or whatever the modern term for this may be these days), so that I now have close to 6.000 prims to work with.

Next thing was the waterfall running from under the house. It got a major facelift.

I have slowly started replanting with trees that can be changed to any season with a single click according to my whim. It is awesome! Of course I will need different kinds of trees to, but so far I am going about this slowly.

Next thing will be to change the sims ground textures to winter, and in time get the other seasonal ground textures also. There are things I want to keep relatively close to the original design so I am going forward slowly.

And when I am not working on the landscaping I take time to smooch with Tomais and go out with friends and family.

Yesterday I took Tomais to visit with Ars at Mirromere. I warned tomais beforehand that if Ars didn't like the idea of me having him around he would most likely be ejected from the sim or get electrocuted by his own computer. Ars had his ways and means of showing how he felt...

However, Tomais was quite safe and nothing bad happened during our visit, so I am choosing to take that as an encouragement from Ars and that he after screening Tomais has found him worthy.

Later last evening I and Tomais went sleighing and skating at Calas Galadhon with Guyke and Ziggy. Ziggy has posted beautiful pictures of that enchanted evening here Ziggy On The Edge Of Second Life: A Night To Remember

Laird ❤ Linden Lab=True

So many improvements have been made in SecondLife over the last couple of years, that I have been thinking it was time to consider updating the landscaping at Southern Charm. As some of you may already know, the time lapse between me thinking of something to actually doing it is sometimes extremely long. However, at other instances, I just get tired with myself and do it right away.

Early yesterday I had been experimenting with my newly acquired snow HUD and Guyke, the Prince of Paradijs, had come over to assist me. I then realized that winterifying the landscaping convincingly would require so much more than just falling snow. The ground textures would also have to be changed and the all the trees and plants would need to be updated to the kind that change according to the seasons. It seemed rather overwhelming and I was a little hesitant.

The Prince of Paradijs started - ever so sweetly and subtly - informing me about the great developments that had been made by the gardeners and creators in later years to make trees "that don't look flat".

I let it slowly sink in and then I started asking him if he thought specific trees all over the place looked flat. Even if he tried his very best to be delicate about it, I came to the realisation that my son thought all my trees and plants were antiquated, flat and awful "even if they were once the best you could get...". My son is careful never to hurt my feelings and he knows how attached I am to Southern Charm, but I can always expect him to - eventually - tell me the truth.

Later Guyke and I were joined by my boyfriend Tomais and the three of us took a tour around the Arrival Area. "To hell with it", I thought to myself, and began returning or deleting trees as we went along. This is when I got called up by brother in-law Dej. "I see you're doing landscaping... if you have a moment could you remove some things here also", he said. My sweet Dej had been suffering for three years so I went over to his parcel and removed a load of ugly stuff.

After Guyke had left us to cater to Ziggy's needs and urges, and his own also no doubt, Tomais, Dej and I started looking for more eyesores to attend to. I then remembered the strange and ugly hill that was a remnant from when the sim had been subdivided into parcels, but now just looked weird. I asked Dej if he would mind if it was flattened out, he told me he would welcome it because he had always thought it looked strange.

Although I have never previously terraformed during my entire existence in SecondLife I thought, "How hard can it be, really, everyone else does it. You are the only one you know who leaves it to others. Come on, just do it!" Thought and done, I unblocked terraforming and started to level out the hill. I thought I was absolutely amazing at it and that it was really easy, even if I heard Dej talking to me in the background telling me to be careful.

A few minute later I looked at my work, It was astounding! The hill had been perfectly flattened. Unfortunately, as Dej and Tomais pointed out to me very kindly, the rest of the land all around us had been raised. The big lake on the sim was gone, the canals and waterways also and the seating at the Arrival Area was now under the ground. Hell and damnation what had I done!

"Call the Lindens for a rollback", I thought just as the other two suggested it. So I went on the SecondLife website and chatted with the kind Izzy Linden at customer support. He kindly informed me that I would need to submit a ticket about it. I did that promptly and told them that I had experienced a terraforming disaster, as I had not heeded by wise brother in-law Dejerrity Mycron's warnings to be careful.

With the holiday weekend and all I was not expecting anything to happen before Monday, but lo and behold, within five minutes of submitting the ticket I got a message from the wonderful and clever Elijah Linden that the sim was going to restart in five minutes.

As I told Tomais and Dej, the Lindens know that I love them and this shows they love me back. I would not be surprised if they actually have my portrait up in the company lunchroom right next to my darling Philip Linden's.

Izzy Linden and Elijah Linden have definitely made my Holiday cards list this year for their courteous and speedy assistance!

My New Snow HUD

OK I got this amazing thing, now all I have to do is to try to convince some genius and humble builder to help me set it up on Southern Charm. Oh, I should ask Dej if he wants some snow too.

Get it at Marketplace, Falling Snow System from Studio Skye. I think I got the winter terrain textures also, but I am not sure right now...

For the first time ever winter will be coming to Southern Charm this year!

HUD, landscaping, machinima & music by Alex Bader.

Spontaneous Clubbing

After a long and busy day of overseeing my master builder-interior designer-landscaper-gardener all rolled into one hot packet of dynamite, the brilliant and sublime Butch Diavolo, and shopping for more plants and more furniture I was knackered. When Guyke and Butch dropped out for bed I was going to leave too, I just had to buy some new eyes because the ones I had were doing weird stuff and then I  also had some stuff I wanted to put out over by the barn - or so I thought.

I  ended up fiddling about with stuff at the barn until I got the notice that DJ Wes and Khar were starting their party at The Tribute, so I thought I might as well go there to relax and look at men a little before hitting the sack. I ended up staying for over an hour, the place was wall-to-wall carpeted by the most wonderful men.

The Hasting- Vanbeeck's , Tasty and Petr, with a stranger 

DJ Wesley Spengler & Kharissa Indigo

Sexy Baz Ceawlin & Kolin Wylie

The always stunning couple Shepherd & Larz Kas

Some dude, it could be me

 A study of an Australian patron who had a great body and beautiful moves. I have seen Muhu around the scene earlier, but he has never caught my attention as he did last night. Horniness could have played a role in this., mine not his.

Muhu

Muhu

Muhu

 And lets finish off this post with a cute couple.

Angel & Divi