Simploring 2019 (57) Sofia in Springtime

19 May 2019 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , ,

For my simploring tour on May 8th I picked “Sofia” from scoop.it SL Destinations. Sofia is a moderate homestead owned by Agaras. There’s no real landmark description, just one word “Springtime”. And the sim is designed for Spring.

Impressions of Sofia: around the landing point and sim overview

Sofia is an island with no simsurround, just on one side there’re mountains in the background. The landing point is almost in the center, close to a large pond and to a sign “Sofia” with the word S p r i n g above it. The sun rays are broken by the wet air and dive the environment in a lovely atmosphere. The region windlight is nice but I personally prefer my standard Setting and used it for my pictures.

Impressions of Sofia in Springtime (1)

Sofia is first of all a sim to enjoy the nature. There’re many flowerbeds and nature seemingly explodes to life. Birds circle steadily over the sim. You can find rabbits, horses and deers peacefully grazing. Sometimes you see a trail like the one leading to a bridge. This trail is lined with lavender, lovely! Along the pond you find several places to sit and relax or to cuddle with your loved one.

Impressions of Sofia in Springtime (2)

I found only 3 buildings at Sofia. The above mentioned trail leads to the biggest house named “Chez Niki”. Before you reach it, you come along several rows of wine grapes. Chez Niki is furnished inside and offers a romatic place to sit inside as well as outside. The other 2 buildings are a small hut which I named “heart hut” because of the heart above the entrance and a gazebo to dance. Apropos dancing: You’ll find quite some places to dance at Sofia, mostly outdoor. Instead of the usual intan ball on a pole, the intan animations are provided by the sculpture of a dancing couple.
I also found several pieces of art scattered over the island, I tried some of the offered places to sit and I enjoyed Spring and all the flowers.

Impressions of Sofia in Springtime (3)

Sofia is the perfect place to retreat for a romantic date. The views are great and Spring is a very particular season as everything comes to life again and we humans also kind of wake up every year in Spring, enjoying the first warm days, going out without a thick coat, without freezing. Agaras profile has the according quote to express it:
“If you once realize that to-morrow, if not to-day, you will die and nothing will be left of you, everything becomes insignificant! (Leo Tolstoy)“.
Hence live now and today, enjoy Spring, smell the flowers.

Impressions of Sofia in Springtime (4)

Thank you for providing Sofia to the public, Agaras. I really enjoyed exploring it and the particular atmosphere of Spring.

Landmark to Sofia
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Starlight%20Shores/63/152/25

Simploring 2019 (56) La Maison d’Aneli in May

17 May 2019 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

On Wednesday, May 15th, a new exhibtion was opened to the public at La Maison d’Aneli. This month the gallery presents insights in the art of Giovanna Cerise, Mathilde Vhargon, Vroum Short, DELALUNE Ella, McGrafite and Tshirtkikill Straaf.

La Maison d’Aneli May 2019 – the entrance hall with Aneli Abeyante’s chessmen

The entrance hall of La Maison d’Aneli is used to display Aneli Abeyante’s own art, a chess in black, red and white with abstract, modern chessmen. You get to the exhibition of the above mentioned artists by teleporting from the entrance hall.

Vroum Short’s installation “Mirror” and Giovanna Verise’s Installation are 3D installations, while the other 4 artists display their pictures.

La Maison d’Aneli May 2019 – Marisa Camelo (mcgrafite)

McGrafite’s passion is drawing. The biography distributed by Aneli just reveals a bit about McGrafite “Since I was born that I always loved to draw, drawing is part of me, it is my therapy, my passion …
I started to make graphite portraits, through photography, about 10 years ago and I never stopped! I started drawing full-time making portraits, other kinds of realistic drawings and designs for tattoos.” I didn’t find an avatar of this name and the exhibited art was uploaded by Aneli. Hence asked Aneli and she told me that she got the pictures from McGrafite, who has problems connecting to SL at the moment.
I went to McGrafite’s gallery. Strangely enough, I could see Marisa Camelo (mcgrafite)’s profile there (when inspecting the exhibited art) – but not using the search function. McGrafite is Portugese and there’s more information about her and her art on her website.

La Maison d’Aneli May 2019 – Mathilde Vhargon

Mathilde Vhargon is “a former classical musician, she began making sculptures in Second Life 10 years ago, and soon became more focused on digital painting, which she creates using only Gimp and ArtRage programmes“. She loves strong colours and abstract forms. At La Maison d’Aneli her part of the exhibtion extends over 2 floors. The lower floor, shows colour compositions, some slightly reminding me of kaleidoscopes, the upper floor presents pictures of geometric abstraction. In my personal opinion the latter are quite impressive.
The notecard with Mathilde’s biography that you can grab at the exhibtion also lists her other current exhibtions in Second Life (quite some).
Remark: You can identify her art by searching the leaf in each of Mathilde’s pictures, it’s her kind of signature.

La Maison d’Aneli May 2019 – Giovanna Cerise

Giovanna Cerise is not unknow to me. I visited Flash Back / Flash Forward in 2017 (read Simploring 2017 (42) Flash Back / Flash Forward), in 2016 I visited her LEA-installation Monochrome (read here) and in April 2015 I saw Otium (read here: A visit to Otium). Giovanna is an Italian literature teacher and musician. In Second Life she’s active since Ende of 2008 and had many exhibtions and installations. She particpated in the LEA program participations and her list of activities and appearances is long. For more information look up her website.
The installation shown at La Maison d’Aneli has no specific name. It was inspired by poetry of Alda Merini “… one lies on the back of the world and feels…”
The sculptures are no that easy to see when you’re too close to them, the room is filled with geometric forms, mostly transparent blocks and stairs. Between them you find the sculptures, or what appears to be a sculpture when you look not too close … they are puzzle pieces like the complex world around them, but then they are also individuals nonetheless.

La Maison d’Aneli May 2019 – Lune (delalune ella)

Lune (delalune ella) is French and she’s in Second Life since 2007. Her art is shown on 2 floors, one floor for her colourful kaleidoscope pictures, one for her photographs. Her kaleidoscopes animate to dive into them, to explore them, her photographs radiate peace and serenity.

La Maison d’Aneli May 2019 – Tshirtkikill Straaf

Behind Tshirtkikill Straaf in Second life is the French graphic artist Stéph Para. His work is kind of bizarre, funny and mostly just in black and white, hence if he uses colour it catches your attention much more. There are two websites (la bonne anime and la bonne illustration) where you could get more information, supposed your understand more French than I do.

La Maison d’Aneli May 2019 – Vroum Short

Vroum Short is a French SL artist since 2007. She created VeGeTaL PLaNet, about which I read already and which is on my list of places to visit. According to the artist notecard that I got at La Maison d’Aneli VeGeTaL PLaNet is “a world where everything becomes possible and achievable where the barriers of reality fade away to let the imagination flood it with life. In her underwater exhibitions, living plant sculptures and luminous paintings, animated in 3D, mingle”
The installation a La Maison d’Aneli is called “Mirror” and should be seen with your windlight set to midnight. The reflections of the geometric objects are amazing, it is a world of itself that you can walk through.

La Maison d’Aneli is owned by Aneli Abeyante. Through her gallery she brings together all forms of creativity in RL and SL and the featured artists come from around the globe. Aneli’s intention is to “put her gallery in the service of artists, so that the world can be better, exchanges and meetings probably contribute even though it seems to be particles.”

Thank you Aneli for another great exhibition and thank you to all artists. Enjoy your visit – I did.

Landmark to La Maison d’Aneli
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Holland/32/40/21
McGrafite’s gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Samoa/30/142/50
McGrafite’s website
https://steemit.com/@mcgrafite
Giovanna Cerise’s website
http://giovannacerise.blogspot.it/
Stéph Para aka Tshirtkikill Straaf’s websites
http://labonneanime.fr/
http://labonneillustration.fr/
Landmark to VeGeTaL PLaNet
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Oak%20Park/140/131/55

Simploring 2019 (55) Green Story (III) – Beach

14 May 2019 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , ,

“Welcome.
You will meet rain, snow, and sea.
take a breather from here
pause to think
walk at a slow time…
Green Story”

With these words you’re greeted when you enter Green Story. I visited Green story in 2018 the first time (read: Simploring 2018 (7) Green Story). After publishing my simploring report I got a hint from Annie Oh (anniebrightstar) that there’s another part of Green Story and I went exploring this wet part (read: Simploring 2018 (10) Green story (II)).

Green Story (III) Beach – Overview and around the landing point.

Inspired by seeing new posts about Green Story on scoop.it SL Destinations I went revisiting on Sunday, April 28th. In fact not much has changed. The snowy part with the many aurora borealis, which I visited first in 2018, is more or less unchanged, same goes for the second and wet part of Green Story. What’s new is that there’s a third part now. The three parts are named Aurora, Rain and Beach and can be reached by a teleport board, which is not as difficult to find then it was back in 2018. This said the welcome letter makes sense … rain, snow and sea.

Impressions of my enjoyable visit to Green Story (III) Beach

I focused on the Beach, as this was new for me. It’s what you’d expect from the name a large sandbank with an according long beach. There’re some tents, a salespoint for ice cream, a surf school and some scattered places to relax and enjoy the atmosphere and the sun. I followed the thought which Dior (Rich Canis), creator and owner of Green Story, wrote into the landmark’s description “You have to relax here. You have to think here. You Banks here Another memory.“

More impressions of my enjoyable visit to Green Story (III) Beach

A great beach to relax be it alone or with friends or with your love. Thank you Dior for creating this 3rd part and for sharing Green Story with the public.

Landmark to Green Story – Beach
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Green%20story/106/179/3693
P.S.: the provided Landmark leads to the teleport board at the Beach, from there you can easily visit the others parts Aurora and Rain

Simploring 2019 (54) The Wastelands

10 May 2019 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , ,

I came across The Wastelands once again looking up scoop.it SL Destinations. I admit, that I’m surprised what corners of Second Life I haven’t seen yet or even more never heard about. The Wastelands is huge, a full moderate region with several homesteads connected to it. I first wanted to create an overview map but then it was simple to large.

The landing is in an underground bunker where you can get some information and more. The Wastelands is an apocalyptic residential area. It exists for over 12 (!) years (and I never heard about it before!). Once you leave the bunker and enter the daylight you’ll see that The Wastelands consists of ruined shops, makeshift homes, broken buildings, sand-strewn streets, and rusting, twisted tracks of a long-abandoned railroad. I thought I could grab an information notecard but you get even more, if you’re interested. The Wastelands have an own wiki.

Impressions of “The Wastelands” (1)

The Wastelands is owned by NeoBokrug Elytis who says about himself: “I’m the estate owner of The Wastelands, but I’d rather think of myself as it’s curator instead. After all, it’s the residents who create the place, I just manage it and it’s community.“

Being a bit lazy and overwhelmed by the information available about The Wastelands, I’ll just quote some essential paragraphs from the main page of the Wastelands wiki.

“In our parched deserts, rocky expanses, and rank swamps, you’ll find beautifully ruined buildings, precarious shacks, and mysterious assemblages of abandoned material, most of it created by the people who live here. From hidden underground bunkers to teetering swamp huts on stilts, from burnt-out vehicles to nomad’s tents, from helicopter concert stages to trap-ridden combat pits to ball courts to trade posts to working drive-in movie theaters, The Wastelands is filled with creative, detailed constructions.”

Impressions of “The Wastelands” (2)

“Perhaps the most famous and popular feature of The Wastelands, however, is the combat and salvage game. After “purchasing” and wearing your 100% free Wastelands HUD (remark: you can get it in the bunker where you arrive), you can scavenge the land for crates containing useful scrap. This scrap can be taken to the Salvage Machines, where — if you lay down a valid combination of items — it combines them into one new item. These new items can be combined as well, meaning Wastelanders can craft complex recipes for weapons, armor, belts, and more.”

Impressions of “The Wastelands” (3)

Although roleplay might be the heart of The Wastelands, it is not obligatory. In fact upon arriving I was welcomed by a greeting bot who explicitly invited me also jsut to visit for taking pictures or for getting an inpression about the The Wastelands. If you join the roleplay though, remember that using weapons or similar items that aren’t made within The Wastelands isn’t allowed.

Impressions of “The Wastelands” (4)

I wandered about an hour over The Wastelands and I was lost soon. There’s way too much to see and discover, hence what I got was just a tiny first impression. The buildings, the tents, the camps, everthing is build with love for the (apocalyptic) detail. Some places did make me smile, like the fish store, that really stood out or the apocalyptic McDonalds. There’re several stages for events. And the sound and the music channel changes constantly as you cross the different plots. It was really fun to see this all.

Impressions of “The Wastelands” (5)

Combat roleplays are not my cup of tea and I don’t find enough time to really get into roleplays with a specific background and rules. But The Wastelands is worth seeing it and offeres unlimited backgrounds and views for intriguing pictures. I really enjoyed my short visit and am happy that I now know about The Wastelands. Thank you, NeoBokrug Elytis, for being the estate owner and for curating The Wastelands. It must be a lot of work!

Landmark to The Wastelands
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Wastelands/135/151/66
The Wastelands wiki
http://wiki.the-wastelands.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

Simploring 2019 (53) Black Mire – around hi-cafe

06 May 2019 2 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , ,

For my simploring tour on Wednesday, April 24th, I selected “hi-cafe” from scoop.it SL Destinations.

Overview Black Mire – around hi-cafe

The hi-cafe is center parcel 3 parcels on the mainland region Black Mire. The 3 parcels “+AND OR NOT+”, owned by ʢあほうどりʡ (8asuka8), “hi-cafe“, owned by hitsu Ruby, and “*suzuya* Mainstore”, owned by .ʚすずɞ. (Suzurin Karu) build a coherent unit around a canal.

Impressions of hi-cafe (1)

The landing point is just opposite of the hi-cafe, where you can sit and talk or where you can enjoy all the little details in the cafe itself. The hi-cafe is really worth a visit. I saw already many cafes in Second Life, but this one is for sure amoung the best I saw so far. Well done! I enjoyed just sitting there for a while before I continured exploring. All three parcels are dominted by blooming cherry trees, it almost smells like Spring. Quite close to the cafe you can rent some bikes.

Impressions of hi-cafe (2)

The parcels are separated be arcades. I first visted “+AND OR NOT+” and honestly, besides that it looks lovely, I don’t know what it is about. There’s an ice cafe and some opportunites to sit outside. In one of the buildings there’s a showcase, but you can’t buy anything and in the back of that building is another part of the ice cafe. The second building is empty right now. It might be that I visited just when a refurbishment was under way.

Impressions of “+AND OR NOT+”

On the other side of the hi-cafe is the *suzuya* Mainstore, that offers make-up for Catwa and 6doo heads. The shop consits of a few vendors boards that fit very well into the environment and hence do not disturb the whole look and feel of the 3 parcels. At the end is a greenhouse with a snak bar inside.

Impressions of *suzuya* Mainstore

There’re some little details to discover, like the cats which have fun playing with butterflies or like the litte corner of a street musician next to a fountain. Overall the 3 parcels offer nice opportunities to take pictures in a lovely Spring environment. I mostly kept the provided windlight setting and just switched to my favourite windlight “Annan Adored Realistic ambient” for a few pictures with switched on “Sun/Moon”. Due to the many trees providing shadows, turning them one makes no sense in most cases.

More impressions of Black Mire – around hi-cafe

hicafe and it’s adjacent parcels “+AND OR NOT+” and *suzuya* Mainstore build a nice unit, that is really worth a visit. I enjoyed my trip. Thank you , hitsu Ruby, ʢあほうどりʡ (8asuka8) and .ʚすずɞ. (Suzurin Karu) for providing your place to the public!

Landmark to Black Mire – hi-cafe
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Black%20Mire/11/130/22

Simploring 2019 (52) Copper River – Flourish Sales Studio & Studio 52

01 May 2019 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Following Inara Pey’s Living in a Modemworld blog and her post “Showing a little Flourish in Second Life” I came across Copper River and visited it on Wednesday, April 17th.

Copper River is a full (moderate) region owned by Keely Stromfield (Keely Mistwood). It has been designed by Julz (Juliette Rainfall) and her partner, Leaf (Peyton Darmoset). The sim is home for two bi-monthly sales events, the Flourish Sales Studio and Studio 52.

Copper River Overview and Flourish Sales Studio

The landing point is close to the entrance to the (outdoor) Flourish Sales Studio. Addicted to shopping as I am, I had a look at it first. The current sales event offers a broad range of products, male and female fashion, accessories, docoration, furniture and more. The current event started April 10th and will be closed May 4th.
Salon 52, (previously Hairology) is a bi-monthly event for everything hair related. Event months are January, March, May, July, September and November.
Keely Stromfield (Keely Mistwood) runs her own blog (https://keelymistwood.com/), it is about SL only and deals with amoung other issues with SL Fashion and home decoration.

Impressions of Copper River (1) – around the bus stop

Besides being home for the above bi-monthly events Copper River is an outstanding designed place. It’s somewhere in a desert, the vegetation is dominated by cactuses, creosote bushes and shrubs. You can seemingly feel the heat of the hot sun burning on your skin. Far away on the horizont you make out the silhouette of a large city with skyscrapers. Roads lead in an out Copper River. The sim is perfectly embedded into the surrounding, some bushes and cactuses being off sim but you only notice it when you want to get closer and reach the sim edge. Same goes for the roads which lead far out of the sim. Chapeau!

Impressions of Copper River (2) – around the appartments and the motel

Copper River offers some really great backgrounds for taking pictures and some oddities as well. Walking from the Flourish Sales Studio along the street you pass by an appartment complex and a bus stop. The bus’ engine is running yet there’s no driver nor guest. At the bus stop you find entertainment machines and food, it seems that you might have to wait very long for a bus out here in the desert.
Next to the bus stop is a truck which front is covered with tv screens and with slogans, really odd … and there’s camera as if there’d be anything to film here.

Walking further outbound you come along a motel, a crashed private jet plane (it is off sim already), a large solar park and a row of 3 huge female scultures which form the sentence “Life goes on”

Impressions of Copper River (3) – in the middle of nowhere

In the center of the sim is a large deep water reservoir. At least you won’t die of thirst in Copper River. The reservoir is fed by a waterfall and by wooden canals that come from the mountains. The wooden canals are dry and along them are stairs that lead into the mountains. Embedded into the mountains is the huge building for the Studio 52 bi-monthly event. The building can also be reached following the street. If you’re at the building and look over the water reservoir you see an event tent and platform, that you might oversee when just walking along the street. It is a bit hidden and it was the last stop on my simploring tour.

Impressions of Copper River (4) – the event area (upper left) and in the mountains close to Studio 52

I do appreciate the combination of inworld shops with a place to explore. And exploring Copper River was pure fun. It offers such great and particular views and I took a lot of pictures. Thank you, Keely, for providing Copper River along with the bi-monthly events. I did enjoy my simploring tour!

Landmark to Copper River
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Copper%20River/200/239/29
Inara Pey’s blog post “Showing a little Flourish in Second Life”
https://modemworld.me/2019/04/13/showing-a-little-flourish-in-second-life/
Keely Stromfield (Keely Mistwood)’s blog
https://keelymistwood.com/

Simploring 2019 (51) Dreams & Magic Exposition at Lyric Gallery

26 Apr 2019 2 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , ,

Recently I got an invitation from Michiel Bechir to attend the opening of another exhibition at Lyric Gallery. I had visited the Lyric Gallery the first time in March 2019 (read here).

Lyric Gallery Dreams & Magic Exposition: exhibition poster (upper right) / Diomita at the entrance to the gallery (upper middle) / “Ride a Dragon to Your Castle in a Distant and Magical Land” by *♥*Nat*♥*~ / “Fairies At Play” by Jojo Songlark / “Lost” by Kat Verde-Dillingham

I attended the opening party and I had a quick look at the exhibited pictures. They are all from an photo contest named “Visual Feast – Dreams & Magic” and they can also been see on flickr here.
Of course they all deal with Dreams & Magic, a fantasy world that you can buildt for your own in Second Life.

Lyric Gallery Dreams & Magic Exposition: at the opening party / “‘So long’ is the hardest word to say” by Simon Sonnenblume / “Following the light” by Viktor Savior / “Those moments where thoughts navigate in a kind of inner peace” by Venicio Armin

I had fun dancing and looking at the pictures, some of them are intriguing and each of them stands for a dream, that came alive in Second Life. Thank you Michiel for inviting me over, for managing the contest and for preparing the exhibition at Lyric Gallery.

The Lyric Gallery:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sea/62/53/21
Exhibited contest pictures on flickr
https://www.flickr.com/groups/visual_feast_exhibitions/

Simploring 2019 (43) Secondlife National Park and Wildlife Refuge – an update

26 Apr 2019 2 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , ,

After publishing my simploring report about Secondlife National Park and Wildlife Refuge (read here), I got a nice comment from Bryn Toshi (bryn bulloch), who owns the SL National Park together with her partner Syx Toshi:
“Our private home will be open to the public in the next day or two, so every meter of both sims will be accessible to anyone who would like to visit during our Open House and photo contest running from April 12 through May 12th! Thank you so much for sharing your visit with folks. We invite everyone to come and enjoy both sims as well as our surfing and beach sim, Monkey Cove!“

SL National Park: The rangers station and the orientation map

I used some spare time Saturday, April 13th, to visit the parts of SL National Park, that were close during my visit and that are private usually. I started with the rangers station, right next to the landing point. I found an interesting orientation map, some more info iside of the station and I made a silly picture with the ranger, who stood outside (actually a mesh statue) and against whom I’m ridiculous small with my 5’11” (or he’s too tall!!)

Impressions of the Toshi Farm house at SL National Park (1)

Then I walked to the private home of Syx and Bryn. No surprise that the house is another master piece. It was decorated for Easter putside and is furnished with style and love for the detail.

Impressions of the Toshi Farm house at SL National Park (2)

The Kitchen did catch my eye in particular, There’s even the recipe book open for meal. Of course there’s also a dining room, a living room and bedrooms and a bath. And behind the house is a nice flower and herb garden.

Impressions of the Toshi Farm house at SL National Park (3)

That’s it for this short update about SL National Park. Thank you, Bryn Toshi (bryn bulloch) and Syx Toshi for opening your home to all for a limited time and once again for providing your sim to the public!

Landmark to Secondlife National Park and Wildlife Refuge
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Norton/146/128/24

Simploring 2019 (50) Maderia Springs

24 Apr 2019 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

Once again I picked the destinazion for my simploring tour on Thursday, April 11th, from scoop.it SL Destinations. There’re already a lot of blog posts about Maderia Springs and just lately I saw it again. Time for me to visit myself.

Impressions of Maderia Springs (1) – orientation map, fishing hut and manor

Maderia Springs is a moderate homestead owned by Thaihiti Baroque. According to the landmark profile it is a place to hang out, to enjoy the peaceful scenery and to take great photos. And it is just this and it is fun to explore it. Maderia Springs is set to Spring now, the flowers are blooming, in particular some cherry trees were just blooming during my visit (as in my garden right now). The whole setting seems to be Mediterrean with a British and American touch.

Impressions of Maderia Springs (2) – the manor

The landing is on a road the leads to a fishing hut. If you walk in the other direction you’ll get to large residential house, that I named “Manor” in my orientation map. What caught my eye immediately is the lovely seperate garden at one side of the manor, surrounded by stones. Besides this seperate garden the whole garden is decorated with love for the detail. Just beautiful.

Impressions of Maderia Springs (3) – the cafe

My next stop was the cafe. You recognize it easily by the French truck in front of it which offers cakes and more. There are some tables outside to sit. Inside is a large kitchen and a living room. The kitchen did impress me with all the little details. Even the pans on the kitchen stove were filled with food. And the backyard once again offers nice views.

Impressions of Maderia Springs (4) – Summer hut and Chapel & Event

Close to the cafe is a flower store. Again I was impressed by the many details and enjoyed looking at it. The whole sim radiates a particular atmosphere. Walking to the shore I came to a hut with a pier, that seems to be another fishing hut. I called it “Summer hut” and took a break enjoying the the views.

Impressions of Maderia Springs (5) – Shepard’s house and Farm market

My next stop was the chapel. It’s more a place for weddings then for services and the chapel is decorated for weddings. Nearby is a place to celebrate and for the reception with fingerfood and drinks. Did I mention the blooming cherry trees already?

Impressions of Maderia Springs (6) – Garage and Picnic

I continued my exploring tour on the other side of Maderia Springs and walked over to what looks like a farm. Sheeps and cows are grazing peacefull there and on the hill is a house. It doesn’t look like a ranch or farm, hence I decided that must be the place where the shepard lives and named it “Shepard’s house”. But there’s even more to discover at Maderia Springs. Walking back to the manor I came across some ducks that were swimming in an inlet. I saw horses and a nice farm market. I saw a picnic place with the opportunity to sit or to retreat under a shabby tent. And I finally saw a garage and camping place.

A visit to Thaino Designs, the shop of Thaihiti Baroque (owner of Maderia Springs)

Maderia Springs is a lovely sim, very well done and perfectly decorated. I just love the Spring setting. And I really appreciate that it is fully public. Thaihiti Baroque is also the owner and designer of Thaino DesignS, a shop for shabby chic, upcycled, distressed furniture and decor, for garden items, flowers and plants and much more. I went over to the store and had a look. At least some of the items you can buy there are also used at Maderia Springs (no surprise!) like the stand for the flowers.

Thank you Thaihiti for sharing Maderia Springs with the public. I did enjoy my tour!

Landmark to Maderia Springs
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Maderia%20Springs/178/124/20
Thaino Designs (Thaihiti Baroque’s shop)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dark%20Passion/134/91/25

Simploring 2019 (49) HoPe

23 Apr 2019 4 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

For my simploring tour on Wednesday, April 10th, I picked HoPe from scoop.it SL Destinations. HoPe is an adult homestead owned by Fred Hamilton (frecoi). According to the two blog posts already published when I visited, also Lotus Mastroianni is owning HoPe. I checked Lotus’ and Fred’s profile but I couldn’t find any hint. What I did check is that many objects at HoPe are owned by Lotus Mastroianni.

Impressions of HoPe (1) – overview and around the landing point

The landmark description consists just of one sentence: “The World wouldn’t die without the Humankind.” HoPe is a sunken city, giving us a picture of how the world might look like when humans have left. All streets are broken, the buildings are ruins, some are in better order, some are fully broken and fallen apart. Trees and bushes grow from every crack, car wrecks block the streets. You need good and waterproof footwear for exploring as you’ll walk through puddles and water and you’ll have to climb over blocks of concrete. It’s an apocalyptic scenario.

Impressions of HoPe (2) – inside a building (upper pictures) / and outside (lower pictures)

There’re some eye catchers and curiosities at HoPe. Right close to the landing point you see a big and broken statue of a boy swimming on the water, some birds sit on it as if they have conquered it. Walking through the streets you see old bill boards, graffiti on the facades and of course a lot of broken windows. I walked inside of some buildings, just trees and bushes are inside, no left over furniture or other objects. In one building the lights were still switched on – I wonder where the power for the lights comes from.

Impressions of HoPe (3) – exploring HoPe (upper pictures) / the plane wreck (lower pictures)

Around the city there once was an elevated highway that it now brocken into pieces, some pieces stick out like after an earthquake. And there’re also cars and trucks on the rests of the elevated highway, just as if there was a sudden catastrophy. Another curiosity is a building shell for what might have become an office building. There’s still a hoarding around it and many building machines which look quite functional. I entered the worksite and walked upstairs. From the higher stories you have a good view over the abandoned city. And there’re many cats, who have taken over the place. It conjured a smile on my face watching them.

Impressions of HoPe (4) – the building shell and the cats

What happened to this city? Was it an earthquake? A tsunami? And how long ago was this catastrophy? According to the vagetation the catastrophy must have been decades ago. Where does the wreck of an airplane came from, that you find in one of the streets? And why is it that the building shell looks that intact? These questions will remain unanswered.
And what does HoPe stand for? For the hope that the world won’t die even without humans? Or for the hope that the mankind will avoid such a catastrophy? Or is it an abbreviation of two terms Ho & Pe? Hotel Peter?

Impressions of HoPe (5)

Anyway, HoPe is a place to explore and discover. It offers an apocalyptic background for photographs and many details to explore. The whole scene together with the sentence “The World wouldn’t die without the Humankind.” gives reason for many thoughts. And last but not least the building shell with the cats is fun.

Thank you Fred Hamilton (frecoi) and Lotus Mastroianni for providing HoPe and for sharing it with the public!

Landmark to HoPe
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Syn%20Isles/204/132/22
HoPe on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/groups/-hope-/

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