Simploring 2020 (45) Northern Shore – Skärgården in Summer 2020

04 Jul 2020 Leave a comment

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

Scrolling through scoop.it SL Destinations I came across Nothern Shore – Skärgården again. I had visited it before on Christmas 2019 (read here).

Northern Shore is a moderate full region, created and owned by Elvira Kytori. It is inspired by the place where Elvira is living in RL, the Swedish archipelago coast also known as Skärgården. Look up pictures of these little islands, these skerris in Sweden and compare it with Northern Shore in Second Life – these picturesque, neat and peaceful places do exist! It’s not just a fantasy.

Northern Shore – Skärgården in Summer 2020 – an overview

Elvira Kytori is the creator of the “Trace-sims”, places I explored in 2016/2017 (read here about Summer Trace, Fall Trace, Winter Trace and Holiday Trace). Northern Shore fits into this series of places. It is just amazingly beautiful.

When I visited first, Northern Shore was a lovely winterly sim, decorated for the season – but it has changed and was a bit further developed and it is Summer there now, hence no snow and no seasonal decoration. I still recognized it though as the landscape, the main houses and the whole layout is still the same.

Impressions of Northern Shore – Skärgården in Summer 2020 (1): Around the landing point

It is great fun to wander around, to explore all the little details of this idyll. Right at the landing point is a lot to discover. Elvira made most of the boards and signs in Swedish to capture the atmosphere and make it feel like her home. Look at the Skärgårdshandlarn. Shandlarn is Swedish for shop and you should go inside. I also recommend to have a look at the little café right opposed to the landing point. It is quite cosy inside.

Impressions of Northern Shore – Skärgården in Summer 2020 (2)

The houses at Northern Shore are now ready for the Summer season, decorated with flowers and outdoor furniture. Most houses are furnished. It is worth to have a look inside. You can’t go inside of the houses though – and you should not go to close as the houses are all rented now. Northern Shore is part of the White Dunes Estates, owned by Elvira. You can check the availability of houses on the marketplace here.

Impressions of Northern Shore – Skärgården in Summer 2020 (3)

As opposed to my visit in Winter you can now see some yachts anchoring between the islands, and more boats are at the piers. And Elvira has added a rezzer for rubber boats, that I used to explore the islands this time  (no flying needed this time *winks*). And you don’t disturb any renter or violate privacy when you explore by boat. There’s enough public area to enjoy, as also stated in the landmark description:
“Welcome to the Northern Shore. Feel free to explore on foot or by sea on the new rubber boats. Hope you enjoy your stay and thank you for being mindful of the tenants. If you like to rezz here for a picture please contact Elvira Kytori for a group invite.”

Northern Shore – Skärgården in Summer 2020

I enjoyed my second visit to Nothern Shore a lot again and it was fun to drive around with the rubber boat.
Thank you Elvira for creating this peaceful sim and for providing that much public space.

Landmark to Northern Shore
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Northern%20Shore/138/79/22
Nothern Shore is a part of White Dunes Estates, available homes can be found here
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/132449

Dio’s 12th year in Second Life Feb 11th, 2019 – Part II

12 Feb 2020 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in anniversary blog entries, Art in Second Life, Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Yesterday, I had my 12th anniversary of joining Second Life.
It has become a tradition for me to write a longer blog post on the occasion of my rezzdays, to have a look back on the last year and to realize the changes in my Second Life as well as the things that didn’t change. Yesterday, I published Part I of my anniversary entry and talked about my closer family and the changes in my family. Today’s part II is about the simploring tours I made in my 12th year.

12 years in Second Life – part II: My simploring tours

Let me start with my simploring tours about art in Second Life. I admire the creativity of artists in this virtual world, I visited galleries like Lyric Art Gallery, La Masion D’Aneli, 20][21 gallery, Rey’s Gallery, Shui Mo Gallery, Milly Sharple’s Fractal galleries, Daphne.Arts and Deva Westland’s Galerie Des Beaux-Arts. I visited and wrote about 7 installations of Cica Ghost, who continues to conjure a smile in my face with every of her funny whimsical creations. I saw fewer art installations since the Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) is on hold. But some private initiatives luckily provide space or the artists themselves dedicate their own space. Just recently I saw an exhibition of Mistero Hifeng’s art at Valium Creek Art Park. I saw “The Mind Melter” by Thoth Jantzen at VeGeTaL PLaNeT, I saw “Lalawood” by Theda Tammas, Yoon (onyxxe), Iono Allen and JadeYu Fhang at La Maison d’Aneli as well as “Binary Radiation” by Nino Vichan. I saw Twilights Doors by Bo Zano (Bozanonl Resident), “The Outer Garden” by bisou Dexler, “Inferno” by Noke Yuitza, “Avaloir” by Eupalinos Ugajin, Undertones by Oluja (artistik Oluja) and “Delicatessen – Tell Me a Story” by Meilo Minotaur.

Shui Mo Gallery (upper left) / Aneli Abeyante’s art at La Maison d’Aneli (upper right) / Delicatessen – Tell Me a Story (lower left) / INFERNO by Noke Yuitza (lower right)

Since January 2020 the blog has a new category for blogposts about art in Second Life, I won’t categorize old entries though.

I found many cosy and lovely sims where people built their own dreamworld, peaceful and picturesque. You don’t need many prims or a large place for it, Nevgilde Gaard or Black Mire – around hi-cafe are examples for that. Most of these dreamworlds were homesteads: Florence Bay, Authors Point, Secondlife National Park, Maderia Springs, Blaylock Island, Scarlett Isle, Carolina, Broken, Alternate Reality, Fleur Nederland [Dutch], La Digue, Northern Shore – Skärgården, Soul of Dreams … just to name a few. In these sims I spent relaxing hours and enjoyed the views and the peace.

Northern Shore – Skärgården (upper left) / Scarlett Isle (upper right) / Secondlife National Park (lower left) / Black Mire – around hi-cafe (lower right)

Some were really particular. I want to mention Last Dove, a sim like a movie. It’s setting is based on Lonesome Dove, a 1985 Western novel by American writer Larry McMurtry. Last Dove is still open if you haven’t seen it yet. I also liked Kun-Tei-Ner, a sim that provided a scary view into mankind’s future, a place with no land, a city that grew up on a huge mountain of containers filled with broken technological stuff. And just recently I visited the SS Galaxy, the largest cruiseship in Second Life – impressive, in particular when you consider it’s history.

Last Dove (upper and lower left) / Kun-Tei-Ner (upper right) / SS Galaxy (lower right)

Then there were the sims that have a real background, where a place in the physical world was build in Second Life. This way I got a picture, an idea of the real places and my visits gave reason to do a little bit of research. Venice in Italy was one of these impressing places and I spent some time exploring it.
I had never heard about Ukivok before and now I have the feeling that I’ve been there already. I had heard of Huntington Beach before but wasn’t aware of it’s oil industry history. I also had heard and read of North Brother Island, yet I haven’t been there in real life (yet). Now I somehow feel like I’ve been there. I learned a lot about Chesapeake Bay, a place I’ve been to twice in reality already being not aware of it’s history.

Ukivok (upper left) / North Brother Island (upper right) / Chesapeake Bay (lower left) / Huntington Beach (lower right)

I also discovered many places related to my kinky side, to BDSM. That’s another dream you can live in Second Life and I do. Unfortunately some of these places don’t stay long like the Elevate Femdom Lounge, Windhaven or Meadow Rose. Also some adult places, that we liked to visit every once in a while, are gone now like The Apostasy or Angel of Pain’s BDSM island (Remark: Angel of Pain has a successor sim)

Gone: The Apostasy (upper left) / Angel of Pain’s BDSM Island (upper right) / Dungeon at Windhaven (lower left) / Meadow Rose (lower right)

Just recently I discovered Caged Elegance, a club with many member, lots of events and all sort of kinks. I enjoyed my visit to Catena et Cavea, an adult sim that is also really picturesque. Amrum is another place I not only went to for simploring but also for a session with Mistress Jenny when I had a green light. I like in particular the BDSM vacation home there.
We visited The Obliviation Hole RLV Prison of Starbright Wingtips who gave us a full tour. The prison and what is going on there is a regular subject when we chat during our Friday night parties.

Caged Elegance (upper left) / Catena et Cavea (upper right) / Amrum BDSM vacation home (lower left) / The Obliviation Hole RLV Prison (lower right)

Thank you all for building, for creating and for sharing your dreams (kinky or not kinky) with the rest of the community. And please apologize if I did not mention all of my tours, it were simply too many. I did really enjoy all of my simploring tours!

End of part II, tomorrow’s part III will be about the other highlights of my 12th year.

Simploring 2020 (1) Northern Shore – Skärgården

02 Jan 2020 2 Comments

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

For my Christmas simploring tour I picked Northern Shore from scoop.it SL Destinations. Northern Shore is a moderate full region, created and owned by Elvira Kytori. It is inspired by the place where Elvira is living in RL, the Swedish archipelago coast also known as Skärgården. Look up pictures of these little islands, these skerris in Sweden and compare it with Northern Shore in Second Life – these picturesque, neat and peaceful places do exist! It’s not just a fantasy.

Elvira Kytori is the creator of the “Trace-sims”, places I explored in 2016/2017 (read here about Summer Trace, Fall Trace, Winter Trace and Holiday Trace). Northern Shore fits into this series of places. It is just amazingly beautiful.

Impressions of Northern Shore – Skärgården (1): Around the landing point

It is great fun to wander around, to explore all the little detail of this idyll. I spent almost half an hour at the landing point as there’s so much to see. Elvira made most of the boards and signs in Swedish to capture the atmosphere and make it feel like her home. Look at the Skärgårdshandlarn. Shandlarn is Swedish for shop and you should go inside. I also recommend to have a look at the little café right opposed to the landing point. It is quite cosy inside.

Impressions of Northern Shore – Skärgården (2)

Most of the many houses at Northern Shore are decorated for the holiday season and most are furnished. It is worth to have a look inside. You can’t go inside some of the houses though. You need to ask Elvira for a group tag to do that. But it might also be that these houses are rented out, as Elvira told me after I published this post. Hence if you look for a vacation home at Skärgården  – ask her.

There are some boats at Northern Shore, they lay at piers and you can’t use them to get from one island to the other. And the other smaller boats are on the island, stored away for the Winter. But in Second Life you can fly (flying is allowed) or you can walk (like I did) or you consider the sea being frozen and can skate. Whatever you do, exploring is fun.

Impressions of Northern Shore – Skärgården (3)

Some houses look very comfortable and cosy admist the snow, a paradise for those who love to take pictures in Second Life. Also some outdoor spots invite to sit and watch. I made some pictures using the provided windlight setting. It makes Northern Shore cold and you almost begin to freeze just by the visual impression. It is snowing and you can’t look far. For other pictures I used a brighter windlight setting – Annan Adored Realisitic ambient.

Impressions of Northern Shore – Skärgården (4)

I enjoyed my visit to Nothern Shore a lot and took many pictures. Thank you Elvira for creating this peaceful sim and for sharing it publicly.

Landmark to Northern Shore
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Northern%20Shore/138/79/22