Day 17: Landscaping

OMG..... we just finished our new landscaping area on the ArchiTech Marketplace sim. We have used a dome like the home dome and are delighted with how it  has allowed us to layout our various landscaping products and components more accessibly for our customers.

Eventually we will review all our sales areas in a more customer friendly way as initially the priority was to get our business up and running.

As you can see below Toby and I are sitting and relaxing after a hard days work making the final changes. 

We have made the landing area the centre of the dome and there are five different areas which we have called Walls, Hedgerows, Gardens, Planting  and (hopefully when it is finished) Fencing.

Each area contains the items from its main theme plus a number of arbors, seats and gates.

We think we have been very cunning as you will have to walk all around to be sure of not missing anything. Luckily there are plenty of places to stop and maybe take a rest or even have a swing!

This is the wall section.

Here is the Hedgerow section, the entrance is framed by our ever popular 'Dead Tree with Bird'.

These stock gardens are ideal for those who dont have the time or inclination to create their own garden and are extremely popular with cottage dwellers.

Toby has now reduced them to a phenomenal 24 prims.

Two of the dividing sections show you how our arbors can be duplicated to create a shady walkway.............. or a wedding aisle!

This Wooden Arbor with Ivy is only 3 prims per unit, making this aisle of 5 a tiny 15 prims.

The decorative Rose Arbor is 9 prims making a run of 5 only 45 prims.

 We have also used Toby's new tree screens to divide the dome into sections. This is the Koyoma Spruce and is available in 20m (8 trees) and 30m (12 tree) lenghts and each screen is only 1 prim.

Similarly with the European Larch

You can find us at :-

http://slurl.com/secondlife/gavrinis/128/128/901

Although the new section is open now if you would like to visit we will be having a formal launch on  Saturday May 6th from 10 am SLT.

Toby will be DJing so drop in to look around and stay to dance at our Open Store event.

All  ArchiTech group members will receive a 10% discount on any purchases.

Landscaping was never so easy!

Dearest Myrtle

Day 16: HomeDome

Welcome to my HomeDome. My latest approach to SL living.

Toby nearly had a fit when I said I wanted to move again (we have had seven different living places since last September) and he had a bigger shock when he saw what I had in mind..especially when he found out he had to make it for me from megaprims!

So anyways, if you peek inside you can see that there is a cloudy sky with moving clouds, and an island with Toby's new 'Real' meadow grass leading on to a beach. It is all surrounded by water and if I can work out how to make it swimmable before Avery and Sweetsoul come over later I will add some pics.

This is the view from the opposite end of the island. It may not be apparent, but the 'dividers' are laid out like a snake, in fact they mirror the landscaping of Snake Island  1000s of metres below.  I liked the idea of a sort of open space where I could display some of the amazing artwork we have collected from SL and also create some little areas to do the types of activities we love on SL.

This is our little meditation corner. These are amazing mediation seats and they have a few poses in them. We try to meditate at dawn and dusk each evening, although in SL it is challenging to work out exactly when that is.

I panned back with my cam to give you a sense of the space and to let  you see how the art works just sit around in the landscape looking like they are part of the natural landscape.

We have been living like this for about a week and although Toby will now say he loves living in such an open and relaxed environment, initially he thought I had really lost it!

I am just going to show you a few little areas of the HomeDome and give you an idea of how we spend out time....heehee! I am starting with this one which I call 'Chilling with a Friend'.

This next one is my 'Harpsibaceous Border'. We spend a lot of time here playing baroque music and relaxing.



As you can  see.....we are both accomplished harpsichord players!

When life is just too much to keep pace with, I slope off to my 'Reading Window' and sit cosily whilst the snow falls through the leaden sky outside.

Another important area we have is the one where we have a glass of chapagne (yes there is always a bottle of Lanson Black Label in the fridge) before we go out dancing (no dinner in sl of course but seemingly quite a lot of aperitifs) or just as the beginning of a relaxing evening at home.

I dont really have a name for this area.

Maybe slainte!

One of the ways we all relax in SL is at the beach and by swimming. It doesnt really matter in a virtual world if your beach is on the ground level or high in the sky. It only matters that you can swim and float and, ironically, sunbathe. The more the merrier.

Well guys, that is about the end of the tour, there are a few areas I didnt get Toby to demonstrate for you, our bedroom (just a very large cushion on the grass) ...'nuff said, and our plunge pool............... ditto.

Also we have some wonderful art and you may even have recognised some of it. If there is anything you especially like please let me know and I will show you where we got it.

Just a final couple of pictures of the whole thing......................I hope you like it.

Dearest Myrtle: April 2011

Day 15: Orsini Tarantal's new Exhibition: Ambiguedad (Ambiguity)

Last night, the tireless and beautiful patron of the arts in SL, Fabilene Cortes, invited us all to enjoy the new  works of the prolific Spanish artist Orsini Tarantal.

Orsini's new collection, entitled, Ambiguedad (Ambiguity) was another unveiling of the way his mind examines social behaviors and phenomena.

The beautiful and mysterious Fabilene Cortes (business partner to Nerd Bert, owner and patron to Crossworlds Gallery)

Karelia Kondor, a vision in green shows how formally we all chose to dress for the occasion.

Rock and Roll Michigan was our DJ who enthralled us with flamenco music that made us dance and dance.

 The venue was crowded with art fans and artists as you can see.

Drezz Jarmen

Tonights offering, although without much of the overt pain of his recent 'Wounded Cities' (from which I am still recovering), chooses to delve deeply  into the minds of individuals he has either placed in 2 dimensional paired partnership or else morphed from one image into another.

Here we have Ambiguedad4 and Carnival

And here we have the two apects of Muyer, my personal favourite (thats the top of my little sister's head on her first photography mission for me).

I was also much taken by Muya de Rojo (left)

Breathtaking!

The gallery floor was crowded with admirers and dancers.

Andreas Jorgental

Pascale and Skay showing us all how to flamenco.

and although many tried...............

only a few like..............Tupper and Cathychou........actually succeeded.

Thanks to Toby Howton and Jade Snake for the photographs.

Dearest Myrtle