In my recent blog post about bridges, I featured Molly Linden's elegant bridge, which connects two Japanese-styled Linden homes areas near Hoshigarei. If you cross that bridge, and wander West, you'll arrive at the the bright red gates of the Shareta Osumai Tea Garden. A strikingly lovely LDPW build, the garden comprises an entire sim; two if you count the connecting infohub directly to the North. Let's enter through the shoji gates and spend a pleasant afternoon looking around, shall we?
Perhaps the most striking feature of the garden is the five-story tea house, pictured above. Nearby, you can catch a (very slow) rickshaw pulled by a mole for a leisurely ride, or wander the many paths through the garden on foot. You might spot the hedge dragon, pictured below, or sit and meditate at the edge of the Zen rock garden. See how many different mole statues you can find among the plantings, and you might even find three mole coins just waiting for a lucky toss into a nearby pond!
Once you are finished visiting the garden, follow the river North, and climb a series of winding wooden staircases up to a group of five large buildings perched at the top of a mountain (pictured below). These buildings are all part of the Shareta Osumai Infohub, and contain a number of freebies, including parasols, fans, cricket cages, eleven different decorative masks, and boxes containing textures for use in Japanese-themed Linden homes. Make sure to spend some time exploring each of the five buildings, as they all contain different surprises. The mole temple (last photo, below) was my very favorite.
What I found really fascinating about this location (and thanks to Gem Preiz for the original tip!) is that there are at least two duplicates. According to the Second Life wiki, there are four premium Linden Homes continents: Premium East (also known as Nascera), and Premium South 1, 2 and 3. The Gardens and Infohub I have described above exist in Premium East, the same continent where you can find Cape Ekim, Racer's Gulch, and the Wilderness Sims. However, you can also find the very same Shareta Osumai Tea Garden on Premium South 2 and on Premium South 3, with related Infohubs to the North of each. Similarly, Molly Linden's wonderful bridge is duplicated on both Premium South 2 and 3 as well. Choose any of these three expansive gardens, and you're sure to enjoy your visit. Let me know if you found those lucky coins!
Tucked into a tiny corner in Tanelorn, the Bay City Institute for Anomalous Research is an enchanting find. Described as a place for "discovering, researching, and preserving diverse cynosure," the Institute is run by Professor CC Columbo, Director, and Professor Geohistoria Farshore, Researcher. Professor Columbo spoke of his colleague Professor Farshore as someone who spends his time "looking for exhibits, exploring the Grid, and having adventures. He's from Caledon." The parcel overlooks both the West Channel and the unnamed sea to the south of Bay City, allowing for surreptitious deliveries of artifacts by boat as needed.
Wandering inside the main building, pictured below, one encounters a great number of strange and unusual artifacts. According to Professor Columbo, "the exhibits will be rotated and brief stories will, with any luck, be written about each piece. This is a work in progress." Statues of Bast rub elbows with dinosaur skulls and medieval suits of armor, and there is even a strange, glowing, very futuristic-looking box sitting near the back door. What could be inside?
Professor Columbo's office is located in the round folly on the south side of the parcel, pictured below. The professor commented about the office, "It is where
Geohistoria Farshore and I keep up with the administration of things and
plan explorations." The office inside the folly is a delightful jumble of books and packing crates and even an adult phoenix in purple-feathered glory.
Professor Columbo is the first life brother of Bay City's own Uccello Galway (Uccello Poultry). He commented, "Uccie and I speak often about the time bubble that was created when I moved our family graveyard from
next to her Bay City Arboretum of Atypical Vegetation. It was the same Faerie magic that moved the
Institute from Dennis to Tanelorn, mostly intact and oddly expanded.
Parts of the site disappear into the time stream and/or the Nevernever
and other parts appear. Little critters come and go. Uccie's alt Zyx Flux, the source of the
Faerie Magic, rezzes the critters and helps with landscaping." (Take a moment to explore the Arboretum as well - it is a wonderful and quirky place with a similar feel to the Institute.)
Although the parcel is
only 784 square meters, it feels deceivingly larger. Every bit of space
is well used, with many places to sit and enjoy a moment of quiet contemplation. When I asked about the aforementioned graveyard, Professor Columbo told me, "You'll see a statue of a cherub to the
northwest after you arrive. It's the one that was in the Dennis
cemetery, and it is a memorial for Lydia Rose. That's my RL daughter. She passed away
many years ago before she was three years old. I have always had a
memorial marker out for her, at minimum. At one time a quarter of the
Nangrim sim (which Uccie and I owned) was named for her. I like to think of the Institute (and the Arboretum,
since it was my idea to have that in Dennis) as a way that Lydia and I
explore together and have adventures." The Bay City Institute for Anomalous Research sparks the imagination and will rekindle anyone's love for adventuring. Why not visit today?
The Moonlight Teahouse is a peaceful Japanese teahouse perched on the edge of a high cliff on the north coast of Satori. Visitors arrive on a high parapet (see fourth picture, below), and after passing under the red arch, will soon encounter an area for Tai Chi where participants can look out over the rolling sea as they play.
Extending from the parapets, steep stairs set into the rocky cliffside will lead you up to the teahouse and surrounding gardens. The teahouse itself is flanked by two different Zen rock gardens (see photo, above). According to The Smithsonian, "Zen rock gardens, or karesansui (translated as 'dry-mountain-water'), originated in medieval Japan and are renowned for their simplicity and serenity."
The serenity continues along paths behind the teahouse, which wander through gardens (pictured above) filled with brightly-colored flowers and over a bubbling stream before circling back around to the teahouse itself. The structure (pictured below) is from POST, and allows for repose or restful meditation while feeling the cool ocean breeze through the open windows.
Myron Byron built Moonlight Teahouse as a gift for his partner, Sara (Saraphen Resident). He states, "I've
been building for years, but not many have seen my work. Nothing is on
the market. I've done a lot; furniture, statues, jewelry, hair, clothes,
props, machinima, poses, all kinds of buildings from baroque palaces to
hangars and modern grunge, etc. Moonlight Teahouse is the first of my
builds made available to the general public and, to my surprise,
received a lot of traffic thanks to unexpected exposure in Destinations
Editors' Picks (from late Sept to late Nov 2013). It was built with midnight (WL) setting in mind. I hope
you enjoy your visit!"
You can port directly to Moonlight Teahouse, or for the more adventurous, approach it by sea. Located in the sim Tuli along the Coastal Waterway, the parcel can be reached by boat from either Nautilus or the Blake Sea, or from other points along the Satori coast. Providing a tranquil oasis along a busy coastline, the teahouse and gardens are well worth a visit.
Explorers traveling on the eastern coast of Satori, the Japanese continent, might happen upon a tranquil Japanese community called Little Yoshiwara. Xuemei Yiyuan, the owner of the sim, commented, "I founded
Little Yoshiwara in July of 2007. Starting
out as a Geisha tea house and Shinto shrine on a 2048m block in the
Milarepa sim, it has grown into an Edo Period (1603-1868 AD)
Japanese town covering the entire region, as well as a substantial
portion of the adjoining Ribush sim. The growth of the town would not
have been possible without the invaluable contributions of past and
present group members Shashe Neva, Faye Kawabata,
and Soresu Romano." While this lovely and well-designed area was created for role-play, Xuemei told me that her primary aim is to have a place to celebrate traditional Japanese culture. "While those involved in the social groups do role-play on site," she said, "our
general group members and visitors are not expected to role-play unless
they wish to do so. In addition, visitors may dress any way they want, as long as it
doesn't infringe upon the PG nature of the sim."
According to Xuemei, "Within the town are a number of social groups which not only role-play
those social roles, but learn about those social roles in classes held
at the 'group schools' in their home buildings or training areas. Each of the schools uses traditional ranking systems and conduct
regular classes and training in the chosen role. These schools include:
Yoshiwara Okiya group for Geisha; Yoshiwara Uji Dojo group for Samurai;
Yoshiwara Jingu Association group for Shinto Priests and Miko; the
Ichimura-za Kabuki Troupe group for those interested in performing
traditional Kabuki and Noh plays; the Doujoji Zen Temple group for
Buddhists; and the Yoshiwara Yokai group for those choosing a
super-natural (or non-human) role. The sim also welcomes anyone wishing to establish any new group schools
(e.g. Sumo, Ninja, Yakuza) provided they are prepared to put in the
time and energy needed to train their members and provide classes."
The town features sitting and picnic areas, a dance area with modern music, hot baths (onsen)
for bathing, and rooms for playing the game 'Go'. Visitors are welcome to enter role-play group areas, such as
the tea house (ochaya) run by the Geisha, the Samurai training areas, including the traditional archery range (kyuudo), the Zen Buddhist
Temple (Zendo), and any of the 8 large and small shrines belonging to
the Shinto group (these include our Grand Amaterasu Shrine in Ribush
region, and smaller shrines for Tsukuyomi, Susano-o, Uzume, Izanagi,
Inari, Hachiman, and Takemikazuchi). There are some home rentals on site (clearly marked and locked), and visitors are asked to respect the privacy of those areas. Otherwise, wandering throughout the town is welcomed. You might even stumble across a haunted forest and abandoned execution ground! The sim-wide teleport system is located in pillows scattered throughout the grounds.
Xuemei concluded by stating, "Little Yoshiwara welcomes, and is happy to provide the venues for, anyone wishing to hold events or seminars about any aspect
of Japanese culture, which will be facilitated and advertised by our
Admin team. The sim also has a gallery for art or photographic
exhibitions. We invite everyone in Second Life to freely attend our cultural events and classes, and enjoy the amenities of the town and its general relaxing ambience."
Every time I encounter a place like this gorgeously landscaped town which has been home to a number of active and vibrant groups since 2007, I am reminded again that the Mainland is a place of hidden beauty and tight-knit communities. Take a trip to visit Little Yoshiwara, and find out for yourself how true this is!
"...I'm lookin' for baggage that goes with mine."
Okay, despite me now having those lyrics from Rent in my head, maybe not baggage. More a backpack, to be exact. A week or so ago, Torley gave me this really cool backpack (see image below) that is actually a random teleporter. It allows the wearer, or anyone in the same region who clicks on it, to be teleported to a completely random spot on the grid. You can set it to find sims that are general/moderate, or general/moderate/adult. I put it on, clicked, a loud alarm went off, and local chat told me, "Random Sim Teleporter. Backpack. [Mod/Trans]: Kinnaird Resident has chosen to teleport. Please prepare for extraction :)" And off I went!
Because the backpack will port you anywhere on the grid, both to Mainland and to private sims, I had a few false starts - one empty private sim for sale, a group of four private sims containing a planned town, one private house on Sansara with a security orb - before landing at The Haven. Looking up the parcel details, I found this description: "Set in Bordeaux's famed Haut-Medoc, The Haven celebrates the creativity of all who find a haven in SL and is a place to make and renew friendships while you explore its secrets."
Owned by Sister (sisterbutta), and comprising most of the sim Molson on southeastern edge of Sansara, The Haven at ground level is a rambling expanse of forest, vineyards, and large buildings in the style of 18th century France. The arrival area places you right next to a fire-breathing dragon, which one can ride over the sim, although exploring by foot will let you discover a lot of fun details. Steps to the West lead up to an open-air French pavilion, with an adjacent Artist and Author's Terrace, pictured below. The crystal ball on the center of the table whispered to me, "Crystal Ball: You will partner with someone very wealthy and be given many many Lindens." /me casts a sidelong glance in Ziki's direction and grins.
"The Haven is really a big sandbox where I try things out," commented Sister when I spoke with her. "Most of the ground area I've leveled and am rebuilding. The only structure there now
(pretty much) is the large house/salon. A friend in England did the build and
then I furnished; it was my very first effort in SL. It is generally
historically accurate; nothing is post 1786, in theory. It is not a 'palace', is is the somewhat mysterious 'hideout' for the Society of
Jesus (Jesuits) during the years of suppression when the order was
dissolved by Papal order." Visitors can explore the Salon here (outside of which is an awfully fun bubble rezzer) or a large exhibit covering
the first 200 years of the Jesuits in a skybox here.
Continued Sister, "There are three other builds up in the sky...the Galactic Cantina (pictured below), a bizarre
halloween/day of the dead build that I can't bear to pack up (pictured above), and finally there is Lasata, a fictional small town in southeast Alabama (USA) that is the SL setting for a RL novel. It is probably the most interesting build at the
Haven. It is all a hodgepodge, but I love every
meter of it."
All in all, The Haven was a lovely find, and a great example of the creative use of Mainland space. Wander around, especially on ground level, where you can find an art exhibit under a canopy of trees, relax in the gardens of the French pavilion, or enjoy an outdoor meal on a small freestanding terrace. Then spend some time exploring the skybox builds, including the otherworldly landscaped area outside of the Cantina. What an impressive venue for a space-themed event! Thank you, random teleporter backpack, and thank you, Torley!
I wonder where it will take me next?
Located in Varney, one of the original sixteen sims of Second Life, Varney Garden is a welcoming oasis in this busy region of Sansara. At the landing point, one can pick up a brochure that describes the garden and some of its history. Pygar Bu, owner of the garden, states that he acquired this parcel in 2007 in a land auction. "At that time, the parcel to the east was a nice garden space, with a pond that bordered on my parcel," Pygar commented. "I decided to build a garden space of my own, to complement the existing one, and to blend in a bit with the surrounding parcels." Upon arrival, you will find yourself surrounded by unusual, prehistoric-looking plants, pictured behind the sign below. These immediately caught my attention, having encountered their unforgettable giant leaves (some spanning almost 6 feet!) in two first life locations last year - Whidbey Island, WA, and Inverness, Scotland. They are Gunnera plants, created in SL by Cube Republic.
Pygar continues by mentioning that "the garden itself uses many different creators' plants and trees. I update the garden plantings once a year, and observe some seasonal changes as well." Rez is on in the garden with a 5-minute auto return, and Pygar simply asks that people be respectful if using that feature. Readers may recognize Pygar as the creative force behind several main stage builds at SLB celebrations, and as the designer of "The Burning Man" for the grid's yearly Burn2 events. Located near the lighthouse in Varney Garden is a Man-like statue holding an arc of shimmering fire and light (pictured below). Crafted by Pygar and simply entitled "Joy", the statue is available to purchase for a very reasonable L$30.
Because of the way the paths meander through the parcel, it seems much larger than it is. There is a stone lighthouse perched on a hill, a 7Seas fishing vendor near an inlet filled with waterlilies, a small hobo camp complete with outhouse, a large tree to climb, and a campfire setting for hanging out with friends in the evening. The neighboring parcel to the east has obviously taken great care to fit in with Pygar's build, and you can find some lovely garden features there as well. About the fishing walkway (pictured below, center, complete with Pygar!), he mentions, "the 'Boardwalk' signage and the wooden slat pattern on the 7Seas vendor were created by Alberto Linden for an early feature in this area. After studying photos from 2003-2004, it is believed that the Boardwalk straddled the region border with Minna to the south." I love when people incorporate the history of the Mainland into current builds.
Pygar refers to this as his "Lil Peaceful Plot", and one could certainly spend many a peaceful afternoon wandering through or hanging out in Varney Garden. Take your time, delight in all of the wonderful details hidden around each bend, and maybe even catch a fish or two! If you enjoy your visit, contributions can be left in the watering can at the landing point.
"Inch by inch, Row by row,
Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe
And a piece of fertile ground."
"Garden Song", by David Mallet (1975), sung by John Denver and The Muppets
