Author: xeriko

Xeriko enjoys exploring and landscaping in SL, and welcomes a nice chat anytime.

Thorny Manor

New year, new home

Happy New Year everyone! It’s 2009 already, a year of change, a year of new challenges, a year of new crisis surely, but a new year nonetheless. And I’ve decided to begin the New Year in Caledon Cay with a new home. Can I do like normal people, and stay living in the same place for a change? No, I can’t. I enjoy moving, putting up new things together, and changing everything around. Go live with it; I do… and I can, and so should you. I also have a very good reason: a splendid house by none other than Ms. Star Fairymeadow. It is a beautiful Gothic mini-castle (well it looks like one) that goes by the name of Thornfield Manor.

I have to confess: I used to love the Spooky house (another of Ms. Fairymeadow designs), but this one wins by far. Aww, don’t be that cruel. I still love the Spooky a lot, but yes, this one is also special. It has a something something, too hard to define, but easy to pick out. This is one of those buildings that simply stand out.

Access to the house is by way of a stony stairway (not pictured) reminiscent of the drawbridges of yore… Nah, I’m hallucinating, but it does gives the impression of a hard to reach mound. Once you go up the stairs, you come across the entrance: a heavy wood and stone arch that leads to the main hall. The lamp you see across the door comes with the house, but the one you see outside does not. Yet, there is a pair of charming lanterns at the foot of the stairs to light the way.

I turn that first space into a “romantic” living room (using my favorite set and carpet, so that’s why it looks as cozy as my previous home, the Cay Cottage you already met).

I wanted a lot of “air” this time, so I didn’t fill the place with a lot of furniture, just the essential, but of course, I couldn’t live without the sound of running water (despite the fact that I live right next to the sea), as well as some more green. There’s also an empty jar, but hell I do like that too.

The upper floor is just as charming as the one below, making use of the same wallpaper and Gothic windows as the rest of the house. In here, I placed the bedroom, and coupled it with a desk, for those days I need to take some administrative tasks or some reading. I couldn’t part with my rocking horse, so I brought it to the second floor. Rocking in front of that nice window overlooking Cafall is “enchanting”.

This is another view of the same room, this time pictured from the desk, where you can see the bed, and to the left a reclining chair to get comfy after some hard work. The black dot on the right is me, not a mannequin.

The Thornfield Manor is a two story building, but it also comes with an extra surprise: underneath that rocky foundation, you’ll find another solid door that leads to what, in the stoned tradition (oh sh_t!, sorry… I mean stone masonry tradition), we should call a dungeon, but in the absent of a dominatrix I’ll call it a classy cellar.

Other people could use it as a laboratory (for legal purposes, ok), a nightclub (wait, wait, wait, that’s too much), or even a secluded place of worship. But in opening the door you can see that I’m currently using it to cultivate some delicious mushrooms and other non-edible plants that will otherwise freeze outside during this cold northern winter.

The Thornfield Manor can be purchase at any Wretched Dollies store (main store at Winterfell Absynthe). Follow the link to get a fast line to it (slurl).

Manic Mansion

I think I found my dream-house; too bad it’s not for sell, or I would have grabbed eleven copies of it to make sure it will last forever. This is Ms. Angrybeth Shortbread’s home instead, an artist and educator in RL herself. I saw it from nearby Big Green Switch, from where I noticed that purplish building trapped in what looked like momentarily as a white sanded desert –I think it’s actually snow, by the way. The roof was what first caught my eye, since I’m in the process of building a less than usual house for myself. So I thought: hmm I should get a closer look of that weird thing. So I got closer, not knowing that I would fall in love with the whole structure instantly. Man… and woman… or anybody in between: This is lovely! Due to its “not-so-common” coloring (and JPGs shortcomings) I’m uploading this pics in PNG, so they’re a little big in size.

Inside the Manic house

The house is purple, yes, your eyes are ok. Shocking purple, isn’t it? Why do you wonder? Didn’t I say so already? Well, I think it’s nice! It’s mostly a two story building topped by an astronomical observatory on the third level, which you can access from a stairway on the second floor. There aren’t Hubble-like views up there, but it adds a nice touch.

Everything in here has a crooked appeal: from the door frame, the chimney, and the telescope’s tube. The rooftop is very curvy, the windows are mainly round and the tower is out of shape, so to speak. Ms. Shortbread says: “if you are familiar with video games it was inspired by a game called Maniac Mansion by LucasArts – which is why its quite cartoony and garish colours.” Well, though familiar with video games (or so I thought cause Ms. Shortbread proves me wrong), I didn’t know that one, so this version of the Manic Mansion –also know as the Ghost house– was very original to me.

Door

Yet, it isn’t a place for living (but would surely make a unique living space). The whole house is pretty empty, except for a pic on a wall that links to another of Ms. Shortbread’s projects (worth checking too). There’s so much that my (f-cked up) mind imagines in and around this house that I should simply end this post and freak out somewhere else… I love it, I love it! (Manic Mansion, slurl).


Note: The Big Green Switch is an eco-friendly group dedicated to spreading the word of environmental awareness through their freely available creations and other UK-based charities. Visit their home-base to get their stuff and get involved in the way (slurl).


Note 2: Neither the Manic Mansion nor the Big Green Switch are in those two slurls anymore. I have no idea where they have gone to, or if they are inworld anymore.

Sculptie sims of Timmi Allen

Second Life is full of creativity and awe inspiring places. Here are a few screenies of Timmi Allen’s sculptie paradise spanning four sims, in alphabetical order: Sculptie Animals, Sculptie Experiments, Sculptie Paradise, and Sculptie Wonder. All of them are full of niceties for your (visual) enjoyment. If you have more than a couple of big Linden bucks you can even ride away in a beautiful stallion (nothing to do with Sylvester, who ceased to be any of those two adjectives a long time ago). I would love to get one of those riding elephants myself, but gosh! L$10k is more than six months of my current tier rent… Worth it? Sure they are, you have to see the smooth movements of that creamy horse. If you have the “requirement$”, I haven’t seen best. I’ll keep on dreaming.

View of the stable and the woods nearby.
View of the stable and the woods nearby.
Sculptywood and the Greek ruins. The shop is next to it.
Sculptywood and the Greek ruins. The shop is next to it.
A riding path over water. There are even dino rides around here.
A riding path over water. There are even dino rides around here.

Location: Sculptie Timmi sims (slurl).