Home.
So this was the big secret, now unveiled. I’ve *bought* land in Rubi again. Yes, bought — I’m a premium member of this game called Second Life once again, after about a year and a 1/2 absence from such a classification. The parcel is a 4096, and *long* (although rectangular). I bought it from Zarek Lock, just as I bought my original Rubi parcel from him going on 2 years ago, which also represented my first land purchase from the Lindens period, and still the major one up until this Memorial Day weekend.
The really exciting thing to me, besides being back in Rubi: the parcel borders *128 meters* of the forest. That’s right, 1/2 the length of the forest in its widest direction, east to west. That was a special selling point for me. The disadvantage of this is that the 4096 is quite narrow north to south. Basically it’s 4 square 1024s all in a horizontal row with each other. But that’s OK for this particular plot; advantages outweigh disadvantages.
Below is my current favorite place on the plot: the upper level of the Hard To Get To Gallery, transposed from Yeot. Fantastic view of the forest in two directions.
I’ve already rezzed the cube + tube version of the Edwardston Station Gallery on the property, setting it up at the 215 meter level in the sky. The elevation on the ground here is at about 100 meters. The flat surface makes a marked contrast with the Yeot rental parcels which will soon have to go byebye for me. Within the week.
Aerial view of the parcel looking south from above the Rubi Forest. I’ve mentioned the Hard To Get To Gallery (right), and also we have the House of Truth (left). In-between is a small pond, with the lake shack also found in Yeot very nearby. The pond is about exactly halfway between the two main structures of the property, a focal point of sorts.
View from the forest.
View looking north this time across my parcel toward the forest.
View from my friend Flynn’s place just across the forest, using a 256 meter sight draw. She’s lived in Tyta, I suppose, about 2 years now, although I haven’t seen her inworld in over a year. I’ve invited her over to take a look at the new digs. Told her it was an excuse to take a nice walk through the forest. 🙂
*But* I didn’t stop at purchasing the Rubi property this weekend, for I also bought the land I formerly rented in Noru, where I still have my Blue Feather Gallery. That’s another 4096 situation, just like in Rubi.
What of my great land in Yeot, one might be asking at this point? As I said, I’m going to have to give it up — the Blue Feather Gallery I had planned for weeks to move there will instead stay in Noru, as it has since early April. But the ability to buy the great land in Rubi was the clincher; I simply *had* to have that land once I saw it was for sale, and then the additional purchase of the Noru properties fell naturally into step after that. The Rubi property didn’t come as cheap as I would have liked, but I hope it will be worth it. Many things already planned ahead.
I am home. I think I really am this time (insert wife snickering noise here).
Comma… Bracket… Quotation Mark?
Just posted to ujiyasu’s new post about walking part of the Corsica continent.
http://ujiyasu.wordpress.com/2010/05/30/corsica-walking-vol-1/
Esp. interested in her description of the Temple of the Prim — will visit asap!
A. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kwaito/149/161/165
Commented that the, “only LDPW work I found on Corsica is [a] large waterfall in Evora, just in checking various rental properties out one night.”
B. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Evora/149/167/109
Not extremely far from the Temple of the Prim as it looks, but, more importantly perhaps, on an island that looks to be the same size as the one with the aforementioned temple, with only a narrow channel separating the two. And, moreover, the two together look a bit like oppositely pointing commas to me. At least that’s what crossed my mind when looking at the two together after reading ujisaya’s post.
I was checking out the SLURL map when I just randomly clicked on the channel separating the two islands. Turned out I had clicked on the map of a sim called Bracket — thought this to be another one of those meaningful coincidences since comma and bracket are both common punctuation marks.
C. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Bracket/139/128/28
Will add more thoughts here as they come. Could my exploring shift from Jeogeot to Corsica now in tandem withi ujiyasu’s? Possible. And how do these “Comma Islands” relate to the larger Corsica Prime island to their immediate east, already talked about in a number of blog posts here? Do they represent quote marks instead, framing the “quote” (forward, retrograde, inverse, inverse retrograde?) that is Corsica Prime somehow?
I have a feeling this will develop in new and unexpected directions.
*****
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081130011147AAcaQBM
The Temple of the Prim
A Little Bee visited this temple!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8228704@N06/4018990813/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/4615446321/
A different Temple of the Prim here:
http://npirl.blogspot.com/2009/10/temple-of-prim-and-tribute-to-carl-jung.html
The problem with the Blue Feather Gallery (a happy problem, though!)
Where to put it? Will it stay in Noru? Will it move to Rubi? The latter is what I’ve been experimenting on the last 24 hours, with mixed results. This is the original version…
but I realized the tower was simply too tall for this location (maybe not for Noru, though) and temporarily shortened it. I’m still not happy… more work to do.*
But boy in the meantime, it’s a great view from the porch!
In conjunction with this, decided today to just consolidate everything in Rubi, and sell the Noru properties. But now they’re back off the market, as I further ponder the comparison between the 2 sims I just bought property in, sims I probably know better than any in SL now. Rubi and Noru.
I’ve invited another guest artist to exhibit in Rubi, but may switch this exhibit back to Noru.
*****
“Let’s talk to Hucka and whomever tonight a bit. Hucka D.?”
Hucka D.:
Much work ahead, baker b. Much ground to cover, much blank slate territory suddenly opened. What to write?
bb:
Yeot is history, Hucka D. Noru was *almost* history, but now I’m once again unsure. I’m going to wait for the guest artist to respond, if they will. Then go from there. There’s a chance the Blue Feather Gallery will simply go away. Good chance. I’ll just keep the cube version of the Edwardston Station Gallery around, then, and work on a new Temple of TILE of some kind. All this would be in Rubi… if Noru goes, I suppose the Blue Feather Gallery will have to go as well.
Hucka D.:
I’m not too worried about that. It will sort itself out [soon enough]. You know the *location* of TILE now. You know it has something to do with that prim tower. Not the one on the lower of the 2 Comma Islands but, yes, once again that was a hint of what was going on. 2 prim towers “explored” the same night. What is the relationship? Create the text of your Temple of the Prim post tomorrow. TILE works in mysterious ways [like that].
bb:
Thanks. Yes, I see (!) The 2 are related.
Hucka D.:
This one’s a rabbit hole problem. Down the rabbit hole… what do you find? You find a King who digs up a tile with a King digging up a tile. This one will take time to develop.
bb:
In the meantime, I should just relax and take in the scenery.
Hucka D.:
In a way. This one’s a hole. Keep alert for clues, as you already have. This one involves all of Second Life. Clues could come from anywhere, from anyone. That’s because you need help. And people are willing to give you this, at least on an unconscious level. And sometimes a conscious level as well. But mostly the former, as you already understand.
bb:
Yes. Obviously I’m reading old parts of the blog involving my original stay in Rubi, Hucka D. Probably should get back to that.
Hucka D.;
You have a seeming weak spot that is instead a great strength, the greatest. You should probably keep Noru around till you figure out what to do with that hole. It is both red and blue together in one. The Matrix.
bb:
Thank you.
*****
* 05/31/10 Update: Yes, I went ahead and deleted this version entirely. Something else should go there… (?)
Yes, I think I’m keeping the Noru properties as well. 🙂
New landscaping efforts basically convinced me of this. Plus there was just no way I could fit the Blue Feather Gallery onto the Rubi property, so if it stayed, Noru had to stick around in my Second Life as well.
Below is the new entrance to the Blue Feather Gallery, about 30 or so meters down the sidewalk from the old entrance Baker is looking toward.
This is the same type of stepping stones that use to lead quickly to the House of Truth. Same destination, but not nearly so quick a trip now. Baker enters the woods.
Very soon the stepping stone path leads between 2 new pools on the property, almost the same size, but lighted in different colors and also having different colored fish.
The westernmost pool is centered by a red light encircled by small blue fish, the eastern one by a green light with circling yellow fish.
Just beyond this isthmus like effect lies a choice between 3 paths now, one shooting right, one going left, and the other heading straight. Baker knows the straight path is really the main path still, and the other two are offshoots. The straight path leads to the House of Truth, soon giving this vantage position. Baker has just passed through the small, disrepaired cemetery still on the grounds from before, with some added headstones even (not pictured).
The right hand path leads to this rather deep pool fed by a waterfall. And, yeah, that’s a giant tire in the middle of all this. Still think it’s quite pretty.
And certainly a great view from the Chilbo sidewalk across this deepish pool toward the House of Truth now. Had to clear some trees to get that. 🙂
Just to be complete about this, the old site of the House of Truth was at this pool.
The left hand path from the intersection mentioned before leads Baker to this shed, the same that bordered the Yeot pool on my rental properties, which I still have for a couple more days. Sad, but must move on. Firmly convinced now I had to give it up!
And that’s yet another new pool on the property at the bottom of this photograph, this one rather choked with eel grass and not as deep as the others save one…
… and this is the one, the smallest of the 5 now on the property that must be crossed in order to stay on the path all the way to the House of Truth, perched on a nice hillock just above.
Overview of the entire length of the properties now. At the bottom is the newly moved Blue Feather Gallery entrance sign. At the top is the House of Truth, also moved from its old location. The main stepping stone path connects the two, almost a 1/2 sim length distance.
I must admit I like this *much* better than the old ground layout in Noru.
Settling Down Finally?
So newest of new news: I’m firmly established, it seems, in both Rubi *and* Noru. Surprisingly today — I’m almost daily surprised by the equivalent of such things any more, though — the Noru grounds kind of blossomed into something still similar and based on the old layout, but with many new features. A long spinal type path was created through my forest in Noru, which was actually thinned a bit in the process. Moved the House of Truth to a hill on the isolated 1024 in Noru… that was a big key. But let’s just chat with Hucka D. “Hucka?’
Hucka D.:
Now you know you needed both Rubi and Noru. I can’t outright tell you these things — you have to figure them out yourself. You need both. You need to dig deep into a personal mythology in Rubi. You need to expand outward into the lives, art and creativity of others in Noru, and stay rooted on the Jeogeot continent. You will continue to explore Jeogeot. You will rent in Meddletown… maybe. You will return — turning to rl now — to Whitehead Crossing again and again, and set up a new toy community there. This has something to do with Rubi and Noru as well. You are attempting to have your cake and eat it too. You are in two places at once which are really no place atall. You have Whitehead Crossing. You know who Whitehead is in ways. It is you, baker b. You in the future but also the past. You are in the stream as well. This place will be there for you as you get old and gray — old and white. Long after Rubi and Noru fade away. Red and blue. But you’ll always have your blog to remember those places by. And Whitehead Crossing as well, although it will be much more stable and long term.
bb:
What is the relationship of Whitehead Crossing to TILE Creek, Hucka D.?
Hucka D.:
Both are stable; both are long term.
bb:
Should we get cracking at the Rubi mysteries?
Hucka D.:
Read.
bb:
OK, what of Noru.
Hucka D.:
Invite guests. Listen to them. Take in what is resonant and discard the rest. Think of the ancient relationship of Norum and Chilbol, and the modern one of Noru and Chilbo. Things have reversed [a bit]. Good you have your House of Truth set up more in the middle of Noru, as it was suppose to be. As it was in ancient times of Norum.
bb:
That’s where Sapphire lived as well (??).
Hucka D.:
Let’s ask her. She’s unpredictable at times to me. But I think she’s going to say yes.
bb:
What of Peter the Good? Will he come back in the picture now that I seem to be staying in Noru for a spell?
Hucka D.:
Yes. Sunklands. Spinning of Aotearoa and Yeot. Now stability through Norum. Not as much Noru, really, as Norum. Ancient times bleed into modern.
bb:
And this more minor stability, in virtual reality, is really an extension of the more permanent situation in Whitehead Crossing.
Hucka D.:
Yes, absolutely. Taking nothing away from Noru, but it would not exist without Whitehead Crossing.
bb:
But not visa versa.
Hucka D.:
Not really, no.
bb:
So… are we going to talk to Sapphire tonight?
Sapphire:
Yes.
bb:
Yes, that’s your old home?
Sapphire:
That is the center of ancient Norum. That hill.
bb:
Memorial Dae has apparently left Noru, Sapphire. I’m reporting this, after all, on Memorial Day.
Sapphire:
June is the season of Norum. Past memories flood in. I didn’t stay in Yeot for too awfully long. I moved to Norum, for that’s where the center was. Is. I perceived the same kind of spinning that you did [in Yeot]. We had to move. The VILE fish got out of control and began to stalk the neighborhood. Eventually it couldn’t be stopped. It was in league with the brainard of Sunklands by then. I think it may have been possessed by Ray the brainard even. In fact I know he was. Because I caused it. And I am Karoz’s mother. And I am ruler of Jeogeot. All of it. I ruled from my palace house in Norum. I loved gardens, so I lived in one. Memorial Dae’s land was part of this garden forest. Obviously your land you just bought. And your old land in Noru, which you also recreated a bit like the past. Bill Hill was there… Blue Pool and White Pool. Karoz’s house after he got tired of living with [delete name] and me.
bb:
Hold on Sapphire, please. You said [delete name]. That’s the same as Peter the Good, though. Isn’t it?
Sapphire:
(pause) Yes.
bb:
You were, er, married to Peter the Good??
Sapphire:
My mother and father were Cornfields as was I. Until Peter, but I didn’t call him that. We began the movement of Bill Hill through timescape. Here in Norum.
bb:
Timespace, you mean.
Sapphire:
No.
bb:
This is the main place, then.
Sapphire:
I… (pause)
Hucka D.:
Yes, the main place. Good one. Bill Hill was formed which toured all of New England. *Second Life* was formed. Something you still don’t know about [the] Corsica [continent], baker b. Pay attention to your Japanese friend’s blog for certain. And don’t forget about Egg Hill sink. Nor the Chasm Deep hole. Think of Comma Islands… go back to Bracket. Which comes first, the comma or the bracket? That kind of [stuff].
bb:
When I lived in Noru before, it was about 2 month in that I also did a rehaul of the landscape, Hucka D. And created the central Bill Hill. A meditation point.
Hucka D.:
Ideally you would have created both Noru properties at once. But they exist that way in Timescape.
bb (repeating):
Timespace, you mean.
[Hucka D. doesn’t answer].
bb:
So that it, Hucka D.?
Hucka D.:
Yes. You know a considerable amount more. You have your two centers, virtual real and real real. You have Norum, on the one hand, and Whitehead Crossing on the other. Whitehead Crossing is primary, Norum secondary. But it is the most important center in virtual world.
bb:
What of Rubi?
Hucka D.:
Rubi is the birthplace of TILE in Second Life. Your Second Lyfe. The King dug and found himself digging [on a tile]. Swindon. Place of death and resurrection. He has risen. Circles.
bb:
But he is a hoaxer, a forgerer.
Hucka D.:
No? Yes?
bb:
He is a pill both red and blue.
Loose Notes…
* Something will be found in the forest. A shake… Shakenstein? (like in the Kerchal forest?) But something…
* In this post Hucka D. claimed Grassy, the toy avatar, would crash in the Ruby Forest on his way to Mythos after stealing the 1st goodmobile from 1st Tree in Great Meadow. Nothing was followed up on this.
I think the thing found will relate to SID and SID’s 1st Oz.
* Hucka D. continually hints around in these August 08 posts about starting up the SID’s 1st Oz interview process again, beginning with Rubie-Silver and the whole Polk Co.-to-Montgomery County shift, including Waters/Pine Ridge. 36-Square superimposed on Rubi-Silver, like in the map Baker Blinker found in Ziczac near the Great Wall.
—–
Around Rubi, 02a
Around Rubi, 02b
Ta do list…
Start thinking of blog as whole. Tie up loose ends. Finish old exploring series, like hiking high mtns. of Heterocera. Perhaps finish Nautilus City sea series. Think of biking trips, perhaps on Corsica continent. Maybe Jeogeot.
RL: Keep going back again and again to Whitehead Crossing. Soon toys will be there.
Deepen Norum mythology. Sapphire was there at the beginning.
I’m thinking that I have part of my Sapphire story backwards, and that she was not born on Yd Island but *protected* there for her *second* birth (from Turquoise to Sapphire). This happened in the Microhole, protected by high walls. Then she remembers this happening in Yeot upon a return. The sim Meddledown on Yd Island is merely a reflection of Meddletown on Jeogeot near where Sapphire lived in Yeot and where her father, Nathaneil, worked on ship building. Her parents (or, alternately, aunt and uncle), were users of *real world* avatars, and were instead real in SL. As avatars they lived in both Indiana and Alabama (Arab, Diamond).
What of role of VILEness Fish? He was in Yeot, but did he attempt to follow Sapphire to Yd Island during her transformation? The high walls prevent him from being with her. He retreated to the sea surrounding Yd Island, eventually being trapped inside the Macrohole to the north. The VILEness Fish loved Sapphire.
OK, maybe this: Sapphire was born as Turquoise on Yd Island, but protected by high wall of Macrohole, where VILEness couldn’t be with her. The macrohole was “switched on” somehow, creating a worm hole to Jeogeot, which VILEness fell into. This was again north of Yd Island. 10 > 6 > 3 > 1 (C>Y>V>T). VILEness coated the hole. Made it safe for others to pass through (?) That was the whole point of the experience. A travellable black hole formed on Jeogeot at the same time the Korean Channel was formed. This would be created by the 3 Mos Ainsley related sims almost surrounding the Black Hole. Many people came from Yd Island and the eastern hemisphere as a whole through that hole to Jeogeot, including Sapphire and her parents/aunt-uncle. Nathaneil realized parallel of Meddletown with Meddledown.
Sapphire remembers the transformation happening in Yeot. VILEness eventually followed her there — surprise! The hole was sealed again when he emerged. Yeot and Yeoseol had a rivalry. Yeot used VILEness as test to see if Floaty Pool was legitimate Linden pool. Debate continues on this. Lake shack built to monitor health of VILEness during this test. He roamed the neighborhood far beyond extent of his supposedly entrapping pond, just like he did on Yd Island.
At Yeot, VILEness came in psychic contact with Ray the Brainard, trapped on the other side of the continent in Big Sink, perhaps Aotearoa. He was also known as the atom or the indivisible. He was a seed. He was 10 moved back into 6 then 3 then 1, to become a seed unfulfilled. VILEness was very similar. Very. Monsters, they were.
Sapphire moved to Norum after Yeot to further remove herself from VILEness. She knew of the Brainard threat by now. More on the way?? The Ancients came and formed Sunklands, perhaps Big Sink. Enlarged Aotearoa beyond the hole of Yeot. Dry sink this time, no water. Ray the brainard was placed by the Rabbit Head Hand of God into Big Sink. The mythical hole at the bottom of Big Sink actually led to Yeot and VILEness. It was the hole the seed needed to drop into to become the process of 1 to 3 to 6 to 10 and become a tree. Persimmon.
Norum is a key. Without the knowledge of Norum I cannot bridge the two stories happening on opposite sides of the Jeogeot continent. The Rift between the two sides happened at same time as the formation of the Korean Channel, or rounding of Jeogeot continent around this notch.
The Ancients created Sunklands. Baker Bloch was the last P in the pod, and had to mind his Ps and Qs. (Preon Star and Quark Star?). Sapphire’s House of Truth was moved to what was originally thought of as being the highest point of Jeogeot, in its most central location. The fallen aspect of Jeogoet truly began to manifest beyond another false high point, calling itself Mt. Jeogeot and controlled by BossMoss and the Freakies Tree. He was Gene Fade’s cousin.
The Cornfield’s house, Nathaneil and Natalee, was not moved from Yeot to Norum since they were no longer around in this virtual reality. They had completely moved to Earth, ie, died in this reality.
The Queen (of Temple Farm) came in contact with Sapphire at this time? The Gypsie sisters of The Moon (of Maebaleia)? The gypsie sisters gave Sapphire Karoz to raise. He went with Sapphire to Norum, and eventually lived north of Sapphire’s hill, on my old Noru land. A kind of second House of Truth was built there, which was much like N and N’s Victorian house in Yeot. Very similar. Karoz was the son of Gene Fade, who had also moved on but visited occasionally still. Karoz was raised on The Moon and given to Sapphire by the Gypsies, who travelled to Yeot in the Barracuda (Arab sort of backwards).
What is the relationship of Karoz to Peter The Good? How long did the Ancients stay in Norum? Just long enough to create Sunklands? What was the actual purpose of Sunklands? What is the actual relationship of Whitehead Crossing and Norum? The Oracle (MAPS) and Norum? This was the main place of Jeogeot — emphasize that. The Main Place.
Baker Bloch and Baker Blinker isolated themselves from Ancient influence in Azure Islands, etc. They were assigned to manage Sunklands. From this Carrcass-3 was formed, beyond Carrcass-2 which was Norum centered. Chilbol became Chilbo afterwards. Chilbo formed only after at least the plan of Sunklands was formed. Before it was Chilbol, and related to Crabwoo of Maebaleia. The Moon of Maebaleia represented another split from a father/mother continent, resolved by the formation of the moon of Jeogeot which remained attached to the continent (unlike The Moon).
More to ponder!
New Temple of TILE…
… I’m getting closer!
Heterocera Lake District? 01
I must admit that the roads of Heterocera, as a whole, may be prettier than those of Jeogeot’s. Witness this passage through a mixture of cypress and eucalyptus trees. I’ll have to check the number of this highway later on, as I’m unable to find it in a quick search. Perhaps it is unnumbered? But at any rate, it’s the one that heads west from Rubi toward the center of what I’m now calling the Pond District (instead of the Heterocera Lake District). And, yes, as usual I’m a little behind in generating my picture post text, so since I’ve snapped the pictures for “Heterorcera Lake District?” parts 1-3, I’ve bought a 512 parcel in the heart of this area, very very near Ratcliff Court which I’ll be speaking about soon enough in the posts above this one.
The Pond District is located west of Rubi, one of my 2 main homes in Second Life now. In looking at the inworld map now, I see that Baker Bloch’s new home in Monema in this district lies exactly 5 1/2 sims directly west of the newly re-established Temple of TILE in Rubi.
But first we must talk of this nice lake in Pruni on the eastern side of this percieved Pond District. At the top is a dam apparently created by the Pruni Power & Light Company. Nice blue spray effect.
I’ll be visiting all of the lakes of the district again and again, I have a feeling, so I’ll surely come back to this particular one in east Pruni very soon. Moving on for now…
… to one of the 2 largest bodies of water in the mini-district, stretching diagonally, northwest to southeast, across most of the length of Sesia immediately to the west of Pruni. And as I’m now checking, a tiny bit of the southeast corner of the lake passes into Pruni actually.
The below snapshot comes from near the midsection of the lake, where 2 large, square blocks of land form a type of wide strait, I suppose you could call it. Now as the terrain raise and lower limits in this sim are the now standard +4/-4 meters, this particular topographic feature was obviously created a while back, perhaps years and years ago, when terraforming powers were more extensive for land owners of the sim. And the water is very deep at this strait as well — Karoz is now finding that the elevation between the bottom of the lake here (20 meters) and the top of the higher of the 2 block shaped cliffs (55 meters) is 30 meters, or almost 100 feet.
Amazing, tiny city found along the northern shores of the Sesia Lake, as we’ll call it for now. The highest “skyscraper of this city stands at about 3 feet, to give some perspective. Hucka D. called it a microcosm, and a tile of some sort, and additionally stated that The King put it there on purpose for Baker Bloch to find and log into this blog.
The city’s name is apparently New Gummton, and the residents are variously colored gummy bear creatures. Not actual avatars, but more like toy avatars I suppose — have to think about that more. You can see three in the picture below, two standing beside streetlights, and another driving a green car or jeep of some sort between them.
The background is not part of this tiny city but instead represents the head of Sesia Lake itself, where a stream empties into it coming from the other large lake of the pond district, which I’ll cover in future posts.
And speaking of which, there’s even a little lake and nature area in this microcosm, complete with a fishing pier. If you enlarge the below photo, you’ll see that there’s a little gummy bear in a floaty device next to the pier, and another on the pier itself, perhaps preparing for a swim (?) Or maybe waiting for a partner to show up with fishing gear (?)
Baker Bloch looks toward New Gummton from a “normal” sized Second Life beach across the lake. Actually in checking today, Karoz finds that yet another type of minuature species is found in this particular part of the lake, called Lemming creatures. Unbeknownst to Baker Bloch at the time, there’s one sunbathing just behind him in the below snapshot, and yet more on and around the pier just in back of the beach from the viewer here. As Karoz is checking around, he sees that one has found a treasure chest filled with gold coins, 2 others are digging a hole in the sand just below the pier, another is balancing on a guide rope on the pier with an umbrella… one is even climbing the almost vertical side of a cliff to the south of the pier (!). Looks like someone had a lot of fun setting these creatures up in their various positions.
All of the lemming creatures are about 1 1/2 feet high, if we say that Karoz is around 6 feet tall (I personally see him as about 5’10” or so, but certainly could be wrong).
It also brings the question to mind: how small can you actually make an avatar and still have a user inhabit or “ensoul” it, as it were. I must check sometime… not that the lemming creatures are real avatars but I wondered if they could be made into such and still remain so small…
And moving the subject back to the lake itself, here another abnormally deep part of its waters, more toward the southern end this time. As Karoz is now checking, the bottom of the lake lies at the *4* meters elevation now, making the water 30 meters deep. Pretty impressive for such a small lake.
And view of most of the Sesia lake looking southeast to northwest. The small southern arm of the lake that extends into neighboring Pruni is in the foreground just below the viewer here.
Heterocera Lake District? 02
Continuing to check around the area of Sesia and its large lake, Baker finds this dark, mostly underground structure with a hatch on top covering what the terrain view of the inworld map reveals to be a small, natural pond. By natural here, I mean that it is made of actual Linden water and not artificial water. As far as I know the only way to create this effect is to terraform or dig below the predetermined water level for any sim. For Sesia, the water level lies at 35 meters, as it does in Pruni to the west.
Although the structure contains two levels below the top, Baker Bloch is unable to reach the pool. However, Karoz finds it today by distant viewing underneath the bottom floor, which the actual pool lies about a meter or 2 below. Quite interesting — at least to me. 🙂
And now we come to what has, in effect, became yet another new Second Life home for Baker Bloch and family: Ratcliff Court, also lying within the borders of Sesia and to the west of Sesia Lake. The small city — normal sized dimensions this time, hehe — is also owned by the same group, Kat’s kajirae, that is apparently also developing the large Green Acres property of the sim. In checking the prim allowance for the group within the sim now, Karoz is able to determine that Kat’s kajirae owns a bit over 2/3rds of the Sesia sim under various property titles.
A quite interesting inner courtyard of Ratcliff Court, a quite urban grunge backstreet effect going on here. And to add a mythology veneer to all this, Hucka D. states that this is where the King use to mainly meet and talk with the various citizens of the town, and represented a kind of inverted town square of some sort. Most of the occupied shops of the town backed this inner courtyard.
Yet another of the natural lakes of the Pond District, this one definitely being more in the pond category. Very shallow… this would be in the sim of Or northwest of Sesia. Not much here except a rusty sedan with pink underglow. The lake appears to be about 3 feet deep maximum, as Karoz is checking.
Same pond is viewable from a Linden road running to its north.
Blochs runs east along same, heading to the large lake in Tethea now.
Heterocera Lake District? 03
Not many pictures of the Tethea Lake in this post, but I’ll return asap to report more. For now we hit some of the highlights, including these two twinned islands in what could be called a separate, smaller lake to the west. However, I suspect that this lake could be turned into a sort of western bay of the Tethea Lake immediately to its east if a small, shallow and currently dry channel linking the two was lowered a bit using current terraforming abilities. Presently, the channel and, in fact, a large portion of the Tethea Lake is for sale at a rate of 5 lindens per square meter.
Baker simply turning in his tracks from above to look up the main part of the Tethea Lake. The aforementioned channel would be just off camera to his left.
Another beauty spot in Furvara just to the north of Tethea Lake (“Furvata Falls”), but the water here is not Linden-made.
Yippie Tile One On, 01
Hucka D.:
The King has returned. Again and again. But in a particular place as well.
bb:
You’re implying The King is in Ratcliff Court now. Or that little Lake District somewhere [at any rate].
Hucka D.:
Yes. I am.
bb:
And The Queen is with him there.
Hucka D.:
Right. They’re selling nick nacks at a low level store in Ratcliff Court, and then they live in the apartment above the store. Interesting neighbors as well!
bb:
Thanks for that. I’m just going along with all this… what is the significance of this so-called Lake District?
Hucka D.:
It is a proper microcosm for The King and Queen, just like the microcosm you found on the shore of one of the two largest lakes which may actually be one large lake [centering] the whole complex. It’s a proper microcosm[, then].
bb:
Is the King back because of TILE?
Hucka D.:
*Yes.* (pause)
bb:
The King has found a way to escape his own microcosm trap… within that tile he found at the dump in Swindon.
Hucka D.:
The King found a tile while he was digging that showed him digging the tile itself. He was trapped. Like you are now trapped in Rubi thanks to that particular TILE.
bb:
I think I see that. *The King* made that trap run across the forest right when I bought that land (!)
Hucka D.:
Yes. All white horses are one white horse.
bb:
I should have taken a picture of it. But it was too freaky… like sometimes happens in SL.
Hucka D.:
The King and Queen sell tiles in Ratcliff Court. Microcosms.
bb:
Better log off. Thanks.
—–
“I’ll jump right in, Hucka…
… D., I think the King and Queen are Tull and Queen of SID’s 1st Oz.”
Hucka D.:
They sell tiles. In Ratcliff Court. SID is All Tiles. TILE.
bb:
The King would also be Tyle, if so, since Tull is Tyle in SID.
Hucka D.:
The Cornfields figure in here. Sapphire’s parents or aunt/uncle. Take your pick.
bb:
Are the King and Queen actually the Cornfields?
Hucka D.:
Simply put: yes.
bb:
Very interesting. That would explain the strong presence of the Green Acres group in Sesia.
Hucka D.:
Blue Feather. Curse. The Moon. Gypsies.
bb:
The Temple of TILE, Phase 1, seems to be complete, Hucka D. I’m starting to see what the true form of this temple is.
Hucka D.:
Yes. You are. I predicted it, as you know now. The Rubi temple was always suppose to be *this* temple, not the one from 2008.
bb:
I’m going to give a link to that final version… oh well, there’s plenty of time to talk about the relationship between old temple and new temple.
Hucka D.:
Yes. You have returned to Heterocera. You have blogs to investigate now. It’s perhaps the perfect Second Life continent, along with the unfallen [eastern] half of Jeogeot. Half and half.
bb:
Anything else tonight?
Hucka D.:
Investigate more tomorrow. Talk soon.
bb:
Thanks.
*****
http://www.flickr.com/photos/liqueur/4310996696/
http://www.www.sluniverse.com/pics/Search.aspx?Sim=Pruni
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Parks_and_Recreation_Directory
http://blog.livedoor.jp/dualatoll/archives/1145579.html
Sort of a resident of Ratcliff Court now (!)
Bought a 512 very near Ratcliff Court, just to west of Sesia sim line in Monema. Rezzed Fleep’s cottage on it (far left brick building). Continued small cypress forest to immediate east in property owned by Kat’s kajirai group. Part of a large area called Green Acres with a description, “The Place to be.” More on that soon.
Created small pond with several schools of light blue fish swimming within on the south side of my 512.
In front of Fleep’s cottage.
View from single, transparent wall within. To the left is Ratcliff Court, only a weak stone’s throw away.
As I’ve found out tonight, another grunge town lies not too far to the west, also in Monema. I’ll report more very soon. Very excited once more!
Yippie Tile One On, 02
Should be able to catch up with what I’m now calling the Heterocera *Pond* District related posts tomorrow. Hopefully. In the meantime, I couldn’t wait to see if Hucka D. had anything to add. Let me check the crop circle situation first. OK, I’ll warm up with Hucka D. first.
Hucka D.:
Yippie Tile One On!
bb:
Hi Hucka D. That’s a pretty fascinating piece of property in Monema.
http://info.rezmagazine.co.uk/Monema.html
Looks like Rez magazine is based out of the sim I now live in. One of the sims, I mean [for I live in 3 now].
*****
bb:
Well, we may come back to that. This Pond District, as we’re calling it now, seems to have quite a bit of energy…
Hucka D.:
That comes from the King. He put it there. He altered the topography. He caused all this, like he causes [certain] crop circles.
bb:
Obviously the keyhole related one.
Hucka D.:
That was a fake hoaxed circle [as you guessed]. It is a legitimate fake. Er…
bb:
But has been passed over by all. Hold on… Oh, I was going to say I think it also has something to do with the River Key. Keyhole… Key, of course. Both formed in Wiltshire County. And I think that was the first crop circle to appear in that county this year.
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=371
Wow, a lunar hornet moth (!) That’s what the sim of Sesia is named after, I suppose, the sim my land borders to the east, and where the heart of the Pond District may exist… where Ratcliff Court is that the King supposed had his shop at.
Hucka D.:
The King must have his Court [after all].
*****
bb:
OK, I’m back.
Hucka D.:
There’s a hole…
bb:
In the Pond District.
Hucka D.:
A hole the King used to get to this dimension from his Temple Farm. And the Queen too. It’s still open.
bb:
Does he still pay The Bill on time? (slight smile). Sorry.
Hucka D.:
It’s in one of the stores. Barrett has something to do with it as well. SID. Not Syd, but the one who merged with Walt Disney to become a more significant force that could do battle with Pink Floyd Proper.
bb:
I would assume this has something to do with the rapidly-being-completed Temple of TILE in Rubi as well.
Hucka D.:
Yes. (pause) That is deepening the hole.
bb:
Oh… the holes to the southwest of my Monema home (!) Perhaps…
Hucka D.:
Yo.
Pond District, 01
View of main street, Ratcliff, on the south side of town. Many empty shops here to Baker’s right. The King’s supposed old store location would be just off camera to his left.
Garbage behind Ratcliff’s Fantasy Works Lounge, which, according to the description, use to be the site of a toy factory. Interesting.
Since this quite full garbage bin is only 10 meters or so from the corner of my small cottage in Monema, that would certainly explain the odd smell Baker has noticed at times while sitting within. Maybe I can get the neighbors to empty it soon. 🙂
South of Ratcliff proper now, and just west of Baker’s Monema cottage, lies this rather unusual group of what almost looks like purposely warped rows of brick buildings.
… and even perhaps another, unfinished part of Ratcliff, or one being developed, since this land is also owned by the same group that owns Ratcliff. Those blue objects at the end of the road are barracades, and just behind them is a really mysterious park, to me, that lies in a walled rectangular area directly between this road and Baker’s cottage property. Let’s take a closer look…
Baker decides not to go over the barricades to visit the “park”, and instead circles around the south side of the buildings on this unfinished street, where he already he knows easier access can be had. He thought. While circling around, Baker comes across one of the numerous natural (Linden water) ponds in the region. Hence the name Pond District, of course, although 2 or 3 of the 9 such bodies of water I’m counting in the area presently can stake a legitimate claim to being full blown lakes instead of ponds. Thinking specifically of what I’ve been called Lake Sesia and Lake Tethea.
This particular, much smaller pool lies near the southwest corner of Sesia, whose outline is a perfect rectangle the size of a 512 square meter parcel, it appears. Depth of the water here is about 10 meters.
About 30 meters north is one of the southern arched entrance to the mystery park. Before it stands this unfinished spiral staircase, partially transparent.
The mystery aspect seems to deepen as Baker finds he cannot directly enter the park through the bushes pictured below, but must walk sideways between the first two rows of bushes (of 3) to enter. As Karoz checks behind Baker Bloch today, he finds that the three identical 1-prim bush rows have the appropriate name of “Impassable Bushes”, and were just created in mid-May of this year.
Baker enters the park from between the front two rows, then.
Pond District, 02
Inside the park now. One of the problems so far about deciphering what exactly is in the park, and specifics of its layout, is the dense tree cover that doesn’t allow any kind of clear aerial view down into the grounds. As Karoz is checking today, though, he’s come up with the theory that this is an old 512 square meter parcel, perhaps First Land even, that has recently been incorporated into the vast Green Acres property covering considerably over 1/2 of the Sesia sim. He further speculates that some of the prims of this land are carried over from First Land status, perhaps having even been on the property for a number of years before the more recent purchase.
Karoz is also finding that most of the objects within the walled park are created by Jesslyn Dagger, the same avatar who owns the Pooka Creations store in Radcliff mentioned in this post, and also the owner *and* creator of the grandfather clock in the central alleyway of this city which Hucka D. now thinks may be some kind of temporal portal. More on that subject soon! But could this park and the clock have more connections than a simple 1:1 match of ownership?
And why is this Jesslyn Dagger so fascinated with rabbits in the first place??? Is White Bikes (basement sign directly west and clearly visible from the clock in the alley) some kind of cover for “white rabbits”, especially given that the The King’s supposed former store just south, All White Horses, also contains that color name in the title? Again, this could be more about time travel than anything else, perhaps a portal used by and maybe even created by The King.
Back to the park, though: here’s an unfinished fountain on the south side, it appears. The creator’s/owner’s name here is Salma Isbell, as is the case with a number of other objects at least near the park. Ah yes, in checking Salma’s profile, I see she is the owner of Salma’s Sundry’s another Radcliff shop directly across the street from Pooka Creations. Did The King meet and befriend both of these avatars during his stay here?
Well, like I said, it’s difficult to determine more about the park presently for various reasons, and I’ll attempt some more stabs (get it?, like dagger stabs) later. I should reinforce that the park borders my own 512 just over the Sesia sim line in Menoma, and I attempted to carry the tree covering motif to my property as well — together they, in effect, form one grove of trees now.
Tired of being confined in such a small, compact area for so long, Baker takes out his frustrations of non-understanding with a long, in-place run in this hamster wheel inside the Fantasy Works Lounge. And he looks forward to going to possible parties here in the future as well!
You can see from the below photograph the joined grove of trees that the mystery park and my 512 parcel contain, from over the top of the Fantasy Works Lounge. The vast majority of trees making up this newly enlarged grove are cypresses.
Pond District, 03
This old swimming pool is located almost directly north of my Monema cottage, about 75 meters away.
An interesting looking cat lurks near the edge of the pool. Perhaps too near. “Hi there!”
A look back through a barb wire fence toward Ratcliff. The fence essentially marks the boundary between Monema here and Sesia to the east. Ratcliff, again, is in Sesia.
Funny how 7 Seas Fishing is offered here in this old swimming pool (complete w/ floating noob corpse!). User creating this tableau certainly had a sense of humor. Nice!
The swimming pool area is actually a part of another mini-grunge city just to the west of Ratcliff. Not nearly as big as Ratcliff — actually, in checking it today through Karoz I suppose you can’t really call it a city, since it is composed only of 2 large brick buildings and a trailer as far as actual structures go. But it seems almost like a direct extension of Ratcliff, even if that wasn’t the intention. Have to think more on that.
Below shows Baker Bloch inside the trailer mentioned before. Another dead noob sprawls on the ground underneath it. A human skull is stuck on a plank of wood inside a burning garbage can beside the trailer, along with a blood soaked hammock and, perhaps surprisingly — oh, I suppose not so surprisingly actually — a cute Ozimal rabbit hopping around in what looks like to be a relatively sanitary pen. Things are everywhere!
Plaza the 2 large brick buildings sit upon. The red circle just in front of Baker Bloch here is an ad for 7 Seas fishing, and reads, around its circumference: “Welcome to our 7 Seas Fishing Area”. Good one.
Both buildings are mainly empty except for the presence of 1 small shop apiece on the ground level. The last room of the building to Baker’s left sells Ozimal related material. The last room of the building to the right…
… holds this small gallery with very reasonably priced works by vittany Sharktooth. Actually, in checking today both “stores” seemed to be run by vittany.
View of the buildings from over the top of Ratcliff’s Fantasy Works Lounge, once more. My cottage is in the foreground beside the lounge.
Also very close to my cottage is this artsy life-size diorama of a snow scene, this time owned by Voodoo Buwan. Again humor is in high effect: we have a snowman with octopus-like tentacles, another snowman using yet another snowman’s head as a bowling ball, and — the centerpiece — some kind of snowman monster, much larger than the rest, about to eat one regular sized snowman with 3 more running away in a panic before it.
While all this is going on around him, Baker Bloch merrily makes a snow angel below.
South of Menoma’s snow scene diorama we have these perhaps mysterious holes present in vacant land in Dryas. Presently, I would say this large tract of emptiness marks a southern end of the Pond District. Perhaps this will change in the future.*
*****
06/11/10 updated: I think these holesin Dryas represent footprints of some sort now, juxtaposed, as they are in the above photos, with the human footprints crossing the entire, snowy diorama from east to west.
Mount Pond
The center of what I’ve presently identified as the 6 sim, loosely defined boundaries of the Pond District happens to be on the slope of its highest hill, which I’ve dubbed Mount Pond for now.
Karoz sitting near the top of Mount Pond, looking southwest toward Baker Bloch’s new 512 parcel (“Blue Feather” parcel) across the small city of Ratcliff Court, or what Hucka D. now claims is usually shortened to just Ratcliff…
… and then looking northwest toward Lake Tethea.
As you can see better from this picture, Karoz is not sitting directly atop the highest point of Mount Pond. Instead that place is occupied by a huge, red tree. Or in looking at it twice now, maybe Karoz and the tree are at about equal elevation here.
A map of the Pond District:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/sesia/128/256/50/
“A” is Mount Pond;”B” is Baker’s new 512 parcel; “C” is what Hucka D. claims is The King’s old shop in Ratcliff, which he has just now identified by name (“All White Horses are One White Horse”, which the locals, again according to Hucka D., most frequently shortened to “All White Horses”); and then “D” is the site of the miniature city of New Gummton on the shores of Lake Sesia.
“I wondered…”, 01
I wondered what The King sold in his Ratcliff store, that we now know is or was called “All White Horses”. Hucka D. said, “the answer.” Hucka D., after a dramatic pause he’s known for, further explained that it was a golden horse that all silver horses are aspects of, like refracted colors of one white light. I asked Hucka D. if this had anything to do with the Montauk golden horse. He doesn’t respond (another character trait). I thought of asking Hucka D. if he sold pictures of crop circles in his small shop, and then I got the impression that he sold only 1 thing: animated pictures of the related [Wiltshire County, England] white horses. So I instead asked Hucka D. this. Hucka D. responded by saying, yes, that’s all he sold, and further said that The King’s eye is a horse’s eye. I asked if this was the golden horse’s eye. No response. I decided to go inworld and poke around, again, The King’s old shop, or perhaps what is still his shop in some kind of sideways reality.
I enter Ratcliff from the north and get sidetracked into checking out other stores. In the very first one I visit through Baker Bloch, a mechanics shop of some sort, I break what is apparently a very expensive and rare vase. Ooops!
Across the street is Salma’s Sundry’s. I resisted the urge to go in this one…
… but couldn’t similarly pass by Pooka Creations, the mastermind of avatar Jessyln Dagger. This would be just beside the auto shop previously scouted out by Baker Bloch.
I even visited the main store in Alturing on the Gaeta continent, where Baker Bloch took a nap on the back of a giant, furry rabbit located in a oversized carrot patch outside.
But very soon Baker Bloch was back in Ratcliff, reaching it from his new home base just to the south this time. Walking past the mysterious park next to his property on the short trek to town, Baker sees that only part of the vegetation has rezzed in and decides to take a picture of the moment. He plans to do more studies of this park very soon, perhaps using the same kind of “trick photography” in the process.
“I wondered…”, 02
Sidetracked again, this time in the Pettins Pet Shop right next door to the empty store that might have represented The King’s shop. Upstairs: more rabbits. 🙂
But Baker Bloch was soon inside the vacant shop next door, taking close account. No evidence left behind by any former occupants that he can tell of.
Baker exits the empty store through the back door located upstairs to check out the back alley, which Hucka D. has indicated was actually the real hub of the town, located in its very center as it were.
Baker wonders if there might be some kind of quote unquote rivalry of some magnitude between this motorcycle shop called White’s Bikes and The King’s similarly named shop (All White Horses) supposedly once just across the alley. I believe I’m picking up on what Hucka D. would say at this moment. 🙂 In other words, yes, there was some kind of rivalry.
Baker even wonders if The King’s shop was actually located next to White’s Bikes in this vacant store (I don’t think Hucka D. agrees with this).
Baker also visits this small park called Ratcliff Park, just to the north of the alleyway. Did this park play a role in the relationship between The King and other, theoretical Ratcliff neighbors as well?
A clock in the alley which, when touched, gives you an, “rusted carrot-shaped grandfather clock weight,” and a message reading, “Old Broken-Down Clock with Carrot Motif: Upon examining the old grandfather clock with the strange carrot-shaped weights, you notice that the heaviest of the weights is resting at the foot of the clock. You pick it up, and realize how much it would hurt to throw at someone, and how easily it could break anything fragile.” Breakage of something fragile again, like the vase before in the mechanic’s shop. Connection?
Baker then “wears” the carrot-shaped weight, holding it in his left hand. He realizes he feels no weight, and becomes sad…
… but I cheer him up when pointing out the very next picture after the grandfather clock popping up in my Windows Folder Viewer, in circling back from last picture to first picture in this particular folder, is one of the newest Wiltshire crop circles whose various composite circles are suspiciously tilted in a similar manner, in this picture I just posted below, to those making up the broken clock and its face.*
Could *this* be evidence of The King’s presence in this alley and town? I think Hucka D. wants to inject an emphatic “*yes*” at this point (!)
*****
* More details on this particular, brand new crop circle are here.
http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2010/liddingtoncastle/liddingtoncastle2010a.html
South of Rubi, 01
The Linden road that runs west and south of Rubi. Still haven’t found out any official route number for it — probably doesn’t have one.
This road is prettier than I remember. More trees. Example below.
Not far at all from my Rubi property, probably oh about 350 meters at best, is this quite amazing park just off this apparently unnamed route that I’d been to before, but now seemed more extensive. It’s called Lost Gardens Retreat, owned by Bjorlyn Loon. In checking today again behind Baker’s initial exploring, Karoz is finding that two nature areas ajoin each other in this area, the other owned by the SL Public Land Preserve Group. Their group charter:
To preserve SL wilderness and beautiful builds for the enjoyment of the general public. Over 75,000 m2 available on 31 parcels. Join openly, no invitation, for a one-time $5 fee to set prims! Help keep SL Nature free and accessible by supporting our parks and recreational areas. Donate camping fee $20/day to help pay tier. Free vending in TechHeaven in Thyris! Lots of fun activities, pick up the landmarks card in Carlisle at Botany’s Grove.
The pictures below, however, all come from the Lost Gardens Retreat, which features a large, multi-tiered aqueduct and numerous waterfalls, among other highlights.
Lost Gardens Retreat offers a considerable number of scenic vistas to take in the scenery. Below the meditating Baker here lies a large-ish lake mostly in the Grote sim. This is where all the water flowing within LGR ends up.
South of Rubi, 02
The stream that flows from the large lake in upper Grote eventually passes over this really nice, Linden protected waterfall situated just below the south Grote sim line in Zephyr. Sucker’s about 100 feet high; nicely layered.
In taking the above snapshot, Baker stands on the bridge pictured below, to the south of the falls. This would be a part of Route 1. Passing under the bridge, the stream that has recently tumbled over a large precipice now quickly reaches the Linden sea in central Zephyr.
More aerial view of the Zephr falls. Lots of trees on either side of the gorge. Nifty.
An establishment on the west side of Slosser, the sim just west of Grote which also contains, in its northeast corner, the Lost Gardens Retreat mentioned in the post before this one. The main reason I visited this place tonight — or sent Baker Bloch there — is to check out the TILE colored circles on the inworld map in this location. Turns out they’re what’s called Skybox Bubbles, rentable for 150 lindens a week.
It also interested me that these colored bubbles lie directly south of my Rubi property, which similarly shows up now on the inworld map as 4 squares of, left to right, blue, green, red, and yellow, due to my own skybox. Also, both 4-color arrangements are in the southwest corners of their sims as well as being due north and south of each other.
Could mean something — not planned by me atall.
There are actual houses in a skybox much further up in the sky for rent as well. Not my style, though, but Baker thought it worthy of a picture, if only for the colors.
Now here’s a place much more to my liking, also in Slosser but much nearer the Zephyr Falls. And as it turns out, it’s owned by the same avatar that runs Lost Gardens Retreat: Bjorlyn Loon. This small parcel is notable — and the reason I visited it in the first place — for having an official Linden body of water on its premises, pictured with a lounging Baker below. Hope he’s not trespassing, and, at any rate, he didn’t stay long — just long enough to take a picture to record the pool and surroundings for this blog. The pool is about 25 meters long, less than 10 meters wide, and quite shallow. It seems to contain exactly 2 fish, a 2lb perch and a 1 lb Rudd, according to their descriptions. The elevation here is 50 meters, which is the water level of the Slosser sim and the reason the official Linden pool of water could be here in the first place.
Green Man sculpture found on the premises.
And there’s yet another Linden water pool in Slosser, somewhat larger but not situated in as pastoral a setting. Like the one described above, this pool is very near the lower border of the Slosser sim. As far as I can tell, there are no other small pools of water like this in the area. The Pond District, in contrast, contains 6 such Linden “ponds” at last count. So I hesitate to call this a second Pond District, although it is certainly interesting to find such water in sims outside our Pond District.
The below picture shows the relationship of these 2 pools of Linden water with the Zephyr Falls (right). The smaller of the 2 pools is essentially hidden by mostly brown colored cypress trees in the middle of the photo.
There was a hole…
It opened up to the underworld. Inside was TILE. VILE. One of the two, can’t decide.
bb:
Thanks for starting Hucka D.
Hucka D.:
I am Hucka D. The Bee.
bb:
This was a sink hole. Like in Guatemala City.
Hucka D.:
It was a red and a blue pill both. Oleanistantinople.
bb:
I still don’t know what that word means.
Hucka D.:
It means both at once.
bb:
And I have a feeling you want to say this hole formed in the center of Ratcliff. Hold on…
*****
bb:
Nathaneil Cornfield was in Ratcliff, wasn’t he?
Hucka D.:
Natalee received the blue feather.
bb:
Nathaneil and Natalee are the same person… sex change.
Hucka D.:
This happened in Ratcliff. But it was Nathaneil who received the feather.
Hucka D.:
Right. Then the hole was created. Nathaneil became Natalee. Alabama became Indiana. Nathaneil was a shipbuilder in Meddletown. He went to the Pond District on a special commision. One of the lakes is the blue feather. Which one?
bb:
I would guess Lake Sesia, which Ratcliff lies next to.
Hucka D.:
Correct. In part. Ratcliff is cursed, as was Nathaneil when he moved to the cursed town. It was cursed because it lies next to the Blue Feather. It recieved that gift at birth. To counteract the Blue Feather, TILE was born as well.
bb:
The King came after the hole was formed in the center of Ratcliff.
Hucka D.:
That’s what The King saw in Swindon. He knew he would have to go to Second Life’s Ratcliff and live with the curse, or in the cursed town. That was his microcosm, his tile. He became what was in the tile. That was his curse. How to break or shatter the curse?
bb:
You have to fix time. Time was unstable, warped. Perpetual motion had to be established — blue to green to red to yellow to…
Hucka D.:
Waterfall, yes. Yellow is the fire that burns the blue feather from stem to tip. At the same time, the blue feather regenerates itself from tip to stem. Perpetual. You can’t get rid of it. It exists still in the Pond District. What to do?
bb:
First is to realize it is there. That’s my job.
Hucka D.:
Correct again. Good job. Well… job.
*****
bb:
Only when the Temple of TILE was reestablished could I deal with this body of information. Oleanistantinople. Oh, why did I say that?
Hucka D.:
Ancient city. Home of curses… purses. Cures for ails. Green purse and red purse. Mr. Kimball wanted the yellow purse to match his earrings.
bb:
Funny fellow. Um, did Uma G. Uma put the curse upon Nathaneil?
Hucka D.:
Yo. I mean no. Yo no.
bb:
Gypsies. Perhaps The Moon gypsies. They came in the Barracuda ship. Nathaneil stole the design so smitten was he with it.
Hucka D.:
And them (snickers).
bb:
They *wanted* him to steal it.
Hucka D.:
Oh, they wanted to get rid of it for sure.
bb:
The blue feather was inside.
Hucka D.:
Stolen in turn from Maebaleia. Blue Feather Sea. Hence the name. But the feather was not there any longer but taken to The Moon in AD… well, better not say the time for it is not fixed [yet].
bb:
It’s all leading up to the Pond District.
Hucka D.:
Everything hinges on ending the curse once and for all. Oleanistantinople.
bb:
Thank you.
Loose Thoughts…
I’m in a very good situation now as far as property and creative developments go, best in SL so far. But SL is so changeable: will the Blue Feather Gallery live on after the current exhibit? (which I’ll provide pictures for very soon — perhaps tomorrow??). I don’t think I’m leaving Rubi again, but who knows. Can’t see it; really and truly think I’ve found a virtual home this time. Did before — but gave it up. The new Rubi property is better, at least for current needs (home for both the Edwardston Station Gallery and the Temple of TILE). But will I keep both the Rubi and Noru land, or sacrifice Noru to purchase land elsewhere? I’m thinking the latter now. What of my relation to Chilbo? — I think this goes back to the Noru-Chilbo duality (and before that the Norum-Chilbol coupling). Is there more mythology on Jeogeot and Chilbo-Noru to continue my virtual base there? The focus, currently, is certainly away from Noru and in Rubi and the Pond District. But Hucka D. seemed to hint around that I can’t escape Jeogeot, and *that* is my true virtual home. Good to have one too many choices, I suppose, than one too few or none at all. Rubi is rock solid now, and the Temple of TILE is still developing although phase 1 seems to be complete. And I still have a considerable amount of prims to work with in Rubi… what to do there? Open up a newer, smaller version of the Blue Feather?
For now I just need to keep developing the Pond District mythology and then go from there. If Jeogeot becomes the focus again so be it. Read over blogs that highlight Heterocera, which are certainly more numerous than ones that go into depth about Jeogeot (despite the latter being a considerably larger continent).
I may be back.
*****
“I’m back.”
Hucka D.:
Hi. Did you find the hole?
bb:
I think so. Was it the grandfather clock?
Hucka D.:
Your Temple of TILE is almost complete. That is a hole?
bb:
Portal?
Hucka D.:
How do you like Ratcliff?
bb:
Very interesting indeed. Needs a bit more vegetation but that’s about my only complaint. So much more could be made with the natural lake.
Hucka D.:
Lake Sesia?
bb:
Yeah.
Hucka D.:
Like what?
bb:
A vast park. Like Pruni Park nearby.
Hucka D.:
You need to discuss that in the blog soon.
bb:
Right-o. Where’d Sapphire go?
Hucka D.:
You are focusing on Heterocera now and she is not needed.
bb:
So it’s just you and me.
Hucka D.:
For now…
bb:
What do *you* think of Ratcliff… and the Pond District?
Hucka D.:
TILE. TILE was and will be there. The microcosm. The King. Red and blue pills all. Oleanistantinople. Wavy formation in air and sea. Istilbitilloopil.
bb:
Hmm. (pause) What of the Queen? And how is Baker Blinker doing? *And*, exactly where is your bee avatar body located now?
Hucka D.:
They’re all at the temple still. Temple Farm, not Temple of TILE. But the 2 are connected.
bb:
Are we in the Matrix??
Hucka D.:
Well, duh.
bb:
Yeah, Second Life and all. Has to be a Matrix.
Hucka D.:
You can just get out easier. Log off and all.
bb:
You said Nathaneil came to Ratcliff but turned into Natalee in the process. Connected to a Blue Feather curse.
Hucka D.:
What to do with the Blue Feather Gallery? Too nice to give up. Only 15 dollars more a month.
bb:
For them, I suppose, the Matrix is real life, not Second Life.
Hucka D.:
They were trapped… they couldn’t get back [to Real Life].
bb:
He *bought* the Barracuda, an inverted Arab I suppose, from the Gypsies of The Moon.
Hucka D.;
For a specific purpose: to get back. Home.
bb:
It’s not Arcadia Asylum’s cargo ship — that’s just more a symbol. It was that other ship, the ship that didn’t look much like a ship I found in the Eunhaeng wastelands.
Hucka D.
That was it (!)
bb:
By Arcadia, then, but not the ship… but the *real* ship.
Hucka D.:
It was in the back alley behind The King’s store.
bb:
“All White Horses,” you mean.
Hucka D.:
It was a dimension hopper. Time travel was possible. Down the Rabbit Hole.
bb;
A bug in the system. Ratcliff, the people there, were able to burrow deep into the ground for that reason. Like the Rabbit Hole of Blackmount, only much larger.
Hucka D.:
The ship then was able to enter the hole. It went all the way to China. In a manner of speaking.
bb:
It was a Linden experiment.
Hucka D.:
A bug. The Ancients, not the Lindens, controlled.
bb:
The King!
Hucka D.:
Yes. He controlled. The entrance [anyway].
bb;
Very interesting! But I have a feeling…
Hucka D. (completing bb’s thoughts):
Yes, it was in the way. White’s Bike store was especially annoyed. Took up most of the rear court. Others were more interested.
bb:
Maybe it’s the other way around. White’s Bikes was *too* interested.
Hucka D.:
Esbum’s Missing Piece, born in the Temple of TILE after all, the 37th tile beyond 36, is an early copy. Version, I mean.
bb:
We better end. We’ll take this up again soon!
Hucka D.:
Thank *you*.
Around Ratcliff
Phase 1 of the Temple of TILE is probably complete.
But that will have to wait for another time, because Baker is set on exploring more of Ratcliff rather than hanging around Rubi tonight.
At the 2 northern entrances to the Sesia “mystery park” bordering my 512 in Menoma.
But Baker’s aim is the city itself, which he reaches in a matter of seconds after resisting the ever-lure of the park and passing between two buildings.
Blue Feather Gallery Exhibits, 2
First an aerial shot of the gallery. I’ve eliminated several grass textured megaprims and attached landscaping elements to sharpen up the look, hopefully. Simple is often better — puts the focus more on the art than the environment, I think.
But on the other hand, I did add that high tower to the center of the structure since the last exhibit. It admittedly looks better up close, but no one is going to be viewing the gallery from a distance anyway. We’ll come back to the tower in a moment.
In collaging together the tower with the main part of the gallery last month, I had to adjust some of the lower level architecture as well, like adding this extra window that allows one a glimpse into another patio area as you walk through the main entrance.
I was extremely pleased to learn that Cristian, owner of the virtual world famous Special One gallery, agreed to be the Blue Feather Gallery guest artist beginning in June. Cristian has been featured in numerous Second Life publications and is also well known as a Koinup contributor. In his bio Cristian states he tries to get more than a simple touristy snapshot of the places he visits in his virtual travels. As demonstrated in this exhibit, you can see he definitely scores on that front.
Cristian’s flickr site is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cristianrexie/
As with Natsha and Loki’s work before him, Cristian’s pieces are exhibited in the main level of the gallery, including the 3 patio areas. The lower level, which we won’t go into on this particular tour, still holds the Wheeler-Jasper series of my 100 piece “10×10” collage effort (2004-2009). The upper levels (tower), just opened this month, display the “Baker Bloch in England” photography/collage exhibit.
Some examples of Cristian’s wonderful Second Life related photography in the gallery:
Amazing atmosphere in these works, like this one. And I’m not even much of a horse fan. 🙂
Exciting colors here! (now I am a big fan of color).
A newer, triptych-type composition…
And I won’t go into any detail here, but though I’d also include in this tour a shot of the lowest floor (of 6) of the tower, and the beginnings of the “Baker Bloch in England” photography/collage exhibit. Just mouse over pictures to get some kind of abridged, overall story concerning this spring visit. 🙂
Guess I should include an SLURL here as well for the gallery. Here ya go:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Noru/34/40/262
The “My SL Galleries” page linked from the header of this blog should always contain up to date information about the Blue Feather.
Greater Pond District Water Levels
Karoz did quite a bit of teleporting around today to find the limits of a conjoined set of sims whose water levels go above the usual 20 meter level. Included in this are all but one of what I’ve identified as the Pond District sims proper (Or, Tethea, Achlya, Sesia, Pruni), with the exception being Monema.
Click to enlarge the map.
Also notable is that one of these sims with a higher-than-normal water level also has terraforming limits far exceeding the usual range of +4/-4 meters. This would be Notata, caddycorner to my home sim of Rubi.
Interesting as well, at least to me, that both of my current properties on the Heterocera continent (marked with pins on the map above) lie just outside this range of high water sims in Rubi and Monema.
Around Ratcliff, 02
What are called bots in a shop next to my Monema home near Ratcliff. You always see the cluster of green dots just west of my home on the SL map. That’s the bots, as it turns out. 4 are frozen in their tracks, while one (dark clothed, to right) is in a perpetual dance of some kind.
Back to more interesting stuff, here’s Baker pausing in front of Mickey’s Market, subsequently identified with the actual center of the Ratcliff Hole the King supposedly activated during his stay in the small city. See this more recent post for the close association of Ratcliff and this market with Bracket’s Magicland.
The unfinished part of the town to the south of the market and central inner courtyard.
I believe it is Hucka D.’s opinion that the Sesia-Tethea connected watershed use to empty into the ocean surrounding Heterocera at this protected strip of land in Andraca. For some reason, the stream emptying from Lake Sesia was removed at a point in the past, making both it and Lake Tethea which drains into it landbound. Was the removal of this stream the cause of the Ratcliff hole in the first place?
In this overhead shot, you can clearly see evidence of a former stream bed to the right. The south tip of Lake Sesia is to the left. It seems obvious that a stream draining from this lake was once in place here.
Baker finds a 3d map of the Sesia sim on the west bank of Lake Sesia. The model, interestingly, doesn’t seem quite finished, unless it’s taking a *real* long time for the sculpties to properly form.
A look down into the deepest part of Lake Sesia (30 meter depth) from the dock with the unfinished sim model.
Blue Feather, 01
[joined in progress]
“Maybe the Blue Feather is actually the upper of the two connected lakes, Hucka D.”
Hucka D.:
That is a portal between virtual realities Second Life and Farmville. An escape for one and both.
bb:
But I suppose all that magical energy would seep down into the lower lake. Most of the land of the upper lake is for sale, including about all of that under the collaged-in blue feather. (pause) And another thing we should at least mention tonight is the hole, once more, in Ratcliff, or where it use to be. I think it was centered on Mickey’s Market now, but certainly it extended into the back alley behind The King’s old shop… supposed old shop [All White Horses].
Hucka D.:
It extended up to the grandfather clock in that alley, yes.
bb:
The Queen took The King to Second Life. Didn’t she.
Hucka D.:
Yes. She was the pilot. She knew her way around [there].
bb:
Their journey to Ratcliff actually caused the hole.
Hucka D.:
In part. They knew it would, however. They could predict it.
bb:
The good citizens of Ratcliff would have to agree that the hole should be made there.
Hucka D.:
They did. They do. They will.
bb:
Is it [also] a *rat* hole??
Hucka D.:
[Hucka D. doesn’t answer immediately, then:] A Map Rat.
*****
[later, pondering alone:] A Map Rat? Wonder what Hucka D. meant by that? It could have something to do with the 3d sim map that wouldn’t rez in, [found] along the shores of Lake Sesia [tonight]. Wonder how hard it would be to actually make Arcadia’s Arcade fly around? Could just pretend it’s flying… that might be better. Could wear the arcade… Could combine it, somehow, with Esbum’s Missing Piece — share [old] chair. Gang of Willard, I believe has something to do with the Map Rat. Legend will have it the Map Rat, perhaps controlled by Gang of Willard, created the Ratcliff Hole. Foreign One. *Mythos*.
Maybe the Queen just found the Arcade vehicle. In West Woods? Keep tabs on crop circle formations for clues. Sperm to egg? Think more of the shop All White Horses. I think Hucka D. wants me to start thinking more on my own feet. Get away from the computer a bit more from now on.
I [believe] Lake Sesia was sealed off from the sea surrounding the Heterocera continent for some reason. Something about the curse… so the curse wouldn’t spread. The stream to the ocean/sea was erased. A cap was created. The group that owns the Green Acres property did this, at least in part. Oliver did this… Adam. Once the lakes were sealed off, both connected Lake Tethea and Lake Sesia, then two Second Lives were formed in parallel with each other. This was the beginning (thus: Adam).
No other lake was sealed off from the ocean that once ran into the ocean. Lake Lhin is too far from the ocean — never connected, and no possible way to do so. But there are mysteries to that place as well, perhaps connected mostly to the oddities of the Natota sim whose southwest corner lies within the lake.
Hucka D. is not going to tell me about this sealing — I can tell.
*****
Hucka D.:
Nah, I’ll talk about it. Good evening to you. Not good night, because that would be like saying goodbye. Queer language, this English.
bb:
Thanks for showing up [again].
Hucka D.;
The hole formed (long pause).
bb:
Suppose that’s it. I believe, or I’m getting insights, that the hole formed to seal off the Pond District from the rest of Second Life, at least for a time. Adjustments were made, and then the Pond District rejoined.
Hucka D.:
It never did.
bb:
There you are again.
Hucka D.:
We must call in some experts. Hold on…
Peter the OK:
OK. I’m here.
bb:
Hi.
Peter the OK:
It was not OK.
bb:
How do you mean, Peter the OK?
Peter the OK:
It was not Good. (pause)
bb:
Second Life itself?
Peter The OK:
The King supervised. It was suppose to be different.
Peter The OK:
You couldn’t stare directly into it. You had to look sideways.
Peter The OK:
You had to spiral in.
Peter The OK:
Colors.
bb (quickly):
Colors?
Peter The OK:
TILE. VILE. Doesn’t matter.
bb:
Is this the end. The End?
Peter The OK:
Yes. Hints. Suggestions. Keep alert. We divert. We divert.
bb:
The Hole is still there. Isn’t it?
Peter The OK:
A way to go home.
bb:
I’m going to go to the temple to meditate.
*****
Remember: The King pays The Bill
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/montauk/esp_montauk_12.htm
Biking to Calleta…
Sunklands 