Christmas Locations, Part Four

 

By Gemma Cleanslate

A visit to Tayren’s Holiday.

Tayren has such a marvelous region at wintertime. Her large shop is full of wonderful period clothing for both women and men.. I own several of her outfits from years back. It is a great place to get outfits for role play in medieval settings. Once outside again check out the little sheds in which you will find wonderful holiday items she also makes.

Then head up to the top of the hill. Here a little village of shops invites you to go in. Do that! In many of the shops you are going to find boxes of freebies under the trees. Santa is watching you grab those boxes and smiling. In one shop I sat to visit with some elves who were supposed to be working but I think were having a coffee break.

Wander farther down the hill and into the woods and find yourself entranced. Fairies live here in tiny homes in the trees and rocks, each one individual in design. They are sweet and delicate and friendly. It all adds to the season in the snow. Take your horse for a ride in the snow. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wind%20Struck/141/217/29

I get a real kick out of visiting Never You Mind. I have not met the owner, Harley (Harleywan Haggwood), but his name really makes me think he would have to be the creator of the cute creatures he makes. They are funny and endearing. One of the reasons I think I have never met him is that he is an Aussie so rarely the time zones meet. His creatures are everywhere singing and smiling as you arrive

He also makes things that fly and other things to ride on water or land. He has very unique Christmas scenes too, like the cake cart above. Take a walk all around to see the quaint buildings, trees and all Harley has to offer for your regions and your fun travels. If you join the group you will get some great little critters as gifts.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bundaberg/181/197/23

I also went shopping in Maine, Portland Maine SL that is. It is the first time I have been shopping here and I loved it. It is so quaint. I have a special fondness for Maine as I like to visit it every spring before the crowds arrive. The entrance is near a New England Church with a few homes and a post office near by. The little cabins of many styles are showplaces for so much nice décor for sale. I saw more beautiful snow globes but controlled myself. It is fun just to walk in the falling snow and peak inside each one to see what they offer. There is outside and inside décor all over . I saw some furry Santas and other characters as furries too. How about a box of 22 grinches ! An Advent calendar is at the entrance too.

Santa was there with a whole line of children waiting to tell him what they want. There are many cute comical scenes to be found here for the fun loving people to put outside their homes or on an island or in a club. Cute little buildings are for sale too at great prices. Take a tour and take a spin on the large skating pond. I also found presents in various places so look for them too.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Portland%20Maine/180/177/10

The famous Macy’s Christmas Parade is running now on tour at Unincorporated Oregon. 70 Floats, many interactive are making their way down the street. They are so sweet. It is a great place to take photos and take family and friends for fun riding along the parade route.

Also see the teleport to take you up to the lovely little ice skating pond. It is another great place for a snowball fight! There is a bill board near the beginning of the parade route where you can accept the experience. Santa is up there too. Look for the sleds for down hill racing. ]Thanks to Franny DJ and the owners and managers of Oregon for hosting the parade this year. It will be running every day with its own music. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Enchanted%20Isles/23/63/23

 

Gemma Cleanslate

 

Christmas Shopping at Dench Designs and Snuggles Holidays

 

By Gemma Cleanslate

 

It is that time again! Christmas shopping time. No sooner did the orange and black disappear than out came the green and red at and bright lights many shops . One of my very favorites opened the Christmas shop the very next day after Halloween and I was so happy to see it.

Amanda Dench has such a fun Christmas shopping area I love getting there to look at everything and pick up all the freebies offered to members of her group and check out the bargain corner where past goodies are offered for only 5 or 10L. You find all these gifts and items on the second floor, always my first destination.

Outside the Christmas store at Dench Designs are charming little winter scenes that fit any parcel or region. I love to see Santa riding a bike in the snow. There is a giant Santa dancing at the door of the shop.

Inside are the wonderful fireplaces, trees, and so many fun animesh dancers. Jump on a dancer and see how you look with that partner for dancing! There are wonderful new full avatars this year too and wearable dancers from penguins to Santa himself. They are great fun to bring to a party. I had to buy one. I always say I am not going to buy things while doing these articles but guess what. The prices are right too!! And, if you join the group there is a 50% discount on many items. 

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rookery/21/36

Another favorite place to visit because it is so organized so you can find your favorite types of décor easily is at Snuggles Holidays, The Christmas at Snuggles . I also love the name of the regions. Gnomes, trees, animals and so much more.

Inside the huge shop there are décorations for your home interior and more. Looking for Christmas cards? There is a generous collection of various cards for loved ones, family and friends.

If you have a friend who loves and collects bears and want to make a gift of one a really good choice is found here too. Look for the teleport to and from inside and outside décor. The place is large so plan some time to look around. I joined the group to get an avatar for Christmas gatherings at a really low price. I will be searching for more good shopping for you in the next days.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Snuggles%20Holidays/163/220/25

 

Gemma Cleanslate

 

Urban Furry's Winter Area

By Bixyl Shuftan

Some clubs just set up a Christmas tree or wreath for the holidays (or perhaps a perverted snowman). Urban Furry did more than that. The club's staff created a winter wonderland area emcompassing a quarter sim. The center of the area consists of a frozen pond one can skate on, with the club's logo under the ice. At the edge of the pond is a DJ booth. Around the place are winter trails and paths, leading to cabins, campfires, a Christmas tree, a crystal cave, an outhouse, and more. Next to the pond is a skate-giver, which provides a pair of skates just by touching it.

I recently met up with Urban Furry owner Whiskey (Thorrin Resident) and some of his staff at the club's new Winter area. Most of the conversations were in voice, so I didn't get quite every word down. The normally canine club owner was in a decorated reindeer avatar. Whiskey told me that the idea for the place came just as they were taking down their Halloween area, "Everyone I spoke to loved the Halloween build." He stated the place had a "decent turnout" that did best during the FCA (Furry Club Alliance) Club Crawl. Once the spooky build was down, "we had the platform available." So they began working on something for the Xmas season.

Whiskey told me he left building the holiday area open to his staff, two of whom stepped forward: Soundshift (Fel Serpente) and Toxicum (ToxTheFox Resident). The snakegirl responded with a bow while the canid humbly commented, "Sound did 80% of the work, I just looked cute." Soundshift chuckled, "She's good at that." "Much better at that than any sort of decorating, heee." "I stepped up to take care of things ... I wanted to do something different." She went on to say they already had a beach area, in addition to their main club area with it's city feel, so they wanted something with a different feel altogether.

When asked what their favorite part of the build was, Sound pointed out the crystal cave, "I like the cave, it's pretty." Whiskey pointed out the circular lines on the ice, looking like they had been made by ice skates, "lines, so people know where to go, like a roller skating ring."

When I asked what events were planned here, Whiskey told me they planned a Christmas party in the winter area on Sunday December 16 from 4 to 8 PM SL time, with a contest for the best Xmas outfit. I heard that they planned to have their partied there between then and Christmas, though if the DJ wanted he or she could have the event in another part of the club. Manager Rayron VR (UNIDJShieldonLLL Resident), who was in an ice dragon avatar, joked, "I apologize to the Australians who aren't used to the snow in December." Rayon went on to say they wouldn't be having events on Christmas Day or New Year's as he wanted the staff to have "real-life time."

There were a few chuckles in the interview as Itzy Mistpaws (TatianaMistpaws Resident) was overheard in Voice talking to her kid in a higher-pitched tone that she needed to use the computer. Whiskey told me, "Itzy here is our designer. She'll be creating our (avatar) mods for Urban Furry." Itzy then resumed work on a Christmas mod, saying she was trying to get the snowflake patterns on the red and white surface just right. I heard from Rayon that they planned a mod release party in January, one that would be sold only at their place, "an avatar mod exclusive to Urban Furry."

Rayron went on to say that the winter area "represents a place people can get away from drama ... a place to have fun 'cause that's what we're all about here. We have some of the best staff to offer, not just to the furry community, but all of Second Life. I'm damn proud of each and every one of them." Whiskey added, "I couldn't ask for a better staff."

Talking more to the staff, they were proud of the "Furry Prom" that they did in September, which Whisky stated averaged fourty-five people at any one time during the four hour event, and maxed out at "fifty-one people of the fifty-three in the sim were on this parcel." They were also talking about doing a "Spring Fling" event in 2019 after winter was over.

To get to Urban Furry's Winter Area, head to the club's main entrance at Mystic Timberland (168,158,2713). From there, walk to the teleporter a few feet to the northwest, click it, select "Christmas Place," and hop on.

Urban Furry is a member of the FCA, which also has Club Cutlass, the Happy Vixen, Club Zero Gravity, and Xanadu as members.

Bixyl Shuftan

Valentine Town

By Bixyl Shuftan

Next week, Valentines Day falls on Wednesday February 14. This is a holiday couples look forward to, with numerous dates arranged and plenty of candy and flowers given out. And in Second Life, virtual couples can go to a number of places to have fun together, or where people can get things to help liven the event or a present for their special friend.

One place you can do both is Valentine Town by Laura Liberty.Valentine Town has been a yearly feature in Second Life for quite some time. set up every year by Laura Liberty. But this year, the place is a bit different. The shops are still around, as before in cartoony-looking buildings. But this year, there is more.

Right at the entrance, you can see the biggest addition: the Tunnel of Love. Circling around the middle part of the town, the couple gets in the small boat near the doors, then goes down a heart-shaped opening into a heart-shaped tunnel with pink lights. As the small boat goes down the canal, it will go through both segments of lighted tunnel and  open air, until coming around to stop where the trip began and the couple can get off, or perhaps take another trip.


The center of Valentine Town is a large dance
area with a fountain in the middle, and white, pink, and red lanterns hanging overheard. The lanterns are lit, and illuminated the area when viewed at Midnight. There were also flower stalls near the edge, where one could buy a bouquet of roses. The radio was playing romantic tunes, or songs in which the theme was romantic, such as "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Love Me Like You Do."

I happened to come across Laura Liberty talking to a couple lady visitors, "Hi Bixyl, how are you doing? Thanks for coming to Townies." The two women with her told me the Tunnel of Love was great, "Laura worked hard. The tunnel is beautiful." "It's fabulous." "She does not stop, always working." Laura excused herself to help someone, and I would meet her at a place to the right of the center area, the "Love Locks" fence.  "I engrave them with names," Laura told me, "Have you seen that in real life? (It) will be a fence full of locks overlooking water. People write their names and throw (the) key in (the) water in that moment in time they were in love. It is sweet. I hear they do them many places now."

This year, Laura had some assistance in building the town, "I had help from Acehole Ixito and Tanyja Resident, took us a month to rebuild it. They are mesh makers, and we worked about a month straight to finish.. We try to make all the towns have some sort of entertainment." She then intoduced me to one, Acehole, or just "Ace" as Laura called him. He looked like a child's handmade paper doll in his avie, "I use this avatar sometimes to be low-lag, someone came earlier asking for it (laughter)."

When I asked about the biggest challenge in building this year's town, Ace answered, "I would say the biggest challenge by far was designing the sim from scratch. We didn't even plan on creating all this after we took down Christmas, but Laura had a few small ideas on how to make our old Valentine's Town better. And that small seed just kind of exploded." "I wanted that Tunnel of Love ride," Laura added, "We finished the builds and about a week before we opened, I said to Ace, 'I should have mentioned this before Ace but, I really don't know how to make a ride.'" They chuckled as a Callisto (CallistoKilgannon Resident) walked up.

"Callisto is our friend here," Laura continued, "We stayed up until about 4 am and got it sorted." "I think it came put pretty well," Calisto spoke. Ace then stated, "During testing, the ride occasionally flung Laura hundreds of feet in the air." "It was certainly an experience seeing it all come together," Calisto went on, "coming by for a little each night and seeing the progress that had been made that day. if you had asked me if I thought it would end like this, I'd have said no. It's come very far." Laura smiled, "Aww thanks Calli. Yeah you were here through it all. Building is fun but more fun when people come and can enjoy it."

I brought up Mardi Gras Town, which was hundreds of meters overhead, asking if it gets overlooked sometimes. Ace answered no, "It actually seems pretty popular this year. I've noticed more people than I expected going up there since we opened yesterday. ... More than half the people on this sim seem to be up there now." Laura told, "One of the first years I did Townies, I made a smaller version of a skate castle and no one came. I sat on that sim by myself all of December. So if people come, it just makes it so nice." Ace explained why the two towns were not on the same level this time, "Before, Mardi Gras was right next to Valentine's, but the big Mardi Gras dome just didn't look right down here this year." Calisto added, "I think it's more of an adventure when you don't have another town just on the horizon. it doesn't feel like a movie set. So I think you made the right choice with that one Laura."

We talked some about some cartoons the Newser did with Valentines Day and cupid in mind. Then Laura looked over her shoulder, "Speaking of funny cartoons, here comes Bean." At first, I noticed a short grayish shape with short arms and legs walking our way. But eventually, Bean (GreenBeanGirl Resident) came clear in view, a cheerfully cartoonish avatar with a green visor had and a Christmas sweater with her name, "Hi friends! Bean here! Callistooooo." Calisto chuckled, "No town is complete without bean. she's got a lot of personality (laughter)." When Bean was told who I was, "Wow, you are famous. ... Ask me what you want. I am open book. ... I am ride conductor. I wave in my chair, and say 'Welcome friends to Townie! Without me, this all would not work." Ace stated, "Bean greets the guests. Lots have taken to her."

Calisto continued, "Laura had a bit of a tough time this year with creating the new town. Every time things change, it becomes less of a setup and more of a build from scratch type of thing. The ride was certainly a challenge. And just ask her about the bridges (laughter)." I asked about the bridges, and Laura answered, "just struggled with them." Calisto explained, "Long story short, the textures have her a bit of trouble since the bridges are composed of so many different pieces. 85 if I'm correct. And they all had to be textured separately, earning them the endearing name of 'effing bridges.' " Ace added, "Yes we spent hours finding music. Instrumental romantic music for the ride, and classic love songs for the rest of the sim."

Bean talked about how good a snack of french fries and a milkshake could be, then described how nice the central area near the waterfall in the back could be when viewed at Midnight, "Laura tell me this, she think of all thing like that. Music special picked out, make good for dance, or relax." She asked to me to be still for a moment so she could take a picture, "I never have Fox as friend before. ... I better take picture in case no one believe me." She then told me she was placing it in her profile pics, which she did.

It wasn't much longer than this that I had to be elsewhere, and Laura had to help someone out. So we told each other goodbye.

Be sure to see Valentine Town at Townies (128/169/7). You'll probably also want to see Mardi Gras Town at Townies (93/206/748).

Bixyl Shuftan

SummerTown USA

From the makers of Easter Town, a holiday-themed location has sprung up in the Elizabeth Town sim. For the Fourth of July season, "SummerTown USA" just looks the very definition of Independence Day.

Like earlier holiday towns this year such as Easter Town, the place has a cartoony look. The shops are white with red and blue roofs with bright colors. Overhead, planes fly around leaving red white and blue trails. Overlooking the town is Mount Rushmore with American flags on each side with the sun rising. And there are American flags and red white and blue all over. While one looks around, patriotic music plays in the background, "Coming to America," "God Bless the USA," "Independence Day," "My Hometown," "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue," and others.

And I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

The place offers a number of freebies. For instance near the entrance, there are a couple hats available. Most items however one has to pay for, sometimes hundreds of Lindens. For a place where you can find more freebies, check out the Corner of Revolving Time. But there's still plenty of free goodies here. You can get a free band uniform that comes with a few instruments.

Daniel Voyager dropped by about the same time I did, and we ended up taking both of the free hats. Check out Daniel's article on his blog (here).

One corner of the sim is darker than the rest. This is where you can see a fireworks show, right over a copy of the Statue of Liberty.

Besides shop and get freebies, there's a sack race track you can try out with others. There's a pie-eating contest setup. There's also a drive-in theater at one corner of the sim. There are several movies set to play, although the schedule as to what plays when was unavailable.

A cheerful 4rth of July location.

Bixyl Shuftan