Loving Tanglewood

It has always been a theme for me.. I fall in love with places in SL. Since Tanglewood gained an Audrey and a Tzaizqan, I haven't spent much time in Southend.

I love sitting in the grass!
I love chatting.

It has been very nice and quite often people wander by and say 'hi' and a few friends have dropped in after an invitation.

I finally rezzed a chair yesterday for Skye but up til then we had entertained on the lawns!

Xavier Taz and I
(Thanks Xavier fo rthe shot!)

Onward and Forwards!

Time for the ramblings.

I have a bunch of pictures to put up and a bunch of words to write and no expectation that the two have much to do with each other... In fact the pictures do not all go with each other and the words....?

It has been an unsettling time and there are no two ways about it.
The Lindens have done us, the community of SL a great harm and I have been in the company of so many wounded people. And it is not a stretch to say that I have been wounded too.

Some glimpses of Fathom in its End Days

More of Fathom in its End Days

It is ridiculous to ever say that SL is just a game. And I do feel that the Lindens, who market it as more than a game should take some responsibility for the social and cultural lives that have grown within these technological walls.

But with a shrug of my shoulders, I say "whatever". This time, it seems the dice have been rolled and Fathom, my home will go. Their review didn't change much but the dates.

Flying With Star and Eleanor on the night of Zealot's Ball

It seemed like for two weeks I floundered. Not sure where things were going. Messy things in RL and SL and feeling too helpless to take action against so many things.
However once the Lindens came through with their pathetic excuse for a revision, it was time to take the reigns back.There have been fine tuning in relationships, re-evaluating purpose, assertion of self and the purchase of a new home.

Best fun, best friends

OK. When I bought Fathom, it was a bit of a push to find the money to pay tier so the plan was to turn what I did into something to raise money. The idea was to sell houses. Towards this goal I have built a good number of houses, purchased advertising spaces, put out freebies with notecards. Now all the advertising material is wrong because my address will change. Now I dont have a 1/2 sim to pay for.

I have to wonder. Am I a commercial builder now that I have scaled back?
I still haven't decided. Certainly, I am not a commercial builder yet!! LOL I think that requires money transferring.
But I am a builder. And I have to do it, or I get messy and emotionally untidy. So I will build as it suits me. Today I got lucky and managed to make it to an NCI building blitz.

I hardly get to NCI anymore. Too busy. I feel like a stranger there now. It was lovely to make it to the blitz though and seeing familiar faces. Loris was there having his Rez day. Welli, Xavier, Andy, Caill, Blackie, Toady and more.
I took Taz with me and made him watch. (Tzaizqan makes his first Audslife appearance, the most gorgeous tiger)

Tzaizqan, what were you thinking? This name is unspellable!

The blitz theme was cows. I have tried to build a cow in a blitz before, never again. So it was a milkshake and icecream for me! Happiness.. I won. I made the textures for the straw, mixing cup and icecream on the fly during the game while chatting with Taz... who was most distracting. It was fun. I liked what I made. I have to keep doing this.

So! I am a builder! Onward and Forwards!

Building Blitz- Theme Cow!

When it seemed that Fathom was all but gone, and I had no home in sight for the future, it was a dark and gloomy time. However with my ear to the ground I heard that Heppi's neighbour, Wrath was considering selling his land. I contacted Wrath and now a couple of days later, it is all settled. I hate to cut the ties with Winterfell, so I won't! I hope that as things changed so swiftly this year, they will again next year, with unexpected happinesses to greet us.

I am a Caledonian and at heart a Winterfellian. Onward and Forwards!

Ellie, Heppi, Eleanor and Auds sitting at Brioni's near Heppi's and Auds' places

The next part ends with

Audrey has great friendships. Onward and Forwards!

But how to write the bit before that? It has been tough. It has been tough for me and tough for my friends. For lots of different reasons. So many of us have lost our open spaces. Several of us have RL issues making life so much harder. Some relationships have grown and others changed. Brand new friends have arrived like morning stars and others have been true and constant. (Oh yes, poetic Audrey, terrifying.. just terrifying) However in all the building and moving, fussing and hand wringing, what matters most are the relationships I have in sl.

Rory has a new home. Lovely art community.

There! I think I have said it and scattered photos of some of my friends through the blog.
Audrey lives in Caledon, is a builder and has the greatest friends in SL.

Onward and Forwards!

Great Change. Sadness and Happiness

There have been disturbances in the ether. Recently across from Laudanum, a new business was built. A Naughty Bits business. Complete with a rounded Gothic breast shaped building topped with a full bright nipple. The widows of Laudanum are not amused. The add in the search suggested it was a good location for free sex. You can imagine the crowd we were expecting.

But then fresh news came to hand.....
It happened on Wednesday evening... rumour that land was changing hands. Suddenly there were two large tracts of land available . Winterfell Harbour, a whole open space sim (home of the nasty naughty bits) and Winterfell Fathom, a half sim were available. The nipple was leaving and there were decisions to make.
I clearly can not afford a whole one and really did not think I could afford the half one. Eleanor was making all the noises of a sorely tempted prim princess and I thought it was a pretty much done deal that Harbour had a new and much better mistress.
Meanwhile Fathom beckoned.
I sent Miss Serra a note card asking for details and then waited and tried not to think about it.

Friday I got a reply. It was going to cost me less than $2 a day.......ohhhhh how can you say no to half an island of prims.....
So the rest of Friday was happy and sad. Mostly sad though as I had a lot of coffee and a lot of packing to do and by the end of the day, I was in a very strange caffeinated place!

Goodbye to Isle of Aud.
Not as terribly sad as it might have been. Otenth asked if he could keep the light house. I am flattered and happy. A little less heart break about leaving my island if it is doesn't have to lose its house too.

Goodbye to the Garden
The garden is still pretty but the new sim across has stolen the sunset so it was less tearful than it would have been.

Goodbye to the Pavilion
I spent so much time building this.. More time than anything else I have made. I am happy enough but it doesn't really show how much time went into it. Once I built Nettlewood, I didn't need the pavilion any more. And Nettlewood came close to being just what I wanted.

Goodbye to Nettlewood Laudanum
Nettlewood... Lukos says it is better than he thought I could make. Hmmm take that anyway you want!! I am always suspicious when people admire your wall paper. But that aside, I love Nettlewood so it must come with me........

Welcome to Winterfell Fathom, Smuggler's Top.

In my whole state of whelmed of the over variety, I forgot to take photos for 'before and after' so this is it as it currently appears- 'during'.

To the right of the photo you can see the bridge that Wil has installed to continue the road that passes through Winterfell Undertow. As it passes into Fathom the incline increases and I have spent some hours devising stairs to negotiate the steep hillside that Nettlewood now finds itself on.

Isn't it beautiful?

When I first bought the land it was so bare and barren and steep. I was completely at a loss to imagine where I was headed. Friday night I actually ran off and did the blitz at NCI as I just couldn't get my head to work at Fathom.
It must have worked as things are starting in grow now in my mind. I have planted a lot of trees. That is really making a huge difference to the ambiance of the place.
I have put up the light house in its own nook though it needs more work to make it look like it belongs there. Early days.

I really don't want it all 'done" as I will then want to move again! ;)

And here is what it is all about in SL for me........ I had the pleasure of a visit from Eleanor and Xavier and even Lukos at one point. Sitting at the new house enjoying the outlook. With friends...

My name is Audrey and I am a Builder

Two things in SL have me hooked. Company and building. Ozzie evenings are the wee small hours in the US so there are evenings where the company in Sl dries up completely. And then I have to build or wander hopeless.

Currently the land and prims at Laudanum are all but used up. The rescue package came with the announcement from Guvnah Des that Saint Kitt islands were open for play. Hiding at the back on the island, building against the steep hill and at the waters egde, I built a little villa.
I have sat in this seaside villa and gazed out to sea.
Watching... waiting.....

The problem remains however! I have two small blocks in Laudanum and two small blocks in Wyre and I dont have one large wallet of prims to build with. So I did something a bit sad today and bought a larger block in Laudanum. It means I need to give up either Wyre or the Pavilion at Laudanum. And I just cant decide. I cant!! If I keep Wyre.. then my prims are split between to sims. But I have my little beauty and the escape. If I keep the pavilion I keep all the prims together. However there is no retreat and the pavilion is a primmy little princess. She has already absorbed half the allotment.
Upsides on the new block?? Neighbours! Laudanum has most of my favourite people in or around it! I willl be able to keep an eye on Xaviers bowl of water and make sure it is fresh.
Eleanor and I figure on hurling watermelons at each other's homes!
And I hear that June Wozniak thinks we could call the island Widow's Peak! Very amusing indeed! I prefer to find a few more gentlemen and call it Widow's Peek!
I have so much enjoyed running into Star, and Wildstar.

And within easy flying distance though through two sim crossings..... Wil!

I need help.. I cant decide!