Sous les Oliviers

Sous les Oliviers introduction: 

As the theme of Tuscany, Sous les Oliviers is a place to relax, explore or simply admire the view, Sous les Oliviers is the ideal retreat. Every nook and cranny is designed to offer you an immersive and soothing experience, away from the hustle and bustle.

 After landing, I could see the resemblance and the inspiration of Tuscany in the design of the sim.  Ely, who was the designer of the sim, did capture the essence and beauty of Tuscany in the different areas, with the beautiful architecture of the buildings around the landscape, to the actual landscape throughout the sim.  I could almost smell the tantalizing and mouthwatering smells coming from the market, once more; which is how amazingly well Ely did with this build.

This sim is wonderful for exploring, fantastic for photography, and the serene and tranquil atmosphere that I found here, is amazing for just relaxing in.  

If you do take photos here, Sous les Oliviers does have their own flickr group, so please feel free to share.

Today's Destination Highlight - Winter Love Valley

It has been truly quite some time since I had the pleasure of wandering around Second Life again.  RL being RL, for the last couple of years, it has been incredibly busy.  With that being said, I have the pleasure of being able to come back and wander around the grid a little more.  

For my first post, after a 2.5-year hiatus, I bring Winter Love Valley, for your wandering pleasure.  The first impression I had of this amazing sim is that the builder took their time and patiently built a sim with a fabulous variety of activities for their guests, surrounded by gorgeous visuals for the eyes to feast on.  There are rezzers available for horses, a sleigh, and for snowboarding for the guests to enjoy, along with ice skating.  There is a ski lounge to enjoy, an ice dance cave, and a ferris wheel to ride.  When this sim is not set up for winter, it's normally called Love Valley, which is owned by the multi-talented lady, Evely Heartsong.  (Regarding the horses, they only ask that you do not ride them on the ice, since that can interfere with the skaters.)

 

A Love Letter to Mimmo

I admit I did mull over the title for a bit before I came to realize that I had fallen in love with this breathtakingly beautiful region.  As a photographer, I have seen many beautiful and creative places.  Each one that I have visited and posted about, took my breath away in some way, be it visually, emotionally, and/or spiritually.  Mimmo, to me, is a dedication to photographers and their photography.  Everywhere I looked, there was a photo opportunity waiting for you to click your camera and capture it.
Mimmo is owned by Eli Cord (Elise Sirnah), who is a talented photographer herself.  Her gallery shows her work off, giving examples from Mimmo itself, of beautiful works of art.  If you are wondering what Mimmo means, it's an Italian term of endearment for a child or baby, and you can see, this is her baby.  Every inch of the land is done with love and dedication for photography, from the stream that runs through the entire region to the soft rolling hills and the mountains.  You are invited to rest and relax, allowing you to let your creativity loose on the beautiful landscape.
For photographers who need to rezz, there is a group available to join, just remember to clean up after yourself when you are done.  There is also a Flickr group that you can join, to submit your work to, as well.
For once, I find that I just don't have enough words to describe this amazing place, so instead, I think I'll let my work show you.  My only hope is that I did Mimmo justice in my photos.

If you don't already know it, Jay T Muir updated and released a large pack of wl's that he had available in his blog for free.  He now has it packaged all together, so there is 26 wl's in one pack.  Most of my photos were taken with his wl's here, with the exception of the last one with the painting on the easel, which was taken with Ambient Realism.  The link is to his FB page, just scroll down a little way and you will find the post where he released them along with the download link.

Labyrinth of Darkness

Do you love the thoughts of walking through the dark, foggy night with your senses on overdrive, waiting for something to jump out at you?  Does the Halloween season send thrives and chills up and down your spine in anticipation?  Does your heart race at that suspicious bump in the night?  Well, it does for me and for many others, who love to decorate and celebrate the season. 
At Labyrinth of Darkness, you will see the season's attitude and atmosphere captured perfectly, with a nice mix of humor, as well.  They are one of the stops of this years SL Top Haunted places & hunt.  If you have not had a chance to check them out, go check them out because they are here for only a limited time.

The Illustrious Linden Mole

As many of us know, especially the older residents, the Linden Moles are those employees from Linden Lab, who are responsible for setting up and maintaining the mainland.  They terraformed, landscaped, and created the web work of roads, that go through the entire mainland.  They are rarely seen, but you know that at least someone put all those roads, linden trees and the buildings up that is on Linden public land.
What many may not realize is that they also have a sim that they live on.  Yup, there are roads there, along with a center square, a pub, and quite a few residences, many with the name of the mole or, in one case, the Linden who lives there.  The other fun fact is that this is all open to residents who may want to drop in, visit and take a look around. The sim is called Meauxle Bureaux, which is a bit of a mouth full when you try to say it, but it's worth at least one visit, even if it's to cure your curiosity on if the moles really exist.

The sweet sounds of Melody

I should first confess that I love fall.  The colors, sounds, smells, and the feeling of a cool breeze on my cheek, are all things that make fall one of the most amazing seasons for me.  I'm a lover of all things that happen during this season, including the landscaping and decorations that are done on the grid, during this time of the year.
This next sim is called Melody and they put together an amazing visual of the season on their land.  As I walked through, I could almost feel that cool breeze caressing my cheek and hear the crisp crunching sound of the leaves under my boots.  Photographically, they put together a treat for the eye, in the way they blended the colors together in their landscaping.  I highly recommend popping over and enjoying the hard work that went into this sim.

Fall is in the air

As the season is changing, so is the look on some of the sims.  As a reflection of real life, the sims have been changing up their seasons, creating amazing landscapes which are filled with colorful views based off of the fall palette.
Frog Hollow has set up their sim with the warm and vibrant colors of fall, with dancing leaves, bright hues in the trees and a warm sense of atmosphere surrounding this, their keen eye has paid amazing homage to this season.
Sadly, this is a temporary installation, which will end when the leaves stop falling, according to the description in their LM, so visit it while you can.