One must have a mind of winter To regard the frost and the boughs Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time To behold the junipers shagged with ice, The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think Of any misery in the sound of the wind, In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land Full of the same wind That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow, And, nothing himself, beholds Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
“The Snow Man,” by Wallace Stevens
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The details:
Head: Akeruka Aurora 2.5 Bento
Body and feet: Maitreya Lara 4.1
Hands: Vista ProHands 2
Eyes: IKON Sovereign (Fjord)
Hair: Mina Sira (available at current round of FaMESHed)
Outfit: Rebel Noah (excepting the stocking cap, which is part of the hair in this case; however, a stocking cap is part of the outfit package) (black) (available at current round of Versus)
Stole: Ade yakko JW2017 MikoMiko Stole (Black) (Part of the MikoMiko black outfit; currently available at the Okinawa Winter Festival)
Shoes: Equal Sierra ankle boots (available at current round of FaMESHed)
Earrings: AvaWay Sharon earrings
Eyeshadow: Livia Nella (Omega, bottom row, slot 1)
A lovely long gown, and the complete, sinful luxury of heavy “furs” in a hat and stole, all on a winter day — what more could one ask?
One note here: Belle Epoque’s gown has its own arms, so you’ll need to mask out your own arms if you get this package. In fact, I needed to mask most of my body, except for a slice from below my neck to my breasts. So don’t worry too much about your elaborate library of poses, outside of favorite stances on your legs. In compensation, the gown and furs are HUD driven, so you have a selection of colors and fur types to choose from. I have a taste for grey fox, so ….
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The details:
Head: Akeruka Camille 2.5 Bento
Body and feet: Maitreya Lara 4.1
Eyes: IKON Hope (Sapphire)
Hair: Argrace Wakana
Outfit, hat and shoes: Belle Epoque Cold Outside (HUD outfit includes fur shawl, rare, available via Pocket Gacha @ L$50/play, or purchase entire package @ L$3,000)
Jewelry: GeWunjo Emma gold necklace and earrings
Makeup:
Eyeshadow: SlackGirl Clair (Akeruka, slot 2)
Lashes: thick head system lashes, supplemented with FATElashes 2.0
Lipstick: .kosmetik Lustre Lipstick.runway (Omega, slot 4 [use ALL ZONES; buttons are reversed)
Partially lazy, that is. I’m kicking back here, relaxing before the events Monday, when the cavern you see down and behind me there will have guests — the Holy Family. It’s time for the Anglican Cathedral in Second Life’s annual Advent Posadas, when members of the parish host statues of Mary and Joseph as they make their way toward Bethlehem — or, in this case, the cathedral, where they will be on display throughout the twelve days of Christmas.
All are welcome to come visit the Holy Family; the statues will be staying overnight, and I’ll pass them on to the next host on Wednesday. Watch this space, or my timelines on Plurk, Twitter, Google+ and Facebook for the coordinates, and the time of the actual handover to me on Monday, and the passing on Tuesday. While people are there, until I need to go to RL work, there’ll be conversation (and beer) for all.
I mentioned what was going down the other day, without including a picture — because, well, it was still in the building. Here’s the finished product.
The texturing wizard is JD Lemur, and he’s available for hire for other projects. This didn’t require giving him manager privileges, believe it or not — but it did take a hell of a lot of prims, including icing over the river between my main “island” and the small piece of ground I have across the river. After that, JD’s friend (and my neighbor), Jessie Kleiner, did the final landscaping I left a few green things around, mostly across the river, but there’s that one green tree you see over on the right; that’s one of the four oak trees that haven’t “dropped their leaves.” I’m down to 70 open prims for the duration; it’s worth the investment, though.
The prim level is going to go lower in the near future, as I’m building a cavern to house the Holy Family for this year’s Posada progress toward the Anglican Cathedral in Second Life. Watch this space around December 3-4 for my annual rundown on the visitation.
It’s an exciting time for me since my move to my new house. Beyond the fact that, a few weeks ago, the landlord came and restored the landscaping that I’d accidentally booted off the land, I’m getting a pair of avatars in to decorate the plot for winter and Christmas. My first time putting together a real Michigan Christmas, instead of just putting up a tree in my apartment; I’m looking forward to this tremendously.
Why am I doing this? Because the seasons have firmly changed now in the Real World. Since it’s turned cold — at least sometimes — here in RL Alabama, it’s time for me to start wearing coats and sweaters outside, at least at night; and to me that always implies in world as well. I rarely go “outside” in SL now without a jacket, unless the region I’m in is hopelessly tropical. When that happens, of course, it doesn’t make sense to be wearing a fur or shearling, or even as light as a windbreaker. But if there’s no otherwise clue, I decide for myself that the temperature has dipped into the low 50s (maybe around 7-12 Celsius), and I dress appropriately to stave off the nip in the virtual air.
And why do I think this way? Well, I suppose it’s because I’m hopelessly from Michigan, even though I live in Alabama now. My mind longs for falling leaves and snow on the ground, ice on the roads and frost in the air. I haven’t lived year-long in Michigan since I was 21 years old, but I still long for the lands I’ll always regard as home. In Second Life, I can recreate that outside my windows with a little investment, now that I have a plot of ground all to myself, and so that’s what I’m doing now. If you stop back in tomorrow, I’ll have some photos of what my landscaping team have come up with, and let you know who they are.
What’s winter without at least one appearance of the Empress of the Snows? This version takes the wonderful gown that Tres Beau created for Sazzy Oh for Miss Virtual World 2012, and changes things around some. I left off the headdress (which drops snowflakes all around in the store version), and substituted more “ice” in the form of diamond and silver jewelry.
Every winter,
When the great sun has turned his face away,
The earth goes down into a vale of grief,
And fasts, and weeps, and shrouds herself in sables,
Leaving her wedding-garlands to decay –
Then leaps in spring to his returning kisses.
— Charles Kingsley, Saint’s Tragedy (act III, sc. 1)
Second Life® with Harper, Conan, Jem, Diana and Morgan
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