Kenroku-en Gardens

Sometimes I like to wear an avatar that makes me really happy and go to a place inworld that seems...peaceful. Tonight, I wore my "Wabi Sabi" Ollipog tiny steampunk Japanese doll avatar and went to Kenroku, the sim of the Able Seed garden shop. Here I am at a re-creation of the Ishikawa-mon Gate...
Based upon the 300-year old Kenroku-en gardens in Japan's Ishikawa prefecture, the gardens are beautiful and the architecture has fantastic texturing... Here is the Kotoji stone lantern that sits on the pond, which is named Kasumiga-ike in real life. The gardens are considered one of the most beautiful in Japan. This is one of the wonderful things about SL--being able to visit wonderful re-creations like this inworld!

Steelhead Museum of Historic Preservation Open!

I've been hard at work for the past month making the Steelhead Museum of Historic Preservation, which is located in Steelhead Harborside. It is in a re-creation I built inspired by the real-life 1897 Antelope Community Church located in Antelope, OR. Its exhibit--showing Steelhead's virtual builds and their real-life counterparts--also includes preservation information and links to national and Pacific Northwest historic preservation websites so that visitors may find out more information...Steelhead is a town with beautiful architecture. As you stroll through it, you will come across many buildings that are inspired by real life structures. Look for the site markers that allow you to click on them to find out more about its RL inspiration...SL is a fantastic medium for builders and architects, enabling them to use it to re-create historic buildings and structures. In turn, this allows citizens from around the world to visit and appreciate them as well. I created this museum so that others can learn more about these historic structures and perhaps become inspired to look at, or even help to preserve or save, the ones in their RL communities. To visit the Museum, click HERE...
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Steelhead%20Harborside/117/90/25

Building Away in Steelhead!

I have been very busy inworld lately, between trying to finish up some new dresses and menswear for the warm weather months and creating new buildings in Steelhead Harborside. I'd post what I've done so far building-wise, but a certain elf insists upon being surprised by them.

They are based upon this 1897 church building in Antelope, OR and the historic 1897 Martinson's Cabin in the WA town Lunar & Tensai live in and should be down by the end of the week. The cabin will be a post office and the church will be a small museum, although I haven't decided upon its theme yet. It'll be either historic preservation, quilts, the Pacific NW, or Steelhead itself. I might even change the exhibit according to what I feel like and I hope that folks will enjoy it. I truly love to build and like the idea of creating something nice for others in the community to enjoy.