Refugium update – April 2024

With the arrival of spring, I felt the need to make some additional changes to Norgaard Village, greening it up and allowing a lot more space for various nature features. Refugium, too, has seen another facelift. (One of many in recent months, but you know me – I keep decorating and redecorating!)

And so as of this month, our small meditation group meets in a lovely little cottage designed by Ria Bazar. I loved this build from the first time I saw it, although I initially thought of using it as our village café. However, once I started terraforming and adding bits and pieces to that part of the parcel, it just gave me a different vibe.

As you can see, the part on the left now houses the Refugium chapel / meditation space. The area is pretty small, but it just adds to the cozy and intimate feel.

The sunroom annex serves as the library / reading room. (Yes, that’s where I’m writing this blog post from!) I just love the view of the pond and all the trees and bushes surrounding it. I have to say, this has quickly become my favourite corner of the parcel. It’s so peaceful!

Pretty much everything else in the Village has been redesigned and redecorated: there’s now a small video store, the cinema, and the village café. At this point, I’m just playing with small details, but I don’t intend to change the layout of the place any time soon.

I’d love it if you’d stop by! And if you want to get regular updates from Refugium, consider joining our inworld group, ‘Refugium Announcements’.

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Additional information

• Meditation sessions at Refugium are held daily between 2330 and midnight SLT. You are welcome to use the space for your personal quiet moments any time during the day. To visit, click here.

• Music stream on the parcel currently plays ‘Christian Country Channel‘ radio station, based in Essen, Germany.

• To get regular updates from Refugium, consider joining our inworld group, ‘Refugium Announcements‘.

Norgaard Village – Summer 2020 Updates

I’ve been making lots and lots of changes to Norgaard Village lately (surprise, surprise!). I do love experimenting with different builds and features, it’s a lot of fun to work on that elusive perfect feel to a piece of virtual land. And over the past few weeks I’ve been doing that a lot, on an almost daily basis! It must be due to the pandemic and the fact that I’ve been spending most of my time at home – spending a little bit of extra time in Second Life helps to distract you from thinking and worrying about all the crazy RL stuff…

So anyway, let me give you a brief walk-through. The landing point is by the public road (Route 12), in the central part of Norgaard Village, right at the small police station / village office.

Following the path up north will take you to Refugium – our old meditation spot (also filled with fortune tellers, magic potions and Voodoo stuff!).

There’s also a small Shinto shrine – pretty much the only feature that has survived all the recent changes intact.

The area to the south is where you’ll find a small gas station, and a garage / service station / workshop – a man cave, basically.

Nestled among lush grass and wildflowers are the remains of a mysterious phallic cult. These rocks must have been here for thousands of years!

Up in the hills is where you’ll find the local brewery…

…the diner…

…and my home on the floor above.

To me, the single most important feature of the Village is one that occupies about the quarter of the parcel – the swamp. Ever since I left Second Norway and moved all my stuff to this mainland parcel in Odie, the swamp has been there (initially a small lake that I gradually turned into what it is now), with most of the builds placed around it and somehow gravitating towards it.

The waters are crocodile-infested, so think twice before jumping in!

The whole place is open to public, feel free to visit and use whatever you like! To get there, you can follow this SLurl.

Winter at Norgaard Place

This winter I’ve changed quite a few things around my place. Soon after Christmas, the large church and the Advent display were gone, and it took me some experimenting with different builds to see what would fit in their stead. The snow is still there, as is the ice sheet over the frozen swamps, but about half of the builds have been replaced.

The central part, also the landing point close to Route 12 and the rezzing area, remains my little office. It’s the oldest surviving building in all of Norgaard, withstanding all the many transformations and additions to the place.

Following the path to the south you will soon reach the brand new area, containing the gym, the small diner, and the boxing club.

Speaking of the gym, you’ll find that inside the building there are displays of the covers of gay magazines from the year 1980. Initially, it was supposed to be a full-blown exhibition in a much larger space, but given the time (and prim limit) constraints, I gave up on the idea. Still, as a compromise, many of the covers I’d prepared are now displayed all over the gym building as a sort of 40-years-later tribute to these now extincts mags and the men who adorned their covers.

Following the path above the swamp, you’ll reach the new Refugium building where we have our daily meditation sessions. There you can also get some nice winter treats: roast chestnuts, a cup of warm cocoa or coffee and such.

There’s also a bit of a naughty twist to it, as behind the Refugium building there’s a small sex shop!

The northern part of Norgaard Place has been left intact: there’s the small Shinto shrine, and finally, at the end of the path, my home.

In a few weeks the snow will melt and the ice will thaw, but until then you can come and enjoy the winter at Norgaard Place. 🙂

Landing point

Direct TP to Refugium – meditation sessions take place daily between 2330 and midnight SLT

Norgaard Place: What’s in the box?

As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post (“Leaving Second Norway”), last month I moved into a new home – back to mainland! And for the first time since I’ve joined Second Life, it happens to be a skybox.

Normally I’m not a huge fan of skyboxes, preferring to play with terraforming and landscaping down on the ground. However, this one seemed to fit all my needs in terms of space, design, prim count etc. And it spares me the sight of the typical mainland horrors – although, in all honesty, the area around Odie, Nautilus, where my parcel is located, is not all that bad (at least for the time being).

Anyway, let me unpack this box and take you on a short tour.

Upon landing, the ground floor houses the Odie Cinema, where we now have our regular Friday silent movie nights…

… the meditation area…

… and a small gym.

There’s also an outdoor area. Originally, it was a pool with some water features, but with Duncan’s help, I transformed it into a small park.

Up on the first floor you will find a library…

…. and a cafe with a nice view of pretty much the entire skybox.

The second floor is the only area that is more private in nature. Just a simple bedroom, with some of my toys on display. 😈

So, there it is. You’re welcome to visit whenever, especially at times when there are some activities going on there. As a reminder – unless we’re on a break, or there is some RL emergency – silent movie nights take place Fridays from 1 pm SLT, and daily 30-minute meditation sessions start at 11:30 pm SLT. To visit, follow this SLurl.

Leaving Second Norway

All good things come to an end, as they say, and so did my stay in East Fjord Grieg of Second Norway. During the time I was there, my island went through many transformations, from a fishing village to a medieval castle and many things in between. It was also a home to Refugium, a small meditation space, and the place where I first launched silent movie nights that eventually became a regular Friday event.

When I returned from my summer holidays, I decided to make a few changes affecting both my RL and SL, including decluttering my living space, and trimming down my overall expenses. In the spirit of that decision, I knew I had to let go of Second Norway. On my last day there, as I was taking back my items, I reflected on all the memories and good things that happened there. I didn’t stay too long, though, not wanting to get too sentimental. Once I had all my thingies back in the inventory, I TPed to the rental place to click the ‘won’t renew’ button, and that was that.

At the moment, I’m regrouping in Odie, my mainland parcel, where all my stuff will be up in a skybox that I’ve had my eye on for a long time. More on that as soon as things are ready there!

Silent movie night: “The Ghost Train” (1927)

This June we’re going to get to know a bit about the silent cinema of Mexico!

The first film we’ll watch is “El tren fantasma” (The Ghost Train), released in 1927. It is considered to be one of the best early Mexican movies, directed by Gabriel García Moreno – the leading Mexican filmmaker of the silent era.

The film is a thriller about a gang of bandits sabotaging a railway line, with a lot of stunts and action! 🙂 Intertitles are in both Spanish and English.

As always, we’ll meet at 1 pm SLT, and the movie lasts about 70 minutes. SLurl: https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Odie/73/234/53

Hope you can join us!

Silent cinema moves back to Odie

On Friday, 20 April, regular weekly movie nights moved back to Odie on the mainland continent of Nautilus. With the nice, warm weather outside, I thought it would be a good change, after months of weekly gatherings in the basement of my castle in Second Norway.

The new build has a nice, outdoorsy feel to it. Its size is just about right for our small group or regulars, and there’s room for drinks and snacks.

On our first movie night since the move, we were watching three silent Mickey Mouse cartoons, and had a few drinks afterwards.

If you happen to drive along Route 12, do stop by and have a look. You can also join us on Fridays from 1 pm SLT for a silent movie screening!

To reach Odie Cinema, please follow this SLurl.

Biker Bar on Route 12

This mainland parcel used to be the location of Odie Cinema, before its recent move back to Second Norway.

Now, if you travel along Route 12 on the mainland continent of Nautilus, you can make a stop here, refill your tank and grab something to eat and drink.

There might even be some live entertainment!

Sure enough, there’s a restroom, too.

So, weary traveller, do come by! Here’s the SLurl.

P. S. As I’ve pretty much reached the prim limit there, you definitely won’t be able to rezz a vehicle or much else on the parcel, but there’s a public rezz zone in immediate vicinity!

Heterocera Travelogue #18: Poecila

After a visit to Catalpa back in December, I travel further south to Poecila. Already from the distance I could see what is the only feature of this area – Dazai Voom’s celebrated D-LAB store. The entire region is owned by Voom, so D-LAB is pretty much the only game in town.

Poecila train station next to SLRR tracks

Easy to spot, D-LAB dominates the area

D-LAB is well known for it recognizable artistic designs and a large number of really interesting gadgets, pets, pieces of decor etc. I’m sure it doesn’t need advertising, so I’ll just share a few snapshots from the store. It is located up in the sky, which I don’t usually cover in my travelogues, but I will make an exception this time. You can pick up the landmark on the ground.

The Sky Garden covers a wide area and you can spend a lot of time looking at all the details.

D-LAB Sky Garden landing point area

View over the main store shopping area

If you’re on a tight budget, D-LAB regularly features at Fifty Linden Fridays event and is one of the stores that doesn’t remove the Friday item immediately after the 24-hour period.

Apart from the store, the Sky Garden is also the location of a really interesting village. With its narrow streets and many small venues, it reminded me of the small towns of the Mediterranean.

Even if you don’t care about shopping, you should definitely visit this place. One can spend a lot of time there, and to see what I mean, here’s the aerial shot of the Sky Garden. Again, a lot of it (perhaps greater part) is not really a store, so it’s not all about shopping there.

When I wrote that D-LAB is the only thing to see in Poecila, that wasn’t entirely true… Back on the ground, I spotted waterfalls and a river flowing into the ocean in the neighbouring Gibbosa. At first, I thought this was part of D-LAB too. Partly, it is – Dazai Voom made the upper waterfalls, which then nicely connect to the ones created by Ryan Linden of Linden Department of Public Works on the other side of the bridge. So, there’s a little piece of nature, thanks to the Lindens…

The waterfall is another example of how Voom used the existing features to blend into the wider area. I thought this was a very nice touch, since typically most mainland parcel owners show very little regard for the surrounding area.

On the other side of the railway tracks is already Amella, which I will visit next time…

Heterocera Travelogue #17: Catalpa

Continuing my series of Heterocera travelogues, this morning I took off from Malacosoma rezz zone and drove towards south, to Catalpa.

I wasn’t quite sure what I would find there, as the surrounding area looked totally deserted from the distance. I inserted my mix tape with Creedence hits, stepped on the gas pedal and off I went…

The first inhabited place that I found was right next to the road and the SLRR tracks – Elzhea’s Coffee Stop and Garden. It’s a small, 512sqm, parcel – currently on sale – with a garage and a few chairs in the back. It also serves as a rezz zone, as indicated by the sign on the ground.

As I sat there for a bit, I had a zen moment observing the egg lamp…

One can already see the ocean and more parcels from the Coffee Stop, but they belong to the neighbouring Myron and Gibbosa.

The single only other parcel in Catalpa that hasn’t been abandoned is to the west of the sim: Killer’s Shop. I remember visiting this place several time before in search of different builds. I just hadn’t realized it was here on Heterocera. It’s surrounded by tall rocks and is not directly accessible, but you can double click to TP inside.

Killer’s sells builds, mesh decor and furniture, some with adult animations. There’s a lot to see in the store.

That’s all there is to Catalpa. Not the most exciting place in Heterocera, although the egg lamp alone made it worth the trip. 😀

There is at least one awesome place to visit in the neighbouring Poecilla, which is where I will travel for the next instalment.