bye bye

I am taking a small break. See you in August or September.

Hoot!

062609 p/d

some days are just like this

062509 p/d

tub talk last night on the H sim

062409 p/d

another day, another photo

I'm holding the bird blaster, which I still have intentions of blogging.

062309 p/d

an old photo - just me saying goodbye to the old coho

062209 p/d

Ich hab ein bierstein.

062109 p/d

A shot from the opening of the Jittery Junco Coffee Shop. I'd been obsessing over acquiring the German keg that dispenses biersteinen fur Tagen! whoa ... auf Deutsch

062009 p/d

This is how I logged in this morning ... pink, with a mohawk, and a little blue bespectacled prawn floating around my head and blowing bubbles. It would take a long, long time to explain.

061909 p/d

Oh my stars, I nearly forgot to post a photo today. Here's Ariel and me, at the launcher loft. I hope to blog the sweater soon, 'cause it's birdy.

061809 p/d

The shirt says ...

There's no place like Ctrl + shift + H

... with H being the Hallelujah sims logo.

;-)

Ariel made a whole mess of psychotic Hallelujah motto t-shirts and put them up in her shop. You can get the free one with just the logo here. They insane motto ones are found here and cost $42L, 100% of which benefits the sims!

Thank you so much Ariel. ;-)

061709 p/d

There are a number of cute owls populating the drowsy sim. I found a few in the library, one on the clock, and then a series of portraits of the "head librarian." Looke closely at the photos - each owl has a different 'stache! I did not find the owl for sale anywhere, sadly, but it was fun to wander this sim and find the hidden and not-so-hidden animals and birds.

creepy owl face

Miss Sehra sent me off to Cheap Love Song to see an owl shirt



It's called Creepy Owl Face. I love truth in advertising! If only it came in blue ...

There are plenty of ironic and smartassy t-shirts to be had at Cheap Love Song, and they are inexpensive, 50L each. I think PT needs the Johnny Cash one.



If it were transfer, he'd have it already.

Oh hey and speaking of birds and t-shirts, there is a whole mess of birdy shirts for guys at Aitui (eh, I'll do the slurl later), and one birdy shirt for the ladies ...



... and there I am a'wearin' in. Hoot!

I has a wolf friend.

061609 p/d

For my photo-a-day photo ... well ... let's just say ... Owly hops on along with everyone else. ;-)

No wait, it's more than that. Much more.

It is hard to put into words how I feel about this issue. I've typed an deleted this paragraph a number of times. I am not a philosopher, and when I try to say something serious, it comes out all wrong.

Suffice to say I voted no on 8 and am disappointed by the outcome. This law is unfair to members of my family, my friends, and my neighbors. Let's leave it at that.

061509 p/d

That's right, we are still on the railing!!! But now I have a pose to show off the owl bag, lol.

hoot bag makes me hoot!

Well, pretty much everything makes me hoot. But really, look at this!



Lots of people have been telling me about the Gritty Kitty Hoot Bag. I finally went to see it. Needless to say, I was quite impressed with its owlishness. Four color options!

It is so very weirdly 70s. I ended up getting the multicolored one, though I was highly tempted by white. I totally would have gotten a fatpack, had that been an option.



I quite like the variety and mixture of textures. Some cute details you don't see in the store ad are feathers on the shoulder strap ...



... and buttons on the front.



I don't normally wear a purse or bag in SL, but this one is irresistible. That's a lot of crazy and wtf packed into 74 prims.

061409 p/d

Eep! Nearly forgot to post a random photo today. Here's one. Note how the railing is eating the chair back.

raven skin

Here, he does it better than I ever could ...

amazing gorgeous bird skins

Oh yes, I will acquire the raven. ;-)

crotch swan

Ok, here's a quick bird blog one. The other day some neighbors and friends on H. Blue sort of congregated at Ariel's house to take a photo ... then we went swimming, Wai had a rubber duck, then Jon gave us all ducks, ducks were rezzed and worn, and then I had to say the words "crotch swan." I had something totally different in mind, but then Jon busted out this:



Now that, my friends, is a crotch swan. Look how Emerald is all uhhhhh, no thanks.

Jon gave me the name of the maker, but she doesn't seem to have a shop anymore, so no slurl. Which is certainly a tragedy since I am sure you had your heart set on getting one for yourself! LOL.

And why wouldn't you want one? Look what it does when you sit:





WOW

crotch swan

Oh look, now Emerald's all well maaaybeeee ...



or maybe she's just all gasp

hard to tell

hoot!

061309 p/d

Hanging out on the deck with my owl friend.

061209 p/d

Two photos today. PT has been hard at work on the sim, and here he is taking a well-deserved break. I, on the other hand, have only been busy with dressing myself up, and here I am being extra lazy after the strain of that. ;-) Taken on the deck of the new coho, Jittery Junco Coffee House. Note the crane motif on the railing!

061109 p/d

Goodbye, my beautiful aviary.

I had to dismantle it to make room for an island that's going in.

I've been promised I can set it all up again someday, high on a hill in the middle of a sim.

... sigh ...

061009 p/d

This photo taken by Ceru at the impromptu opening of the new coho on Halleujah Azul.

Ty Ceru!

owly gets personal

Where are the birds Owly? Where. Are. The. Birds.



Well.

Up until recently, I owned two sims with my friends PT and Javi - Hallelujah Blue and Hallelujah Azul. Over the last week, 1. we realized we can't afford to keep two sims running the way they have been, 2. Javi left as an owner (though not as my friend and brother? time will tell), 3. PT and I decided to level H. Blue, and 4. we asked everyone on H. Blue to move to H. Azul if they weren't really mad at us. (And if there was room. Long story, trust me, you don't want to know.)

So, I been a bit busy.

Too busy for birding, for sure, although I've managed to keep up with posting a photo a day - but really, considering how unconerned with photo quality I am, how hard is that? Cam, shoot, upload, goofy comment, done. Or as Niko and Ariel say ... DONE.

I am dismantling the aviary on H. Azul temporarily, and the new coho, Jittery Junco Coffee, is where some of the birds will wind up. There are five rooms in the coho and I am still trying to figure out how I want to arrange the birds and bird art. This is the fun part of the move! Trust me, there have been some not-so-fun parts too. Again, you don't want to know! LOL.

So now what? For my own documentation and enjoyment, I am going to continue with the random photo every day. The photos might include birds, they might include sim demo and rebuild progress, they might be of just me, they might be of nothing.

So to my readers, both of you, thank you for reading my ramble about what's been going on and why there are fewer birds in this bird blog. I will sneak in a bird post whereever possible during this time of transition. I hope you will come visit the new coho and the H. Azul sim - I think it's the prettiest and townsiest it's ever been. PT is doing a great job. ;-)

That is all.

060909 p/d

The new coho is a work in progress. ;-)

Erm ... coho = COffee HOuse

Probably calling it The Jittery Junco.

Bird theme. Of course.

060809 p/d

Goodbye Minor Fall Coffee Shop.

Goodbye Hallelujah Blue as we knew it.

060708 p/d

Ummm ... I can explain!

Wait. No I can't.

060609 p/d

Today I am a sexy blue jello mold filled with fruits.

ja-wiggle

060509 p/d

While shopping for a jello mold av at Bare Rose.

common birds and shopping cart of temptation

My favorite kitty friend (you know who you are, but I am unsure what name to use for you now!) found some birdies for me to see.



Chickens, sparrows, and pigeons. I don't have any statistics, but these strike me as possibly the three most common birds in the world - maybe gulls would be added to this list? But these three kinds of birds are found just about everywhere, it seems.

You know, a real birder would know this sort of thing. LOL.

They are sculpty, transfer, and mod, but only the sparrows and pigeons are animated. The textures are well done, but I find them to be pricey for no-copy, even though you get four of each in the box. Anyway, the store appears to be called Living World.

I got really distracted by the following while there:



Let me just reiterate the sign:

Evil punk kid's cart car. Shopping cart type car with french loaf paper bag. Driver can boost by pageup key. If the person who has gotten on wear the bag, he can shoot someone by french loaf!

Shoot someone by french loaf! Good lord. I find myself highly tempted by this. And look at the pricing! 250L for a shopping cart you can ride with two people and shoot things!? Versus 800L for four no copy pigeons!? Hmmmm ...

Watch out for flying french loaf, that's all I have to say.

060409 p/d

Yeah, I have no idea. Photo taken at Tub Talk.

peacock tiiiiiiiiiights

Peafowl tights! Tights so wrong they're right. They go and simultaneously don't go with everything. An enigma wrapped in a conundrum wrapped in peacock feathers.

Miss Ariel Wingtips located them and shoved me in the right direction. They blow my mindhole out. Clear the hell out. Get your own mindhole blown out at Fab.Pony.

I hope you won't mind the excessive amateur photography. The tights made me so happy, and taking the photos was so fun.

Hoot!

060309 p/d

One last thing about Garden of Da Vinci ... I found the peacock boa there. It took some adjusting, but I am really pleased with it. Although, it has a built-in facelight that is quite bright: this photo was taken at midnight, and all the light on me is from the boa.

the bird blogger had hopes and expectations

Last night, before going to bed, I realized I had not put a slurl into the post about Garden of Da Vinci. Being the way I am, I went back in to get the slurl, and while I was at the shop again I noticed another kind of bird for sale: the bird of paradise.

Birds of paradise, or paradise birds, are among my favorite birds EVER. Let's see, there's the snowy owl, the burrowing owl, the dark-eyed junco, the ruddy duck, the bower bird, the nene, the i'iwi, the victoria crowned pigeon (which I saw for the first time in 2005!) ... and the paradise bird. There are something like 40 different varieties (thank you, David Attenbourough!). Why do I love these birds so? Because their mating rituals are INSANE.

Take a minute to watch this. It's not long. I especially love the one at 0:37, with the blue triangle at his chin. The Owlette can imitate him perfectly, and frequently does. There is very little footage of paradise birds, all of it by the BBC I think, and what exists is used over and over again. Do a google, you'll see. In fact, when we went to see Earth, sure enough, there were our favorite paradise birds again. The Owlette and I laughed so hard (even though we've seen this a million times, deliberately), Mr. Owly got embarrassed by the ruckus we created. Welcome to your new life, Mr. Owly. Hoot!

So when I saw the box on the shelf with "birds of paradise" that had "realistic motion," I kind of had some expectations! Granted, all of the birds I had seen at Garden of Da Vinci so far were flat, 1-prim photo images - and that was perfectly fine. I am no sculpty snob, I did not expect a sculpted bird of paradise. However, the phrase "realistic motion" got my hopes up - see the youtube video above at 0:37 again. I mean, the guy who makes all the stuff at this sim is pretty clever, and I was eager to see what he did with these birds!

In the box you get two different paradise birds, and copy of the white one on a stand. Everything is copy, which is nice. However, the realistic motion? About which I had such hopes? Well, it's the tail-end of the bird fluttering back and forth, kind of excessively.

Sigh.

Here they are:


*flitter*


*flutter*

They are a lovey addition to the aviary, although I've put them down the side of the hill because they are noisy bastards, almost as bad as the sion chickens. I am happy I have them, although they were pricey. However, the person who, for whatever crackpot reason, creates paradise birds like the guy at 0:37 will get all my lindens and my undying, fawning devotion. (Huh, maybe that second item won't be such an incentive.) I hope I live to see the day there are such birds in SL.

lol

060209 p/d

The usual crazy good-morning-what-were-YOU-doing-last-night look. Hallelujah logo tank, seraphim wings, and a peacock feather boa that includes one hell of a facelight. HOOT!

Elusyve wrote something very nice about my doing this photo-a-day thing in her blog. She is really quite a good SL photographer, and just all-around awsum, so far as I can tell! I wasn't sure if my p/d thing would be viewed as an annoyance (esp. as I seem to have joined some sort of feed), or as, "Oh there's Owly doing that thing again. Huh." So it means a lot to me to know that someone has seen, and someone likes. ;-)

Ok, one more, as it is a special day, to get a little more of the crazy:



Also I am wearing peacock-patterned tights and sandals - but that's for another, regular bird blog post!

garden of davinci has some birds in it

This is one of those picture-heavy posts I've been meaning to do for a long time. In fact, it's been so long since I took these photos, I can't remember exactly how I found this magical thing that I had to have.


It's a treehouse. There is a ladder, and one open room in the middle of leafy branches.


A round pavilion with a fireplace in the middle - nice! But as you get closer ...


Birds. See them there in the foreground?


Closer still, and more birds - at least four in this photo.


Closer still and ... why yes, that is a barn owl sitting over my shoulder!


So yes, I had to have it. "Songbird Treehouse" comes from Garden of Da Vinci (and there are other birdly delights here). There are several varieties of birds, including the owl, blackbird, and nightingale. Just like in RL, you need to sit still and wait for them to appear. There are birdy noises and twitterings, and the branches move in the wind. It is quite peaceful. Includes couple poses and single poses, and it's mod - yay! - so you could change the sits if you like. Ah, and the wine bottle gives you a glass when touched. The Gandalf-like face carvings in the posts are a bit goofy, but overall, it is quite the retreat for a birdy girl like me.

After finding and acquiring this, I had a wander around and found something kinda crazy: a basket of doves. Click the lid, and it comes off. It is all full of doves, and they fly out, one by one. It's kinda psychotic.



It's part of the "Dove House" set ... which includes the basket, a bench, a pier, a lantern, and a dove house.



Oh goodness I love this, but ... it's 980L. Eeesh. But look at it! The doves appear on the perches outside the doors, fly around the house, then land again.



Sigh. So next I found a sweet pair of swans ... ahn. A nesty one and a swimmy one.



Ok, if you go to the shop, there is a variety of feathery and birdy things, including some 1-prim shoulder pets that I don't have photos of (including 3 owls, a raven, a falcon, and a kitty!). There are also a number of flying tour thingies including this eagle one ...



The sign says, "This eagle will take you to a mountain hideout far away in the clouds." Why thank you, I think I will! And I will also put my arm around my invisible partner while I take this ride ...



And lo verily, it did take me to a mountain hideout far away in the clouds - which had a goat! Oh, and also a non-giant-ride-giving eagle. It was still cool.



I really enjoyed this sim: it's very fantasyish with some Roman stuff going on and it was also a bit Venetian with temp-rez gondolas, very pretty. There are lots of little corners to discover and stuff to look at. Wow, I should write for Fodor's. I wonder how long it's been around.

And ... there was also this rocket that takes you to Mars? I dunno, I'm kinda tired tonight, can the post be done now? I have reached that point, I feel like with the pictures and the birds, this post is going on forever. Put it this way - I don't know how this sim was done with just 15000 prims. I respectfully suggest you go look at it when you're bored and want to explore.

Oh hai, and some eagles for sale, standing and flying.



And there were some other birds I found later, like a black-capped night heron. God DAMN there were a lot of birds! YAWN! Ok, goodnight, and sorry for the excessiveness.

Oh dear god I'm back because I needed to add the slurl and do you know what I found there? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA!? Birds of paradise. OMFG. Ok, more to report after I've had some sleep and buy some Lindens and have had a chance to try them out.

060109 p/d

This makes me feel very warrior-saint-like for some reason.