Visiting Mirromere

At the beginning of every month, for the last ten years, I go to Mirromere to visit with my late husband  Ars. Sometimes, my husband, Tomais comes with me, but mostly I am there alone.

"Satyr at Mirromere" by BMcM

Mirromere is a part of the Calas Galadhon Park, which consists of seven or eight regions. The park is owned, maintained and operated by Ty(mus) Tenk and his husband Truck Meredith. When Ars passed away in 2010 the men graciously offered to host the memorial service and a memorial place for two weeks I think it was, but my memories from that period. are unclear. 

Once the big memorial place was removed a smaller and beautiful place was made. Ars, and later on Dej, have the honor of having a plaque there among other friends of the guys.

P.S. Here is the SLurl to the memorial site at Mirromere.

Reminder: Memorial Gathering for Dej Today

The memorial gathering for Dej is today at 3 PM SLT. Here is your landmark to the gathering, Rosewood Manor (Dej's Place) SLurl.

Suggested clothing: Boardshorts/shorts and sandals/bare feet. (That was Dej's prefered clothing when he was entertaining at home.)

If you should not be able to attend today you can come there from now until August 31st, 2018. 

After that there will be a new memorial for Dej set up together with his brother Ars Northmead at another place on the sim.

Through the kindness of Ty Tenk and Truck Meredith, there will also be a memorial site for both of them at Mirromere sim at The Calas Galadhon Park sims.

Memorial for Dejerrity Mycron?

People have been asking me if there will be a memorial for my beloved brother Dej. 

There most certainly will be one! However, I will not host a memorial for my beloved brother without first knowing why, when or how he passed away. 

When I know more I will announce a memorial service, which will be held at his home on the Southern Charm sim. 

Please relay this information to anyone you know who also knew and loved Dej.

---

I am also contacting Ty Tenk & Truck Meredith to possibly arrange for a plaque in Dej's memory at Mirromere, Calas Galadhon Park Sims. 

Blog Header - Winter 2015

My sweet husband the renowned SL-photographer Tomais Ashdene and I went to Calas Galadhon today to steal this years Christmas tree. Thank you again, Ty and Truck!

We ended up with getting both a beautiful tree and this smashing blog header for Winter 2015.

Tomais & Bock at Calas Galadhon

Today Tomais and I made our monthly visit to Calas Galadhon. As we had been to the Fantasy Fair first we were still in our tinies.

The Fantasy Fair has been a real disappointment this time I must say, with mostly stuff for women, although we did get rideable dragons. (Tomais, you'd better remind me to unpack it tomorrow!)

Ars In Memoriam 2014

Photography by Kent Hutchinson of KH Photo

Joseph Douglas Wilson Jr. a.k.a

Ars Northmead

★ April 21, 1953 (first life)
★ October 25, 2006 (SecondLife)
† March 12, 2010

On this day four years ago my beloved husband Ars passed away after a short illness.

Ars' brothers Dejerrity Mycron and Jeb Nicholls arranged a Memorial Service at Calas Galadhon where Truck Meredith and Tymus Tenk kindly let us use the homestead sim Mirromere for a week before, and their main sim for the big Memorial Service on March 20, 2010. Bora Rossini had created a beautiful setting for the memorial.

All of Ars' family and friends in SecondLife gathered there as well as Doug's parents, one of his sisters, his brothers and and even some of his nephews, nieces and cousins, who joined us in front of a computer screen using an avatar they had created.

I have asked for pictures from that memorial service earlier and this year I was happy to receive two from our friend elis Eun.

Photography by elis Eun

Photography by elis Eun

Although I never at the time thought that I would find love and true joy again, as it turns out life can work miracles and today I am happily married to my darling Tomais. I know that Ars would have wished this for me.

The Results of The Avi Choice Award 2013

From my vantage point the results below are the most interesting, but you may wish to view at the complete list at !Avi Choice 2013 Final Results!.

My congratulations go to all the winners but especially to
1. Ty Tenk and Truck Meredith for winning in Favorite Sim Build (to explore through) with their beautiful Calas Galadhon Park Sims,
2. Thorn Andel and Esme Capello for winning in Favorite SL Radio Station with SL Live Radio,
3. Vista Barnes of Vista Animations for winning in Favorite Static Pose Creator, Favorite Male AO Creator and Favorite Female AO Creator.
4. Marcus Adkins of Humanoid for winning in Favorite Dance Animations and, last but not least,
5. Alex Bader of Studio Skye for winning in Favorite Garden and Landscape Store and Favorite Texture Store.

To my friend and mentor in blogging Eddi Haskell of Eddi Haskell's Second Life I would like to say, "Way to go buddy!", for reaching fifth place in the tough category of Favorite SL Blog/Blogger and "Better luck next time!". I will vote on you again next time, thats a promise!

Catching up...

There is so much happening in my lives now, mostly the second, that I have a bit of catching up to do.

I have started a huge landscaping project to update Southern Charm while still keeping it beautiful. The creators and gardeners have been busy the last three years and there are so many better and more beautiful trees and plants on the market now. It is also something I firmly believe Ars and I would have done gradually if he had still been alive.

To my help in this project I have forcibly enrolled the assistance of my boyfriend Tomais, my son Guyke, my brother in-law Dej and my dear friend the intuitive, sublime and brilliant - yet amazingly humble - builder Butch. They - sometimes with the assistance of other friends - have guided me gently in this new world of seasonal trees and plants and other beautiful things that can be used in modern SecondLife landscaping. 

I started by clearing of the old "flat" trees and only kept the old pine trees for the time being. Then I returned a shitload of stuff to the original landscaper, the original sim owner, former tenants and a few strange visitors that had somehow managed to rez things where they should be able to. This freed up almost 3.000 more prims (or whatever the modern term for this may be these days), so that I now have close to 6.000 prims to work with.

Next thing was the waterfall running from under the house. It got a major facelift.

I have slowly started replanting with trees that can be changed to any season with a single click according to my whim. It is awesome! Of course I will need different kinds of trees to, but so far I am going about this slowly.

Next thing will be to change the sims ground textures to winter, and in time get the other seasonal ground textures also. There are things I want to keep relatively close to the original design so I am going forward slowly.

And when I am not working on the landscaping I take time to smooch with Tomais and go out with friends and family.

Yesterday I took Tomais to visit with Ars at Mirromere. I warned tomais beforehand that if Ars didn't like the idea of me having him around he would most likely be ejected from the sim or get electrocuted by his own computer. Ars had his ways and means of showing how he felt...

However, Tomais was quite safe and nothing bad happened during our visit, so I am choosing to take that as an encouragement from Ars and that he after screening Tomais has found him worthy.

Later last evening I and Tomais went sleighing and skating at Calas Galadhon with Guyke and Ziggy. Ziggy has posted beautiful pictures of that enchanted evening here Ziggy On The Edge Of Second Life: A Night To Remember

Calas Galadhon Park Sims Reopen Today

The wonderful Calas Galadhon Park Sims are opening for visitors three days earlier than the owners, gardeners, caretakers and gamekeepers, my dear fiends, Tymus Tenk and Truck Meredith had originally anticipated. This jubilant declaration was made on the Calas Galadhon Park blog today.

"With all but about 30 percent of “Autumn Color” in on Misty Mountains, we can announce that the work and changes planned for ‘CALAS’ are complete and ready for the gates to be open on Saturday morning SLT, August 31. We didn't think you'd mind a few ‘men at work’ signs if we opened up early."

Please visit the Calas Galadhon blog (url) for more on this exciting news!

And on a more personal note here is a private message from me to Ty and Truck.
"Guys, I will not mind at all seeing a few ‘men at work’ signs, if you promise me 
1) that the men at work are the two of you and 
2) that you will both be working shirtless and in the skimpiest shorts that can be found in all of SecondLife." 

At Mirromere

The beautiful Calas Galadhon Park sims are closed for a month due to remodeling, but as a member of the land-group I still have access. It was extremely lucky for me because I needed to be at Mirromere today. Although I have a part of the memorial for Ars erected on the home sim, the memorial spot at Mirromere is still the place I go to when I feel the need to be closer to him. Ty Tenk and Truck Meredith have promised to keep me informed of any major changes that may be necessary.

After spending some time there I was calm again and realized that, no matter what, I would always trust in what my Ars and I had and what he had told me.

Seasonal Chores

The time has come to prepare for the traditional - well for those of us belonging to the Western European and Judeo-Christian culture - seasonal celebrations. As an atheist Swede, who was  born into our secular lutheran church, I am of course referring to Christmas and New Year.

For Ars, as for many other Americans, decorating - or even over-decorating - for the any of the holidays was a cherished obligation. He used to go completely bonkers and we had colored lights, poinsettias, christmas trees etc, etc, all over the place. I am more low-key, much more.

One of the things I do like to do however is sending out greetings to friends and family, even those I haven't been in touch with for months or even years. I still love them and think of them its just complacency, life and other obligations that has caused a - temporary - breach in the daily or at least regular contact.

Another thing I like is having a get-together before people get immersed in their first life families and obligations. This year I had delegated to - or rather pressured - Millimina and Guyke to handle the party, alas they could not get their scheduled synchronized so the party will have to be in the New Year instead, which is fine by me too because a party when people get back to SecondLife is just as good.

Well, to come to the point, yesterday I went to Calas Galadhon (I always go there) to take pictures for my card. I had a great time with myself and the camera in the Firestorm viewer.

With Ars and Butch

Today I visited with Ars at the Mirromere memorial site. Mirromere is one of the beautiful Calas Galadhon Park sims, owned and operated by partners Ty Tenk and Truck Meredith. I fell in love with the place when it hosted Ars memorial and have come back regularly ever since.

Today I invited my friend Butch Diavolo to join me there, because we needed to catch up on some things that had been going on in his first life, I had heard the first part earlier and wanted to get an update on recent events.

Butch came almost directly from a wedding where he had been the best man. He looked smashing and very stylish, except for the fact that he had taken the time to stop in at home and take off his shoes and socks before joining me. Well, he had washed his feet for the wedding so that was a small blessing.

We had a good talk and I was happy that things were looking promising although Butch convinced me that we should be patient and not take anything for granted yet. That man has a good, sensible  head on his broad shoulders.

Greetings from Doug´s Family

Marsdeb after a makeover

I sent an email to Doug´s sister Debbie yesterday, and received her answer today. (Debbie is my link to Doug's first life family.)

As some of you may remember, Marsdeb Yoots was the avatar created by Doug's first life family to represent them at the second memorial service in SecondLife for Doug/Ars.

That memorial service was held at Calas Galdhon a week after his passing with more than 70 avatars joining us from the whole world (from New Zealand and Australia in the east to California, United States, and British Columbia, Canada, in the far west and everywhere in between.)

Through Marsdeb´s participation eight of Doug's first life family (including his parents) could join us at the beautiful memorial service.

"Tell the second life family hello. One of these days Marie and I might just surprise you and plan a trip to Sweden to meet you and others from second life who would care to join us.

Be happy as you know that is what Doug/Ars would want.

Love to all,
Debbie"

This would perhaps be an appropriate time to ask you all who may have been at the memorial service to please send me any pictures you may have from that occasion, I was too busy with myself to even think about taking pictures. You can either drop them on my SecondLife profile or send them to me in an e-mail to lundamats@gmail.com

Excellent Service, Linden Lab

Today I got the weekly newsletter from the Calas Galadhon group in SecondLife. In it my friend Ty Tenk, owner of the Calas Galadhon Park sims together with his partner Truck Meredith and gardener extraordinaire, tells us about the how the excellent customer services of Linden Lab came through for them after a recent mishap.

Ty tells us he was cleaning up at the wonderful Misty Mountains sim, and was returning stuff that visitors had carelessly left there, when he by a mistaken click on the mouse ended up sending back all of the beautiful sim to his own inventory. The woods, streams, grasses, flowers, animals - in short everything!

Ty called the customer service at Linden Lab and within thirty (30) minutes of his call for help the sim was rolled back and everything was restored to it´s former pristine condition.

In spite of the constant badmouthing of the customer services at Linden Lab going on among some residents, I have always maintained that they do a great job and handle the issues presented to them with as much speed and empathy as possible in the given circumstances. This just - once again - proves my point.

...and guess what, Ty didn't even have to tweet Rod Humble once!

Mirromere Revisited

I always love to visit with my Ars at the memorial place on Mirromere in Calas Galadhon Park sims.

The calm of the place and the beauty that Tymus Tenk has worked so hard to achieve soothes any worried soul. It always makes me feel close to Ars and I always leave happy from my visits there.

Nobel Prize for Philip Rosedale?!!

Philip in a tuxedo - like I want to see him soon again

So I was dreaming a bit during the night and now I am going to share parts of my dreams with you, dear readers. The dreams were totally wild and crazy but happy ones.

I had a short one about kissing my Ars, it was so real that I even dreamed of feeling his breath on my face. The only thing was my mind could not decide which Ars I was kissing, his SecondLife avatar or his first life person Doug, so it kind of shifted from one to the other all the time.

In my dreams I also remembered the amazing memorial services that were held in Ars honor, first the one at St. Magnus Kirk in Hinterland (arranged by Chade, Hiroku and the other wonderful men at Hinterland) and then the one at the Calas Galadhon Garden sims (arranged by two of Ars´s brothers, Dejerrity and Jeb, and the two owners of Calas Galadhon, Tymus Tenk and Truck Meredith, and finally wonderful builder Bora Rossini).

Come to think of it I really wish I had pictures from those two services, but I was too preoccupied with other things to take any myself.

At both places we had many avatars coming in from all corners of the world to be together and support each other at this point in time and in their busy first life´s. All because we shared a love and admiration for the avatar Ars Northmead and Doug, the man behind the avatar.

The memorial at Mirromere with me, our boys and Millimina
(Photo courtesy of Millimina Salamander)

Did you know that we were more  than 70 avatars at Calas Galadhon for the whole ceremony? And one of the avatars actually had parts of Doug´s first life family sitting there watching the computer screen, his father, his sisters and brothers and some cousin and nephews.

We were all there, from all over the world sharing these moments of remembrance together, being with each other, supporting each other.

The first thing I thought when I woke up was "Philip Rosedale - and possibly Linden Lab also - should be awarded the Nobel Prize!"

The Nobel Prize comes in the following categories Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and finally Economic Sciences. The last prize is awarded by Sweden's National bank in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

I can imagine Philip Rosedale receiving the prize in possibly three of the six categories, Physics, Physiology or Medicine and Peace, but maybe also Economic Sciences.

What do you people think? Could he receive the prize? If so, in which category/categories and why? Talk amongst yourselves then tell me. I have a few ideas myself that I may possibly leak.

Karter Stonecutter Live - Today 1 PM at The Dolphin Cafe

I got a notice today from my pal Ty Tenk at the Calas Galadhon Garden sims.

"Join us today as Karter Stonecutter debuts at the new Dolphin Café on the waters of Armenlos.

As a long time keyboardist with a very versatile and longtime professional musical background you’re guaranteed  a solid and enjoyable performance from this popular musician.

Come welcome Karter to Calas Galadhon, have a fun time and support live music in Second Life at the same time.

Hope to see you there!"

 (Landmark will be supplied as soon as I have logged in.)

Spring Has Come

Well not yet, not in my real life location but at the amazing park sims of Calas Galadhon. The sims are owned and operated by my friends Ty Tenk and Truck Meredith. These guys are great and have opened up their beautiful home-sims free of charge

I got this message in the Calas Gadhon group and am now sharing it with you all.  Go there for a visit, you will not regret it and you will go back again and again and again...

YAY !!  Early but we were tired of the snow.  You will find some minor changes..a couple new homes, new cuddles and some new landscaping.

We open our doors to all who seek the peace and beauty we have worked hard to express and share as long as they adhere to the following: 

Just a few but VERY IMPORTANT rules: 

* ANY visitor who´s behavior violates Linden Labs TERMS OF SERVICE agreement will be immediately ejected and banned from the Estate. No exceptions. 

* NO NUDITY whatsoever... not everyone is comfortable with it, sorry.

* NO SEX 

* NO ACTIVE WEAPONS

* NO ROLE-PLAY  that would be considered offensive to others or against Linden Labs TOS. 

* CHILD AVATARS : This is a sensitive issue for some and so we  have adopted the following policy for now: While we welcome "families" with well behaved 'kids' ..... We do not encourage child avatars in the Park ...certainly not alone, and will not be responsible for behaviors that are inappropriate. 

In an effort to keep the park as quiet and peaceful as possible: NO EXCESSIVE GESTURES by ANYONE are allowed.

This is our home which we've opened to you.. Please respect our rules.

This cannot be made more clear. If an avatar is found in violation of any of the above rules or is found harassing, threatening, just being obnoxious or anything other than respectful and kind to another visitor , they will be asked to leave.  If they don't respond positively to the request they will be ejected and banned from the Estate.that said ... ;) 

HERE´S THE GOOD STUFF 
PARK INFORMATION:
Come immerse yourself in the early American coastal countryside of the early 20th Century. We strive to bring the beauty & peace of our natural areas into Second Life for all to enjoy as a refuge. 

There are now 9 sims to the Park.

Each sim has a unique feel, yet are tied together with verdant fields & farms, high mountain meadows and winding streams through its woodlands & valleys which eventually lead to the natural beauty of the coast.  There is also the island of Armenelos where the 'Santorini' build by Bora Rossini, can now be found.

The 'seasonal' build ... The Spring Glass Pavilion is now open.  The TP to it is found near the entrance.

BALLOON RIDE
This is not a tour, but a chance to cuddle, sit back and see the sims by air.  It takes about 40 minutes.  Probably the best overview of the Park is a short amount of time. 

REZZERS: Boats, horses, buggy

You can use your own horse as well.

Explore by small boat, horse, buggy, buckboard or on foot.  You will find the main rezzers for each of these found near the docks & livery stable, a short walk from your landing point.  Additional rezzers are located throughout the sims so you can feel free to get off your boat or horse and explore on foot for a while.  There are also a few new ways to travel around the sims, but we'll let you discover those on your own ;)

WEDDINGS

We consider requests for small , intimate weddings& receptions here (less than 20 avatars .. no more than 10 on the homestead sims) and have built a reception area around the Conservatory on the north side of the main sim where you land.  If interested please contact Truck  or myself, Tymus, for more information. 

ROMANCE

We’ve placed cuddles and slow dance Intan dance balls throughout the sims.  Romance is definitely an important element here*    Some of the cuddle areas are hidden... in fact… there are a lot of ‘details’… special spots you may miss if you don’t take the time to explore, touch & look all about you. Remember though, no nudity please... other spots in SL for that.

NO RENTALS 

This is strictly a PARK sim, meaning no rentals… no shopping… ALL HOMES & BUILDINGS ARE OPEN for you… these sims a gift to our friends and SL family, to provide a spot to sit back , enjoy and find some peace amidst the beauty of our natural world brought into Second Life.

DONATIONS

While we support a favorite non profit of ours... donation kiosk  at the landing point… we ask nothing for the opportunity to share our home but that all visitors treat each other with kindness & respect.

The only non-park presence is found in the HIV/AIDS EDUCATION & LEARNING CENTER located in the small row of town buildings near the docks & livery stable. 

Finally and above all, we want you to have a good time while you are here… to feel better when you leave. Come often and stay as long as you like.  We enjoy visiting and answering any questions with our visitors... so feel free to contact us.

Thank you,

Tymus Tenk & Truck Meredith, owners

UPDATE March 18th, 2011! 
Tomorrow on March 19th, 2011, there will be a tenth sim opening in the park

We give you ERYN VORN ...our new wooded sim ......

Come experience this new SL gem, number 10, in the unique CALAS GALADHON PARK ESTATE,   We look forward to seeing you in the days and weeks ahead.

Treet TV does Calas Galadhon

Treet TV did a beautiful story for Valentines´s day on the beautiful park sims of the wonderful "Calas Galadhon", owned and beautifully created buy Tymus Tenk and Truck Meredith together with their friend the talented builder Bora Rosinni.

Enjoy the beautiful report and then go to the sims for real!

Of course the beautiful temporary memorial for Ars, that was built by the talented Bora, stood at Mirromere. Ty has made the new memorial place an serene and quite place of beauty, I love to go there.

Ars funeral ceremony was held at the main sim Calas Galadhon and a copy of the temporary memorial was moved there for the occasion.

Nakna avatarer i SL 100

This spot in my project for art and peace in Second Life has - almost since the start - in my mind been reserved for a very special avatar in my Second Life, my late partner Ars Northmead.

In this post I will paste in the eulogy I gave at the second Ars Memorial Service on March 20th, 2010, at the beautiful Calas Galadhon sim. Tymus Tenk and Truck Meredith, the owners of that sim, had kindly allowed us to have the second memorial service for Ars there.

You must remember this eulogy was given only eight days after Ars passing away, so please excuse any flaws. There is so much I now want to add and edit, but I will refrain from doing so.

"I followed my Ars for two and a half years. He was the fixed point around which my SL-life revolved and it spilled over into both our real lives too.

Ars was a hard working man. I can hardly remember a time when he was not working. Either he was a DJ himself or managing DJs, building/creating beautiful things or amazing sets for parties or just gardening and decorating at home or teaching me or someone else something.

Ars always loved sharing what he had learned with others and he was the most patient teacher.

Ars was the most wise, loving, gentle and kindhearted man I have ever known. He was always there for me without fail, whenever I needed him no matter how busy he was.

The greatest confirmation of our love will always be the fact that, when he got seriously ill, Ars told his RL family about me. That enabled us to keep communicating until close to the very end. For that alone I will be eternally grateful to Ars.

The ease with which his family accepted the fact that Ars had a partner in cyberspace will always amaze me. The warmth, care and consideration his family has shown me since is a huge support for me at this sad point in my life.

I am so happy that Ars parents, sister and brothers and the rest of his RL family are with us today, as we commemorate his life with us in Second Life.

Earning Ars love was my greatest achievement and loving him was my greatest reward. I am so proud and grateful to have loved and been loved by a man like him.

Ars was in our lives for too short a time. But in our hearts he will be - Forever Ars."

These pictures were taken by Kent Hutchinson of KH Photography about two months before Ars passed away. They show you my beautiful man in some of the best pictures ever taken of him.

When I first saw the pictures, I fell in love with Ars all over again - even if it never really was the looks of his avatar that I loved. It was the man behind the avatar that caught my mind and heart and forever held me captive.

Some people tell me that you cannot really love someone whom you have never met in real life. Once and for all I would like to tell them: "Stuff it, I know what I feel for Doug and I know what Doug felt for me. Don´t ever dare tell me it was not real love!"

Jadå, ni är fortfarande välkomna att skicka era bidrag till mig antingen inworld eller till min mejl lundamats@gmail.com

Yes, you are still welcome to send your contributions to me either inworld or to my mail lundamats@gmail.com