This Week in the Compass--Oct. 21-27

Sunday, Oct. 25 ALL DAY! GRAND OPENING CACAO MAIN STORE! cacao is finally going to open its main store. Tamsin has been designing and getting things ready in secret, so that there will be initial stock--clothing that is both inspired by Africa and that is traditional, as well as furnishings and shoes. Jewelry will be coming soon! On grand opening day, there will be treats for visitors, as well as Subscribomatic group members (hit up the sign in the store!) and there will be DJ's playing to let you dance in the store and have fun! The store's exterior is in the Hausa style of architecture, and a treat for the eyes! Get your LM at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Saminaka/197/170/27

Ongoing, extended until Oct. 31. Saminaka's great Cantaloupe Treasure Hunt allows you to wear a new calabash on your head, this time loading it with half cantaloupes as you search through the sim for 20 of the fruits. They're all hidden near Nigerian plants, and pile up in your calabash as you find them. All located? Go back to base and touch the giant cantaloupe for a grand prize. All prizes transfer. Any that are gender-specific include both a male and female version. All prizes unique to the hunt, comprising clothing, furniture, art and other goods with an African plant theme. The starting point can be reached from teleporter via Saminaka's infohub tent, or at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Saminaka/93/66/30

Ongoing indefinitely. Saminaka has a new exhibit about Nigerian plants. This slideshow features information and images of over fifty trees, plants and flowers, native and naturalized. Some of the information is surprising (Nigeria is the third largest supplier of peanuts in the world--outranks U.S.!), some is interesting (Nigerian henna use does not involve elaborate patterning). Enjoy finding out a rubber tree doesn't look at all exotic, soak up some beauty, and get some hints for the treasure hunt above! http://slurl.com/secondlife/Saminaka/96/65/30

Ongoing indefinitely. Saminaka's MIDDLE PASSAGE EXPERIENCE is up again, in an even more realistic environment! Treet.TV kindly hosted it for months, but London's Kingston University has now generously provided space for a permanent exhibition of the African side of the transatlantic slave trade. It isn't roleplay, but it does allow you to try on the lives of ten individuals from different eras and parts of Africa who were seized and taken to the U.S. See it here (and take the teleporter if you land at the university's hub):Ongoing, extended until Oct. 31. http://slurl.com/secondlife/SolipCISM/4/253/24

THIS WEEK IN SAMINAKA--Oct. 13-20

Oct. 17, 11 am to 1 pm SLT--not on Saminaka, but a friend to Saminaka! AkieM Artistic Abstracts & Sculpture's would like to present "Living In Vivid Hues" a spectacular artshow showcasing the works of Blac Quartz. The artwork displayed will range from Ethnic to Erotic. Show will be held at Club Hypnotic. Dress is casual, music will be provided by DJ Hush Law. Come Live Your Life In Vivid Hues. http://slurl.com/secondlife/CidadeDoMedo/63/117/3002

Ongoing, extended until Oct. 31. Saminaka's great Cantaloupe Treasure Hunt allows you to wear a new calabash on your head, this time loading it with half cantaloupes as you search through the sim for 20 of the fruits. They're all hidden near Nigerian plants, and pile up in your calabash as you find them. All located? Go back to base and touch the giant cantaloupe for a grand prize. All prizes transfer. Any that are gender-specific include both a male and female version. All prizes unique to the hunt, comprising clothing, furniture, art and other goods with an African plant theme. The starting point can be reached from teleporter via Saminaka's infohub tent, or at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Saminaka/93/66/30

Ongoing indefinitely. Saminaka has a new exhibit about Nigerian plants. This slideshow features information and images of over fifty trees, plants and flowers, native and naturalized. Some of the information is surprising (Nigeria is the third largest supplier of peanuts in the world--outranks U.S.!), some is interesting (Nigerian henna use does not involve elaborate patterning). Enjoy finding out a rubber tree doesn't look at all exotic, soak up some beauty, and get some hints for the treasure hunt above! http://slurl.com/secondlife/Saminaka/96/65/30

Ongoing indefinitely. Saminaka's MIDDLE PASSAGE EXPERIENCE is up again, in an even more realistic environment! Treet.TV kindly hosted it for months, but London's Kingston University has now generously provided space for a permanent exhibition of the African side of the transatlantic slave trade. It isn't roleplay, but it does allow you to try on the lives of ten individuals from different eras and parts of Africa who were seized and taken to the U.S. See it here (and take the teleporter if you land at the university's hub):Ongoing, extended until Oct. 31.

GREEN THUMBS IN VIRTUAL WORLDS--Tamsin Barzane

My RL backyard in the US once had a pocket garden, full of containers on the fences and path, overflowing with colorful cascades. But I'm not there in the summer now, and the baskets and planters are empty, with maybe a stray snapdragon whose seeds were hardy. The sweet-smelling roses were torn out by thieves who probably sold them at an open-air flea market.

But, truth be told, I'm a great admirer of flowers and plants, but an indifferent gardener. I loved my first house in Nigeria, in Jos--some kind predecessor had planted papaya, guava and banana trees, and when my neighbor gave me rose canes--left over when she trimmed hers--I just stuck them in the ground and they bloomed a month or two later.

We recently took a look at the animals of Nigeria (the slideshow's still up, though not for long; it has been transferred into a hippobook at Saminaka's library/bookshop, the Slate, Scroll & Stick), so it seems only right that plants should have their chance. Participating in the "Show Me the Green" Expo Luchenpur Darwin organized with the enthusiastic participation of Winn Wellman got me thinking about plants and crops (crops! well, I did learn how to plant a potato with my foot in Jos) and flowers, and I've begun gathering photos and materials for what I hope will be a very interesting slideshow, full of fun facts and information many of us (including me two seconds ago!) didn't know.

But, like the last display, I am going to combine it with a treasure hunt that will start a week or two later, and hide things by some of the vegetation. To this end, I decided to do further landscaping at Saminaka, and reexamine my inventory of botanicals as well. I had many beautiful African plants from Lilith Heart and Luna Bliss, two of the best-known nurseries on Second Life, but when it came time to look for specific types of trees or plants, the challenge was greater. A papaya tree? I couldn't find one better than the climbable one by Sally Lasalle's Chi Botanical Workshops, which is also fond of bopping the unsuspecting on the head with a ripe papaya. Mikey Fairlane had my kapok tree, and baobab variations could be found a few places.

An excellent set of tropical trees and flowers can be had at a place I hadn't run into before, JubJub Forder's One Prim Plants, which utilizes a sculpty framework for pasted-on plants. I went wild in there, buying things I don't even have the prims for (but someday.....).

Despite the plethora of great palm trees and fabulous orchids, some particular types of flora eluded me. Because of the upcoming exhibit, I was looking for specifics. I got to work on search, and lo and behold! I found the lovely Tropical Paradise Designs on Ocean Sunrise sim. THIS was what I'd been looking for to recreate my little corners of Nigeria. Flame trees, flamboyants, jacarandas, flowers I knew only by their Latin names.

I'd been dying to find bougainvilleas I was really happy with, since they flourish in Nigeria, climbing up walls, their draping making even homely surfaces look spendid. Both bushy and vine-like versions are available, their paper-like blossoms a reminder of daily beauty.

The owner and designer of Tropical Paradise Designs is the charming Thiery Fleury, who has a RL garden and nursery in the Canary Islands. A landscape designer, he has extensive art training and hand draws most of the plants at Tropical Paradise Designs. He creates gardens in France, as well as the Canaries. Which gardens are best, RL or SL? "I love all my gardens : ))" he says.

Thiery first found out about SL when he read about Anshe Chung in the business pages, and signed on out of curiosity. He found it enjoyable, bought some land, and started to learn. Initially he had no plans of bringing his RL business into SL--he wanted to build himself a garden, and bought some plants. Then he decided to make plants for himself. "All my friends were amazed at my private SL garden," he said. He and an SL friend from the UK bought Ocean Sunrise, and began the nursery in 2006 with just 4000 square meters. They now have one and a half sims. "I'm a very energetic builder," Thiery said. "I've got something new often and take away the old items."

"I've designed most of my favorite plants." I asked about his hand-drawn items, which differentiate him from many plant sellers, who photo-source their products. "When you learn landscape design, you spend many hours drawing plants. In the plant shops in SL you can see who is familiar with the plant industry and who isn't."

Thiery also has an enticing area full of birds with brilliant plumage and sweet trills. He added this at the end of 2007, modeling it after Palmito Park, a real bird park in the Canary Islands (look it up at http://www.palmitospark.es/index.php?wlang=en and you'll be looking for a travel agent). His friend does the scripting, he creates the birds.

"I like color," declares Thiery. And I, for one, am grateful for it!

See Tropical Paradise Designs at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ocean%20Sunrise%202/33/83/22

One Prim Plants at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tula/169/212/91

Chi Botanical Workshops: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chi/170/158/30

Luna Bliss:http://slurl.com/secondlife/Callahans%20Isle/43/194/232

Lilith Heart:http://slurl.com/secondlife/Heart%202/149/77/21

Mikey Fairlane:http://slurl.com/secondlife/Alcona/147/174/106