Tag: Cica Ghost

December has arrived, and with it, the holiday season has popped its head over the horizon, and I’m more in the mood to start touring winter-themed locations in Second Life. By coincidence, Cica Ghost dropped me a line to let me know she’d just opened her end-of-year setting in her homestead region of Mysterious Isle, thus giving me my first outing to a winter setting to mark the approaching year-end.

Called, appropriately enough, Winter, the setting comes with a quote from T.S. Eliot’s poem The Waste Land, first published in 1922. Eliot is, again entirely coincidentally, one of my favourite writers of the 20th century, and it is not unfair to view The Wate Land a one of the most important poems of that century (and this, if you want my opinion, remains true for this current century as well 🙂 ).

Given my love of Eliot, there is a danger here of me getting side-tracked into an examination of Burial of the Dead, from which the quote has been taken:

Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow

– TS Eliot, The Waste Land, 1922

However, I’ll spare you any such thing, because the focus here is on these particular lines, not the poem as a whole or even part of it from which they have been taken.

In their standalone state, these two lines perhaps encompass ideas of the joyous warmth we can so often feel when seeing a snow-covered landscape, together with the opportunities for us to forgot the worries and concerns of life whilst enjoying unique forms of play and fun snow can encourage – or simply by walking through snow and appreciating the quiet beauty it so often brings.

Befitting this, Cica presents a snowy landscape intended for wandering and finding its wonders. The latter particularly come in the form of Cica’s engaging creatures, all of which are – once again, appropriately – white. In this, what I found particularly attractive about Winter is its monochrome-like environment, one in which I’d recommend enabling Shadows in your viewer if your computer is up to it.

This build does offer fewer places to sit than many of Cica’s previous installations through the year;  to me, this encourages the idea of walking through this winter wonderland, rather than jumping from sit point to sit point, this making it more enjoyable. In this Winter is an easy-going, happy setting in keeping with the season for many of us, allowing us to ease into the winter months, the holiday season and prepare ourselves for the year’s end.

SLurl Details

• Winter (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)

It was off to Mysterious Isle for me after receiving an invitation to visit the November 2025 installation by Cica Ghost, entitled simply 100th. The name reflects the fact that this is Cica’s 100th solo installation in SL – and I’ve been fortunate to cover more than 90 of of them down the years (as well as Cica’s collaborations with Bryn Oh and her special exhibitions for charity events), and it has been a genuine delight to do so.

The installation is framed by a quote from editorial cartoonist, humourist, Monday columnist, and Promotional Manager of The Trenton Times for over 30 years, Frank Tyger. It’s a quote that perhaps aptly sums up Cica and her art:

When you like your work, every day is a holiday.

For me, visiting Cica’s installations generally tends to be something of a holiday, as so many of them naturally evoke a sense of fun and happiness which can be infectious, and clearly born of Cica’s own sense of fun and adventure. Even those which have in their time encouraged deeper exploration of themes and ideas have demonstrated a gentle tickling of one’s thought processes and light nudging of emotions rather than demanding we sit up and take note.

Cica’s 100th perhaps offers an added layer of that sense of fun for us to share, presenting as a does a setting and inhabitants looking like they have all be moulded from plasticine (or playdough / playdoh if you prefer) which immediately transports one to memories of younger years and creative expression when rolling, squishing, shaping and pressing lumps of either material to create worlds and creatures of our imaginations; places and things of riotous bright colours, sometimes additionally decorated with things “borrowed” from around the house (in this case – buttons!).

100th is a genuinely joyous little setting which celebrates some much we’ve come to associate with Cica’s work: fantastical creatures and insects, funny little houses, blooming flowers, cats and other animals (I particularly like the cow apparently wearing blue wellies!), together with Cica’s signature interactive elements: places to sit or dance, little vehicles to rumble around in and – tucked away and waiting to be found – a little gift from Cica.  All of which is presided over by a very happy Sun looking down from a sky in which dough-like clouds serenely float.

As with all of Cica’s installations, I recommend viewing 100th using the local Shared Environment, and if your system can handle them, with Shadows enabled. And if you’d like to look back through all of Cica’s installations over the years, then why not take a look at her Flickr photostream as well?

For may part, I’ll simply congratulate Cica on reaching her 100th solo installation, and raise a glass in the hope of seeing my more!

SLurl Details

• 100th (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)

It’s October, which means Halloween sits a-waiting at the end of the month. I’ve noted on numerous occasions that I’m not a fan on the modern take on the celebration, but within Second Life I do like to take a look at region settings and installations that offer a take on things that is a little different to the usual. Such is the case with Cica Ghost’s October installation: Happy Halloween, which she invited me to visit as it opened on October 1st, 2025.

Offered largely in monochrome (the pumpkins and stars being the exception here!), Happy Halloween offers much that might be associated with the modern take on Halloween – but also perhaps applies more broadly to generally spookiness and fun. It even carries with it what might be seen as a little nod towards Tim Burton.

The main Landing Point sits in the sky over Cica’s regions of Mysterious Isle, where can be found the usual request about using the local environment settings, a link to Cica’s on-line store and a tombstone teleport down to the installation proper. The latter delivers visitors to a setting caught under the same star-dusted sky as seen from the Landing Point, complete with a crescent Moon low in the sky.

The quote accompanying the build is a popular take on a line made famous by Franklin D. Roosevelt during his first inaugural address. At the time, America we deep into the Depression, and his words in that address were both solemn and intended to give hope and reassurance. He certainly did not originate the phrase in question – various forms of it have been recorded since the 16th century. The version Cica uses gives it a decidedly humorous little twist:

The only thing we have to fear is FEAR itself – and spiders.

And there are certainly spiders to be found here. They grin and bounce among flowers with equally toothy grins, or sit on stalks as if they are themselves flowers. They share the landscape with bat plants and star plants, all growing out of a dusty ground with tall hills all around, their surfaces pockmarked like the surface of a moon. In places the dust gives way to a checkerboard effect, whilst scattered across the entire setting are bare trees, odd little houses and all the local denizens.

The latter come in many forms: monsters who appear to be out for a lark more than to frighten, ghosts who fade in-and-out of view, black cats, giant pumpkins, crows… the list goes on, and I really don’t want to spoil things by saying too much here – other than the little touch of Tim Burton might be seen in the people also scattered across (over over in one case) the setting as they go about their evening’s business.

As always with most of Cica’s builds, there are various opportunities to be found for interaction within Happy Halloween, and plenty of opportunities for photography and smiles.

SLurl Details

• Happy Halloween (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)

For August, Cica Ghost presents A – Maze, an interactive setting offering a little fun and turning a quote from author John Green somewhat on its head.

As the name might suggest, the core theme of A -Maze is just that – a maze. Formed by capped brick walls, it covers most of the region. Unlike most mazes, however, this one doesn’t have a centre or destination / goal, nor is it a unicursal; neither is it precisely a branching tour-puzzle (although it does have a form of branching). Rather, it is a means to offer assorted routes of exploration around the setting, with assorted points of exit and re-entry.

While it can be travelled on foot, the maze is can also be explored via the vehicles Cica presents to visitors alongside the Landing Point. As is typical with Cica, there are no ordinary vehicles; instead they add to the region’s whimsy by taking the form of four animals carved from wood – a duck, horse, elephant and giraffe – all set on wooden chassis. Two sizes of vehicle are supplied, the smaller set of four lined up to one side of the Landing Point and potentially offered for Tinies.

By default, the vehicles move at a pedestrian speed. But if you are feeling daring then tap the Page Up key to apply the second gear and and little more speed (Page Down to slow down again). In this respect, the smaller vehicles are possibly more fun, as they are small enough to zip around the maze in comfort.

The maze is not the only feature of the setting. Towards the middle of the region is a little village raised on the back of a steep-sided plateau, with bottle houses and a windmill. It is slightly overgrown by great vines, some with seed-like seats hanging from them. Elsewhere thumb-like hills are topped by trees or have ladders climbing them to individual bottle houses. Also waiting to be found are some of Cica’s little critters, while some of the walls of the maze are painted with more of Cica’s creations, brightening their brickwork.

The quote accompanying the build is from Looking for Alaska, John Gren’s 2005 novel for young adults:

At some point we all look up and realize we are lost in a maze.

In its original form the quote references the central themes of the novel – that of coming of age, the meaning of life and grief. As such, it can be seen as slightly dark in tone and meaning. Here, Cica turns it on its head, offering an underscoring to the idea that mazes can offer journeys into the unknown (as is life itself, really), filled with unexpected delights. In this, if one wanted to be totally analytical, A – Maze echoes the ultimate message from the book, that of hope.

Not that any analysis of quote and setting is required; A – Maze is enjoyable in and of itself.

SLurl Details

• A – Maze (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)

Cica Ghost opened her July 2025 installation at the start of the month. Entitled Among the Hills, it is another setting using a fairy tale related quote, in this case one from Hans Christian Andersen:

Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.

It’s a quote carrying a number of potential messages. Best known for his fairy tales, Andersen was a prolific author of novels, poems, plays and travelogues who saw life as something to be experienced, offering the most unique of opportunities and experiences, making it as wonderful as anything that might be derived from the imagination by means of a fairy tale. At the same time, the quote reflects Andersen’s belief that fairies weren’t supernatural, but part of daily life, and we’re simply not aware of them – unless we open our eyes and minds.

Then there is the application of the quote to Cica’s builds. It perfectly sums-up her ability to offer environments that offer fun, a sense of wonder and an opportunity for escape. And with its giant turtles, dragons, frogs looking like they might be waiting for a kiss to return them to them princehood and white rabbits, together with teddy bears and walking trees, Among the Hills offers a similar reflection of the wonders of fairy tales and the magic they can weave in the imagination in a world only slightly removed from our own.

Yes, the setting perhaps lacks some of the usual quirks to be found in Cica’s builds: fun little sit-points dances, etc., but there is good reason for this. As aSL22B exhibitor, Cica likely had to balance producing this installation along with preparing for SL22B. Even so, Among the Hills is a fun visit for summer.

SLurl Details

• Among the Hills (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)

For June 2025, Cica Ghost brings us Unicorns and Candies; a realm offering a sense of childhood dreams, creatures of wonder and bright, happy colours. It perfectly encapsulates everything found within the accompanying quote from Roald Dahl:

Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.

This is a quote which challenges us to maintain a sense of wonder and to approach life with a childlike curiosity, while expressing the idea that magic is not just about casting spells or supernatural occurrences, but about a sense of wonder, imagination, and the belief that extraordinary things can happen; that magic can come to all of us in many forms – a beautiful moment, a surprising discovery, or the realization of a dream. All we need is to be open to it;  if we allow adult cynicism take over or become too rigid in our thinking, we can so easily miss out on the joy and wonder that life has to offer, in whatever form it might take.

All of the above is perfectly encapsulated in Cica’s build. It is an expression of childhood imaginings and dreams; a place where unicorns can be found, and dinosaurs and snails  converse together and stars fallen from the skies walk hand-in-hand or sit in contentment, where houses are sewn and trees look like strange candy-topped lollypops. It’s a place made for smiling and fun, where you can climb and walk, dance or sit, and which can quite unexpectedly put a bounce in your stride!

Just as Dahl’s words inspire us to keep our imagination alive and to retain that child-like curiosity and wonder, so Cica’s installations constantly offer us the chance to do so. They allow us to escape the demands of the everyday and instead, to explore the extraordinary, have fun, to delight in what we see and experience – and to find the magic of a smile or a laugh. To never lose sight of the doorway to the extraordinary our imaginations offer.

So go see Unicorns and Candies. Dance, sit, find the the magic, the unexpected and enjoy.

SLurl Details

Unicorns and Candies (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)