Baby's Ear

Opening tomorrow, Friday, July 10 at 1 pm slt, for a two week period only, is Baby's Ear, created by Neva Crystall. Her fame as a sim designer precedes her, with places such as Neva River and Isle of Serendipity (as well as designs for hire) having become instant destination points, providing homes to those interested in luxury living. But rather than creating yet another residential sim with rental homes, Neva this time made something for herself: it's a homestead sim that will serve as a private home for herself and her partner, Boo (Bootney Blessed), and hence the limited two week open house.

Baby's Ear comprises two islands, the largest of which is home to a quiet farm, with a home and outbuildings, all carefully decorated, overlooked by a slowly spinning windmill. Below the farm, hills slope downward toward beaches and boulders that wrap around the island, complemented by a beach house (above) and a fishing shack (center, top image). Across the shallow waters toward the northwest lies the second island, a rocky outcrop that's home to a lighthouse and three wind turbines.

In all of this, Neva manages to combine, in a relatively small space (the islands taking up less than half of the sim's footprint), disparate elements that seamlessly weave together — the farm, beaches and other major elements, with a junked station wagon, a children's playground, strings of utility poles, a quiet spot at the end of a pier with food and drink, and so on. It's picturesque and lovely, and visitors may wish to return more than once to fully take in the entire scene. "There are no fences nor banlines throughout the sim," offers Neva, "so let free your wanderlust and enjoy your stay."