Eligible Taylor's Journeys on the island of Lilycove! 🐞

[xSuperMario64x]

Welcome dearest readers! If you are seeing this then that means you have stumbled across my humble island journal, and you are perhaps interested in taking a peek at the wares and wonders of Lilycove? Well there's not much to see here (yet) so give it some time and we shall see where this journey takes us!

So first I should properly introduce our Island Representative, Taylor. At surface level he's quite snarky and pompous, and shows distaste for the constant positivity around him, but he secretly enjoys it! As you can see, one of his animal neighbors planted a whole bunch of colorful flowers while he was away and, as such, he doesn't appear to be particularly pleased. Though he can appreciate these gestures of kindness (and deep down he actually likes it), he's really just not having it here.

"Who planted these dang flowers anyways??"
​

So after returning from a decently long hiatus, Taylor (or Bug, as his friends like to call him) finds himself just wandering around the island, checking out the state of everything. Of course, the island is becoming run over with flowers. He thinks to himself, "I swear I only planted a few flowers here," as he gazes upon 87 rose blooms of assorted colors. As mentioned previously, he tends to gravitate towards the dark and gloomy aesthetics, and this gorgeous, sun-shiney island afternoon was, understandably, killing that vibe. But he pressed forward, knowing he has neglected his animal neighbors for far too long and they need their trusty human friend back, to listen to their asinine stories as well as take possession of the most random and incongruous of furniture and apparel. He would simply have to glance away from the atrocity that is overgrown flower fields, and save that cleanup for another day.

"Someone is looking this way! I must act like I am enjoying myself in this ridiculous ocean of roses so to not raise suspicion."
​

Aside from the mountains of scattered blooms (which looks minuscule in comparison to the behemoth of a flower garden that was his old home island, Floaroma), Lilycove is quite a sightly island, though not in ways you might expect. You see, Taylor has lived on this island for well over a year, and yet it still looks quite deserted. It appears as if he and his animal neighbors prefer the simple life, in a thinly wooded area with abundant fauna and flora (though not so abundant it becomes repulsing, obviously). Upon closer inspection of nearby islands, he has come to the conclusion that hoards of items scattered throughout an island can take away from the island's natural beauty. There are improvements to be made in Lilycove, of course, but it will remain relatively untouched from its current state. Though you can rest assured that Taylor will most certainly have a word with all the pests--I mean, flowers, who have decided to take up residence here.

After taking a quick look around the island, he decides to head to the campsite, since he had heard that someone was visiting. He resents having to wake up every day and hear Isabelle's nauseatingly cheerful voice, but it is what it is. He does appreciate hearing about visitors on the island, however, and hearing the announcement this afternoon aroused his curiosity. But something less inviting and much more sinister awaited him up on the cliff: the rabbit man himself, Zipper T. Bunny. Ever since the birth of the getaway island, Taylor has resented seeing this horrific bouncing lagomorph every year. Just the mere sight of Zipper invoked a kind of fear that is unheard of elsewhere, a terrible kind of fear. This bunny means business, and he will not rest until his slaves participators find all of his hidden eggs. He is a force to be reckoned with, and Taylor wants to ensure that today would not be his day.

"He's just standing there... menacingly!!"
​

After taking the long way around to the campsite, he discovers that it is in fact Julian who is visiting Lilycove! Unfortunately he cannot not bare to spend too much time in this small tent; the horrors of Zipper have all but engrossed him and there need not be more jump-scares and heavy-handed conversations today. He does, however, take a moment to admire Julian's charm. It's not often you see a unicorn, much less one who is apparently blessed by the goddess of the stars with eternal beauty. He may not be coming to live on the island today, but Taylor still enjoys the few moments they can spend together.

"I haven't a clue what he speaks of, but he is quite charming nonetheless."​

Taylor has only been outside of his house for a solid 5 minutes, and yet he has clearly seen enough for one day. All these saturated colors and cheery sights and hopping hooligans were too much for him to handle all at once. But before setting his sights on home, he approaches the homes of his neighbors to check in on some of them. Of course, they are living their best life, as always. He often asks himself how these animals manage to be so positive. They never have rainy days, it's all sunshine and sparkles. "Good for them, I suppose," he says to himself. As much as he cannot wrap his mind around the idea of endless happiness, for him it is always a pleasant sight to see his neighbors doing okay. He spots Audie sitting by her pond, within what other than a bed of red cosmos. For a brief moment he is able to take his mind off of the plethora of random flowers to say hi to her. She is, after all, one of his favorite neighbors. Perhaps they will meet again soon, and perhaps she could help him clear all these superfluous plants! Of course, a guy can dream.

She might have a bombastic personality, but she truly is one-of-a-kind.​

After their brief meeting Taylor decides he has seen enough, and he retreats back to his personal quarters. Tomorrow is a new day, and hopefully with that comes good, quality improvements for Lilycove... and a bit of rain and overcast clouds wouldn't hurt, either.









What will happen next? Tune in tomorrow to find out! ~Bug

 

[xSuperMario64x]

~ Day 2 of re-imagining the island of Lilycove! ~​

On this day Taylor rises, assured that the very first project which he wants to tackle is to get rid of the overrun flowers. Sure, flowers are lovely, but when you get yourself into a Floaroma situation you know you have far too many to deal with. "I won't lie," Taylor says, "Floaroma is a beautiful island in its own regard. It takes a special kind of island representative to maintain so many flowers at once, and it takes a delicate craftsman to pull off that look without making the island look overrun. This is not the vision I have for Lilycove, though. But I always like to take a moment and think about the sheer insanity that was Floaroma's endless flower beds."

"What a madman Kat was. I sure do miss her, though."
​

After reminiscing for a bit, Taylor gets straight to work, and assess the island's flower situation. Luckily for him, there actually aren't too many flowers. It's manageable. There are some other areas that need to be straightened out, like the randomly placed crops on the cliffs above his house, but their inconvenience can't shine a light to that of the flowers. He decides it would be best to start near the plaza and airport; after all, this is the first area visitors see, so it needs to be the most presentable, of course. But before he can make his way towards the plaza, he hears a suspicious noise in the distance. Some further investigation ensues, and he finds that one of his neighbors, Soleil, is interested in leaving Lilycove! Her reasoning seemed convincing enough, and while it is sometimes difficult to let go of friends, it's also nice to see them making the best of their lives and doing what they think is right. So off she goes. You all barely knew her, but she truly is one of the best.

Farewell, my darling. We will always remember you.​

A mere distraction, though; Taylor sets his sights on the island plaza. This area is infamous for being the home of the 87 rose blooms he briefly freaked out about the other day ago. But he's not starting there specifically, rather the area between the plaza and airport, where lies a large bed of assorted cosmos. Arriving at the plaza he catches sight of another neighbor, Freya! All of the animals living on the island, Taylor considers good friends, even the annoying ones. But Freya is a special case, in that he considers her to be his closest friend. She radiates an aura of charm and grace that is unheard of elsewhere in Lilycove. She's simply a lovely friend. And she appears to understand the value of a good shovel, too.

"Indeed, I'm exploring the roots of these flowers, my good lady."
​

He even took a moment to partake in Freya's yoga activities. Surely they're having a fun time, but Audie is clearly perplexed at the sight of her neighbor doing yoga while wearing a heavy coat and carrying a shovel. Being the good neighbor she is, she pays little mind, and continues about her day, but she's rather amused nonetheless.

What are those fools doing lol​

But enough about that, we're here today to work! So we begin this long journey focusing on the most important areas, as noted above. This particular area is filled with some pretty flowers: orange, red, yellow, and pink cosmos. Suddenly an idea comes to mind: "Why don't I take these flowers, some stone fencing, and a little inspiration from Floaroma's wondrous layouts?" He begins constructing a path, spanning between the airport exit and the edge of the plaza, for visitors to walk along when visiting the island. The first step, of course, is to lay down the path. Unsurprisingly, though, one of his neighbors impedes his progress pretty early on. And who could it be? Well Freya, of course! I suppose she wanted a nice view of her neighbor's diligent work, but she really couldn't have picked a worse spot in which to spectate.

"Ma'am... I appreciate your support, but I'm a bit busy at the moment..."
​

Luckily she didn't stay too long, and as she went back to her yoga, Taylor continued his path construction. Progress is pretty seamless at this point, though in the middle of flower laying he changes his mind: instead of a pink-red-pink-red pattern, he opts for a red-orange-yellow-orange-red pattern, given the flowers he's able to work with. In order to accomplish this, he takes a quick trip to Freya's house and swaps her red and yellow cosmos for the lovely hybrid pink cosmos. But during this process he encounters the very problem that has caused him so much strife in the past: exploding tools. Why do the tools explode anyways? Even the golden ones do! It really is such a pain to deal with this during island reconstruction, but it is what it is.

These island tools really are good for nothing, aren't they?
​

So after a long and somewhat tedious process Taylor finally manages to finish his path, and it does look quite nice!

"Finally this place is becoming somewhat presentable, haha!"
​

There is still a lot left to do, but this amount of work alone has been enough for one day, so he finds himself heading back home. Perhaps he can get a larger amount of work done in the next few days, but for now he is satisfied with his progress and happily calls it quits.





Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the next entry! ~Bug

 

[xSuperMario64x]

~ Day 3 of re-imagining the island of Lilycove! ~
​

There won't be any wasting time today. Taylor is dead set on not only creating a foundation for a path system, but also rearranging and removing as many hordes of flowers as possible. He first sets his sights on the plaza; the previous day had some fantastic progress, but it definitely wasn't done. What is an island without a fully decorated plaza? There should at least be a sliver of formidable landscaping here. Enough about that though, time to get to work! But, of course, not before Audie stops to tell us about her woes: apparently she's unable to catch a ladybug. One of nature's simplest creatures has evaded her grasp for too long, and she asks Taylor if he could catch one for her. Obviously he's no miracle worker, so he instills his faith in her and she continues on her way.

"My dear, are you sure it wasn't just another laser pointer dot?"
​

Moving along, today's work started with continuing the fencing all the way around the plaza, with a few open spots for paths to branch off on opposite sides. The seemingly endless hybrid flowers which came so close to overtaking the island, actually came in handy for this, and allowed for an aesthetically pleasing landscape. The natural ensuing job is to rework Freya's yard. Her yard is quite small and only encloses the small area around her house, so Taylor went right over to fix that. His job would prove to be quite difficult, however; his tools continued to explode, and there were many, many trees that needed to be moved. But he eventually gets the job done, at least as much as he can do for now without adding any outdoor furniture, and it looks quite nice already!

"I hope she likes it! Even if it is still a work in progress."
​

Aside from all the difficulties he has encountered while creating this layout, the limitations of his island continuously stifles his creativity. "Tell me," he says, "why must the fence on the far right curve up in an awkward way?" Apparently it's "illegal" to have a fence going straight next to a nearby bridge. Why is this so? You can't even place a delicate flower in that spot to compensate! The only explanation is there must be a ghost who inhabits that particular spot and refuses to allow any physical presence there.

"Ugh, there's a ghost here too?? What gives?"
​

As mentioned previously, there are numerous trees which need to be moved in order for the path system to be lain. But how are these trees moved, you might ask? Previously it would've been impossible, you would simply need to cut the tree down and plant a new one where you want it to go. But here, on the magical island of Lilycove, simply eating a carrot gives you the energy to dig up an ENTIRE tree and move it, roots and all! It truly is a miracle in landscaping renovation. Since it's currently Bunny Day season in Lilycove, Taylor often finds himself eating random eggs he finds hidden in trees, in rocks, in the ground, and even in the sky. They work just as well, so why not?

"Ah yes, I can't wait to eat this egg that I bonked out of a nearby tree with my flimsy axe."
​

Taylor spends the next few hours carefully planning and laying out his path system, and he has a few other ideas along the way. Maybe he could put in a little pond next to the plaza to add some variety? And perhaps he could place little benches and tables for people to sit at and chill outside for a bit? It's very evident that the animal neighbors love soaking up the sun's rays, and while Taylor would honestly prefer to sit indoors with a nice cup of tea, he knows it's important to keep in mind the well-being of his friends.

In speaking of friends, he manages to sneak a few pictures of some of his most cherished neighbors. Mind you, Freya is nowhere to be found today. She must be hiding in her house, a smart gal indeed. Anyways, while laying down a path near the beach he catches sigh of his friend Sasha sitting in the warm sand, eating a donut, and enjoying the cool spring breeze. He's one of the most photogenic villagers on this island; even sitting on the beach munching on a donut warrants a photo shoot!

"Mmm I love me a good donut..."
​

Taylor also manages to snag a picture of Norma, one of the loveliest villagers to grace the island with their presence. By themselves these flowers are not particularly pleasing to see just scattered around the island, but when someone like Norma shows up, her attention to the flowers really accentuates their beauty. Kudos to you, Norma, your friendliness has somewhat softened Taylor's view on these overly abundant blooms.

A lovely lass indeed.
​

So a long day of working goes by and Taylor finally decides to call it quits. There's only so much to be done in a day before the exploding of tools and eating of tree eggs wears a man down. But before he heads back to his house, he takes one last picture: a picture of himself, of course, looking as snarky as ever.

"Heh heh. This money tree makes me look rich, no?"
​

So now another day is done. What work will be done tomorrow? We shall see. But for now it's important to take a leave of relaxation. Let's save our energy for that day and make the best of it!




Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the next entry! ~Bug

 

[xSuperMario64x]

~ Day 4 of re-imagining the island of Lilycove! ~
​

Today will be just slightly different, in that Taylor has decided to work in the early hours of the evening. As nice as the island looks during the day, it can become unbearable sometimes. As such, today will be taking place under the light of the moon. The island honestly looks pretty dashing regardless of the time of day!

"In the name of the moon.... voila!"
​

So Taylor goes out, patrolling the island. The newly lain paths look quite nice, they still need some work done but it shall be done in due time! During this patrol, he stumbles across something unusual: one of the saplings which he had planted appears to not be growing. Why would that be? There is another new sapling right behind it, and that one is growing at an excellent rate! So why not this one? This is a mystery which he has actually encountered before; there is another sapling near a cliff which was planted well over a year ago and hasn't grown! That one may be understandable, since it's relatively close to the cliff, but this one seemed to be planted in a fine spot. Unsure of what to do, Taylor leaves the sapling in that spot for now. He'll save that task for another day.

"What a little rebel, you are, tiny sprout."
​

Besides that odd detail, there's honestly not much to complain about on this island. Just a few day's worth of small work has transformed it quite a bit, for the better no doubt. He walks towards the town plaza; Kicks is here today, but he doesn't have anything that spark's Taylor's interest. Of course, there are a few animal neighbors wandering around, one of which is noteworthy: Antonio, who has not shown his face for quite some time. He has been a resident of Lilycove since the island was first declared to be habitable, and thus he is a long-time friend of Taylor. Apparently he decided today was a good day for his friend to learn a new emotion, to he taught our dear boy how to be shocked! Quite endearing, I must say.

"Long gone are the days of unparalleled poker-faces."
​

Wandering around the island a bit more, Taylor also sees that the plot which was once taken by Soleil (and had since been emptied) is now occupied! Well... almost occupied. There is a sign on the front indicating that the plot has been sold. "Who could it be?" Taylor wonders to himself. It would be neat to see some more wolf villagers come to the island. His long lost friend, Kyle, has not quite found his way over yet, hopefully someday he will. No, to Taylor's surprise, and slight dismay, the plot has been taken by Tangy. You know, the overzealous citrus cat with leaf hair? Yes, that one. Sure, she might be a decent addition to the island, but I'm afraid her stay might be short-lived. Taylor shrugged, "I suppose we'll enjoy her stay for now."

"Ugh, too slow, Kyle!"
​

Anyways, there actually wasn't too much work to be done today. Taylor figures that he can spend this evening messing around with the river above the waterfall which flows next to his house. This is an area which has always been kind of tricky, in the sense that the river flows in such a way that it's difficult to find a spot for a bridge. Until now, Taylor was somewhat content simply hopping across small land-masses in the middle of the river to get across, but tonight is the night to place an actual bridge here. After some finagling he's finally able to place a bridge, and it looks quite nice too! We readers unfortunately won't get to see his completed work until the next entry, but rest assured it will enliven the surrounding areas!

"Ah yes, we reached the goal. Who's we? Me and my massive fortune of course!"
​

Some flower moving has taken place this evening, but after doing a bit of that as well as placing and funding the bridge, Taylor decides to call it a night. He feels his energy and motivation depleting somewhat; after all, this island was somewhat decent when we started. But he knows that with more progress and perseverance this island will look so much better. So until that next time comes, it's time for a break...






Be sure to tune in tomorrow (or whenever haha) for the next entry! ~Bug

 

[xSuperMario64x]

~ Day 5 of re-imagining the island of Lilycove! ~
​

Another day we're spending during the evening, it is a very pleasant time of day after all! Taylor wastes no time climbing to the upper cliff to check out the newly built bridge, and it's quite a site to see! It may not be the fanciest bridge out there, but it matches the cozy and somewhat earthy aesthetic of the island, and that's all that really matters.

"It's quaint and sufficient!"
​

Following the pathway from his house (and what would later become the pathway to the beach), Taylor takes a look at his ungrown sapling again. As suspected, it remains ungrown, even as the tree behind it continues to flourish. "A rebel indeed, this little tree is!" he thinks to himself. He decides to move the sapling a bit closer to the path, and away from the river. Hopefully now the sapling will actually grow. If it still refuses, perhaps it shall remain a dwarf tree forever. Only time will well!

"Look, I know being an adult is hard, but we all have to do it, little tree."
​

Moving back through the hidden passageways to the main plaza, it's as lovely as always. Labelle is here to collect some information on up-and-coming styles and fashion, and the neighbors are simply hanging out as they always do. They never seem to waste too much time with work, they always find even a fleeting moment to enjoy themselves and have fun. Quite inspirational, they are! Tonight in particular is interesting, because Sasha and Norma (coincidentally, two neighbors which Taylor had singled out earlier in this blog) decided to sing a song! And sing they do, they would end up singing for hours while Taylor did some more work around town. They never cease. They're really just enjoying themselves this evening, and he's perfectly fine with that. He even takes a moment to join in with them (sort of) by doing some light aerobics! It was a fun time indeed!

"Ah yes, this is that jammin' aerobics track everyone's been raving about."
​

In a previous entry, it was mentioned that Taylor had plans to dig out a small pond next to the plaza, just for aesthetic purposes (and, of course, long relaxation sessions taking place nearby), and it is now done! There is still more landscaping to be done in terms of flowers and other small plants, but it's already looking like a nice safe haven for a troubled mind to ease its woes for a while.

"Makes a nice fishing spot, too!"
​

And he actually has another idea which has not been discussed here previously: plans to make a small "farm" area, a communal spot where passers-by can come and water the plants, and then their bearings may be harvested for personal endeavors. It adds to the rustic nature of the island, which is nice, too. These plants in particular used to grow in a seemingly random location, on top of a cliff near Taylor's house, and they didn't look too sightly being scattered around aimlessly. Now they have their own place, and it's much more organized! Plus, now there is room in the previous location for a path to be lain, so double-win!

"Look at all my lovely fruits and legumes and nightshades! Or whatever they are."
​

Quite a bit of work has been done so far, and Taylor's next task is to start laying down some more paths. The area which would make an obvious candidate is the area between his house and the nookling's shop. He would even start to plan path systems on the upper cliff near the museum, though these ideas would not come to fruition just yet. Why is that, you might ask? Well, laying paths is easy, but unfortunately moving flowers is not. Luckily there weren't too many flowers to move below, but it's a whole different situation on the upper cliff. Not only is it painstaking to move every individual flower by digging it up with a shovel, but the shovel explodes!! Why does it do that?! Anyways, this project will have to wait for another time. Just looking at all the chrysanthemums is overwhelming. Beautiful, but overwhelming.

"I can never catch a break."
​

Anyways, back to the lower paths. It takes a little time and a few podcasts to get through, but the path is now finished. There are some major landscapings needs to be attended to here, but for now the path looks just fine. And it's also made visible walkways more convenient. No more trudging through flowers to go to the shop, yay!

Even Pippy's yard already looks much better.
​

So after all that, Taylor calls it a night. It's almost 10pm at this point, and one can only lay down so many paths and move so many flowers before he... well, kinda poops out. It's been a long evening, and if it doesn't seem like it, that's because Taylor likes to spare his readers all the details of monotony during his work. He shall return, though, and continue to beautify the island, but for now he will rest.


Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the next entry! ~Bug

 

[xSuperMario64x]

~ Day 6 of re-imagining the island of Lilycove! ~
​

It's a new day, here's hoping our boy gets some decent work done! As if he's ever been one to disappoint; Taylor has always been a hard worker and puts his best effort into basically everything he does. The first thing he does today is head straight to that one unruly sapling. Yesterday he noticed that the sapling, despite being planted a few days prior, had not grown like the tree a few spaces back did. So he moved it a bit away from the river and... voila! The sapling is magically growing! How did this minuscule alteration change anything? Who knows. Nature works in mysterious ways sometimes. All that matters is the little sapling will soon be fully grown thanks to Taylor's microscopic valiant efforts.

"Conglaturation !!! You have prooved the justice of nature's culture! (Yes, that is a video game reference)"
​

The next thing is to check on the newly situated gardening area just north of the plaza, and water the plants so they can grow large and wide, and bear as many... fruits? As many fruits as possible! But there's only one problem: in the middle of watering, Taylor's golden watering can suddenly breaks. He's only been at this for maybe 5-7 minutes, and at this point he would like to call it quits. Golden tools breaking should never happen. It doesn't make any logical sense. In all his years Taylor has never once encountered a golden tool that could break. "Considering the amount of work it takes to find recipes for these golden tools, you'd think the reward for all your hard work would be a tool which never breaks, and thus makes doings such as this so much easier and more fluid," he exclaims. "But alas, perhaps we as people need to be 'more grateful' as others might say. I say phooey, we deserve tools that don't break!" Times like these make it truly difficult to be an avid gardener, but I suppose that's just how things are around here.

"What a waste, these golden tools are."

​

In a pinch, Taylor hurries to the nookling's shop and buys the more expensive of two watering cans. This particular can just happens to be a depressed elephant, and what better object could possibly symbolize the feelings shared right here, right now?

"I feel ya, little dude."
​

After watering the rest of the crops, Taylor heads to the small pond he constructed west of the plaza, just to scope out the current landscaping situation. Of course, as mentioned previously, a few more flowers are needed here, but it does look quite nice. It looks especially nice during this time of year, since the fluttering cherry blossoms can be seen gently caressing the water's surface. This truly is a wonderful spot to relax and unwind for a while. After pondering for a bit, Taylor notices that there is a fish in the pond! Pulling out his trusty fishing rid, he hooks the fish, just to find that it's an invasive carp. No matter, these guys deserve a home, too.

Catching this fish reminded him: today is the Fishing Tourney! It's hard to miss Isabelle's classic baring morning announcements, in which it was mentioned this morning. So he takes a few steps toward the plaza, and sure enough, CJ is there! After chatting with him for a moment, Taylor learns that the fishing tourney does not in fact start until 9am, and as of this moment it is about 7:50am. He feels no inclination to participate, so he simply forgets about the fishing tourney and carries on, minding his own business.

"Are you sure you're not still out of it after last night's party?"
​

Since the fishing tourney is definitely out of the way, Taylor goes off to do more designing. Today he's mainly laying down more paths and landscaping neighbors' yards, and since you can never have too much wood when building fencing, he decides to chop some trees for wood stacks. If you recall, however, this is the season of the wretched Bunny Day, and as such he often finds himself chopping wood eggs out of trees. Besides, it turns out that he doesn't actually know the recipes to build a simple wooden fence (how difficult could it be to figure out??). Those wood eggs are merely taunting him.

"Nuisances, they are."
​

He wanders around a bit more and finds something else that is rather surprising: Tangy has shown her face today! Taylor simply forgot to visit her on her first day, until he was settled in for the night and realized it was getting quite late. But here she is now, and it seems we have finally solved the mystery on why she suddenly showed up here: she came from Nihoisland, aka @/BrokenSanity's place! What a sneaky cat she is! No worries, we will take good care of her for now.

"Ohhh, I see. I suppose it takes a lot of talent to conduct such sneakery."
​

Just a few remaining things after this. It's been a pretty long day already and Taylor is ready to... well, go do whatever Taylor does, I suppose. He first places a new ramp in a relatively high-traffic area. This cliffside used to only have a ladder (as pictured in the upper right corner of the picture below, he has quite a few of these instead of more ramps haha), so this alone is a step in the right direction.

"Oh yeah, it's all coming together now." - Kronk
​

In order to do this, Taylor decides to move Sasha's house into a less high-traffic spot. Sasha's house has been next to the Able Sister's shop for quite some time now, and being the special boy he is Taylor feels that he deserves his own little haven.

"Modestly landscaped for now, but it'll come together in time."
​

He even takes it upon himself to do some landscaping in his own yard. He had a small patch of flowers just randomly hanging out near the river. so he decides to disperse them evenly across the lawn, and even pair a few together in hope of getting hybrids.

"Not quite my aesthetic, but hey, the presentation is sufficient."
​

Next, he realized that he should pay off this ramp as soon as possible. Heaven knows the animals won't do it, with their measly pocket change.

"Oh that's most certainly lovely."
​

And lastly, he takes a quick peek inside of the Able Sister's shop. They may not always have the best clothes, but they certainly have the most interesting. Not suspecting much, he walks in and catches sight of the neat Coductor's Jacket, and then he is suddenly horrified at the sight of a mask you may find on a tearoom wall. These masks were meant for decoration, not to be worn! Nonetheless, he decides to try it on anyways.

"On a wall this is lovely, but on my face, it's... stunningly grotesque."
​

Anyways, lots of work has been done, and Taylor is happy enough to call it quits. Perhaps he will work on the rampant flowers which have spread along the cliff near his house, but it can wait for another day.



Be sure to tune in tomorrow (or sometime soon) for the next entry! ~Bug

 

[xSuperMario64x]

~ Day 7 of re-imagining the island of Lilycove! ~
​

Just a short and pretty simple day today. It's Bunny Day so, understandably, Taylor wants to limit his exposure to the outside world as much as possible. First thing is to check out the newly installed ramp near the Able Sister's shop, and sure enough, it's there, and it looks quite nice!

Of course Cleo is here too, in her stereotypical Bunny Day clothes, but she's cute so it's excusable.
​

Taylor knows that he wants to work on the area on the cliff to the east of his house. This is where the museum is located, as well as the campsite. Currently this area is not only somewhat tricky to navigate, but it's chock full of unwanted flowers and weeds, so he needs to clear a few things out of the way before he can lay any paths down. Taking a look at the area next to the campsite reveals something he has been dreading for a while: one of the island peninsulas is totally overgrown!

"Oh good Lord."​

Luckily, they are just weeds and are very easy to simply pick up and stack in his pockets. So after some much needed weeding, this little area looks much better. Maybe he could put something here? For now he'll just leave it as it is.

"That's better!"
​

After that shenanigan, he gets to work on the path. Fortunately there aren't too many flowers to move. For now, they will simply be "pushed" out of the way; in other words, they will be replanted along the edges of the paths, to be relocated at a later date. Just as he expects, his shovel breaks partway through, but luckily he brought along an extra so there wouldn't be any extraneous trips to the store (even though the store was only about 15 steps away, he didn't want to risk seeing the bunny man himself again).

"This is so stupid lol."
​

Through much physical (and mental) strife, he finally manages to move all the flowers out of the way and lay down the paths for this area. There isn't much here at the moment; he's not sure whether or not the path should extend all the way up to the river. There's currently no bridge there (though he may have some plans to put a bridge there, leading to Quinn's house), so for the time being the path will simply curve to the left towards the campsite.

"Not the most eye-catching landscaping, but hey! Maybe Blathers will appreciate the bugs and butterflies? He he he."
​

The area around the campsite looks decent as well. The disarrayed flowers actually look somewhat more appealing near the campsite, since it gives more of a "wild" vibe.

"Ugh, I wish Kyle would come back." *audibly sobs*
​

And with that, Taylor has finished another day of island work. He hurriedly runs to his house before the bunny man finds him and pesters him for eggs (which he doesn't have anyways, because he ate them all while moving trees). Thank goodness all this madness will be done and over with soon!



Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the next entry! ~Bug

 

[xSuperMario64x]

~ Day 8 ~
​

Today will be an easy day. Things haven't been particularly easy to deal with, and trying to work on an island with so many factors leading into frustration isn't necessarily the best thing for our boy right now. But what was there to do on a Monday evening? Well, upon stepping outside, Taylor hears from Isabelle that Mr. Totakeke is here tonight! Why is he here on a Monday, though? It's never explained, and it honestly doesn't really matter anyways.

"That sneaky dog."
​

So he makes his way to the town plaza, and there he finds quite a few of his animal neighbors, including Freya. She is easily one of his closest friends, as mentioned previously, and though Cleo has taken the seat directly next to her, Taylor knows he can position himself in such a way that they will still be standing together while K.K. Slider performs. "Do you have a request for me tonight?" K.K. asks Taylor. He does have one song in mind, one that's always guaranteed to make him smile: Steep Hill. It's an earworm of a tune, quite hummable and catchy and delightful. K.K. agrees to the request and begins to play.

"That sure is a steep hill, alright."
​

As his little doggy claws gently grazed the guitar strings, suddenly all the stress melted away. Being in Freya's presence helped too, of course. But there's something about listening to music that helps one forget all the troubles of life and enjoy living in the moment. Taylor and all his animal neighbors became completely enraptured in K.K.'s song. For the first time in a while, this would be an evening totally free of all the overwhelming annoyances of the islands. No overgrown flower beds. No broken tools. Just a dog and his guitar.

"Cleo is really just vibing here tonight."
​

After the song had concluded, Taylor decided that this was all he needed for a day. A day with no hard work is a day wisely used, and he was most certainly taking advantage of it. He returned to his house to spend the rest of the evening enjoying his free time.




Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the next entry! ~Bug

 

[xSuperMario64x]

~ Day 9 of re-imagining the island of Lilycove! ~
​

We're in the homestretch now, just a little more work to be done! After having yesterday to take some downtime, Taylor is ready to return to his work. He is first greeted with the news that there is a campsite villager visiting Lilycove today, so he heads straight to the campsite. Much to his surprise, Rooney is visiting today! He's a pretty cool dude so, of course, Taylor is pleased to make his acquaintance.

Hey, maybe we should try to invite him to the island...
​

He then checks on the area near Tangy and Cleo's houses, and he ends up getting sidetracked, walking into the Able Sister's shop to see what's on sale today. There honestly isn't much to bat an eye at, that is except for these lovely kimonos. Taylor isn't really one to wear kimonos, but just this once he figured he would try one on.

"It's an experience, to say the least! I do feel pretty though, haha."
​

After all that nonsense, he starts to think about what he'd like to tackle today. Perhaps some more path work? Yeah, there are a few area around the island that still need paths! In particular, one high-traffic area, being the area between the Nook shop and the plaza, near the beach, desperately needs some paths. One thing that really needs to be done first, though, is to move Antonio's house. It's not technically on the path, but it sure is close. So Taylor buys a kit to move his house back about 5-6 spaces. That work should be done tomorrow. "Thank goodness," he thinks. "That's been on my bucket-list for months!"

While laying down the path, there are, unavoidably, trees and flowers in the way. And as you may have guessed, Taylor's shovel exploded. It's honestly expected at this point. He probably wouldn't expect anything more from a colorblock shovel that looks like a kid's toy, anyways. So he makes a quick trip to the Nook shop to buy a new shovel. On the way there, he encounters a single snail resting on a rock. Despite being alone, the snail didn't look too lonely. Surely it is enjoying the pleasant evening rainfall. Taylor grabs a quick picture before heading into the shop.

"Hold still, my little slippery friend."
​

Once that was done, he hastily makes his way into the shop to buy a shovel, as well as empty his pockets of any useless items, and he very shortly after returns to work. It doesn't take long before the path was complete! It's honestly not practical, since it's at a 90-degree angle. Perhaps sometime in the future, he could lay down a "shortcut" path, appearing to be worn down by constant trampling. But that will be saved for another day. For now, this path is looking quite nice (even if a bit barren)!

"Where does all this confetti come from anyways?"
​

Now it's time to do some landscaping near Tangy and Cleo's houses. But before that, he makes a brief trip to the plaza center (or whatever it's called) to check the Nook Miles machine. Why, you may ask? Recall previously, Taylor landscaped a few yards with white picket fencing. Yet somehow, not only did he not have the recipe for this particular fence, but it was not in rotation at the Nook Miles kiosk! Silly, one might say. Luckily for him, tonight the recipe for the fencing is available at the kiosk, and he wastes no time trading in his Nook Miles for it. After crafting a few bundles of fencing and painting them white, he will be ready for the task of landscaping more yards!

"Finally, ugh."
​

A little bit of strategic flower and tree placing can go a long way when landscaping, and with some more path-laying and planting, this area is finished! For now, at least. Maybe something can be used to fill in those empty areas? No matter, for now the most important task is to make sure this island has at least a decent working path system. From there, everything else can fall into place. He is confidently sure that Tangy and Cleo will both greatly appreciate their new yards and pathways!

"Honestly the most refined area on the whole island, imo."
​

Taylor has done quite a bit of work at this point, and he soon decides that he is tired of getting rained on (yes, it had been raining the entire evening, but he initially paid no heed and went to work anyhow). Thinking about what he would like to tackle for his final project (at least for now), he heads back to his warm, dry house to spend the evening alone, listening to the blissful sound of rain pitter-pattering on the rooftop.




Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the next entry! ~Bug

 

[xSuperMario64x]

~ Day 10 of re-imagining the island of Lilycove! ~
​

Today is the last day of renovation (at least for now) and Taylor begins his evening not necessarily having anything in mind, but he knows a few areas that could really use a nice touch-up.

Before that, though, we need to talk about last night. There was a journal post made last night, but something happened after that post was made. Taylor spotted Rooney at the campsite, and he figured it was time for another new face on the island. After countless negotiations, and even a few instances of stubbornness, Rooney finally settled on moving in, and in exchange making Zucker move out. Zucker had been a treasured resident of Lilycove for quite a while, but to be completely honest, he seemed pretty excited about moving! So even though it won't be discussed much here today, Rooney is in fact a new resident of Lilycove. Hopefully he can spend many happy days here!

"Nice, another cool guy like myself."
​

Anyways, on with the new day! The first thing that Taylor finds upon leaving his home is the presence of a newly blooming purple tulip in his yard! Recall that it rained the night before, so now there are lots of new flower blooms. After all, Taylor dug up, reorganized, and sold many flowers, but there were still a lot of flowers left on the island, thus a plethora of new blooms popped up overnight. This purple tulip is a welcome surprise, but all the common blooms leave a lot to be desired, unfortunately.

"Ooooh! Halloween vibes over here."​

Regarding Rooney's invitation to the island, he requested a few villagers whom he may take the place of. He requested nearly every animal resident, except for Antonio and Tangy. Now, Antonio has been on this island since the very beginning. He was one of Taylor's first friends here. But he doesn't bring much to the table in terms of friendship and playability, so he was one which Taylor was happy to let go. But somehow Rooney seemed to have a connection (or perhaps a bias) with Antonio, and his name never came up once in conversation. Therefore Zucker has moved, and Antonio is here to stay a little while longer. He really isn't a bad guy, he's rather sweet and vivacious. "Perhaps I should take a little more time to get to know him," Taylor thinks to himself, watching Antonio sit on the river bank and gaze at the night sky.

"He's really just here living his best life. I can respect that."​

Before continuing with his work, once again, Taylor finds himself walking to the Able Sister's shop to check out some of their wares. It is nearly 9pm, after all, and they will be closing soon. There isn't much to see today. There are a few very lovely dresses, but that's just not his style. He does, however, find some very interesting gems, like a hood made to look like a hot dog, and a pair of spectacles that can't even be seen through because they're made of pieces of opaque bottles. What were they thinking, you might ask? Well apparently this is the height of fashion, so you tell me!

"What do you mean I'm not 'runway material'?"
​

Enough wasting time trying on ridiculous clothes, it's time to get to work! Taylor has his eyes set on the uppermost cliff, on the north side of the island. This area has remained largely untouched since the island first became habitable, so it's hard telling what might be going on on top of the cliff. To basically nobody's surprise, the cliff is overrun with weeds and a few yellow roses. No need to fear though, weeds are relatively easy to clear out. It's the yellow roses that Taylor is afraid of, but luckily there aren't too many of them here.

"To be honest I'm more stressed about removing the flowers than the weeds..."
​

Once that is finished, Taylor comes up with an idea. "How about I build a ramp to easily climb up to this higher cliff?" A perfect idea, of course! He proceeds to bring out his terraforming tools and etch a section out of the cliff to make room for the ramp, and after speaking with Nook to get approval, he places the ramp where it looks best. Once that's done, he proceeds to extend the pathway towards it a bit more to finish up this area.

"Heck yeah it is!"
​

The next logical step would be to start landscaping this upper cliff area. For now, moving a few trees and flowers and placing paths will suffice. As Taylor works on laying down paths,he suddenly hears a faint shimmering sound. Could it be? It is! A few shooting stars have made an appearance tonight! It isn't a full blown meteor shower, but seeing a few of these delightful wonders of space brightens his evening a bit.

"I wish Kyle would come back..." *weeping sounds*
​

Soon the pathwork is complete--at least, what can be done for now without further plans for this upper cliff--and it already looks much nicer than it did before. He feels like true progress is being made here, and that's a fantastic accomplishment!

"Another project done! We're one step closer to being less uncivilized!"
​

Where to head to next? After a bit of thought, Taylor decides it would be best to tackle a slightly more difficult scenario on this island. Directly to the right of this newly placed ramp there is a waterfall, and there isn't enough ground in front of it to place a bridge, yet this area can be tricky to navigate. He placed some sections of ground within the river as a temporary means of transportation across the river, but this little blob of dirt and grass is just unsightly.

"Too small for a bridge, but... I mean come on no one likes jumping around on those dirt spots."
​

What is one to do? After a lot of thought, he realized that he can place another ramp on the opposite side of the waterfall! Sure, walking around the waterfall on the upper cliff might be a bit of a hassle, but it's better than hopping across dirt mounds protruding from the river! Besides, it gives passers-by a nice view of the waterfall.

"Ready for a new ramp! Whenever that day comes."
​

After all of that terraforming and landscaping and re-designing, Taylor is ready to call it a night. I'd like to take a moment to recognize his willpower to get through everything he's done since the very first entry. This island started out as a desolate place filled with overgrown flower beds and weeds, and now it's quite nice to walk through and enjoy all there is to see! Granted, there isn't a whole lot to actually see at the moment, due to the lack of furniture items to decorate the island. But that's okay, what's done is already a huge step in the right direction. So kudos to you, Mr. Taylor! You can now take your leave for however long you'd like, you've earned it after all!

This island journal may continue at a later date, but for now we will leave it at this. Thank you to all who have read this journal, we hope you've enjoyed the massive amount of progress our boy has made! Until next time. ~Bug