On Absalom

The first month, which the Latins call January, is Giuli; February is called Solmonath; 

March Hrethmonath; April, Eosturmonath; May, Thrimilchi;

June, Litha; July, also Litha; August, Weodmonath; September, Halegmonath; 

October, Winterfilleth; November, Blodmonath; 

December, Giuli, the same name by which January is called.

The Venerable Bede, De ratione temporum 15

Blame the Bede for Easter, for it was he who immortalized the goddess Oestre. Without him, the name of the ancient English goddess of fertility, and the month that belongs to her, would have been lost to the ages. It's the season for new beginnings and old traditions, and one of those is about to happen on sim Absalom, in OSGrid.

Perhaps  another run-of-the mill Easter Egg Hunt or something difficult? Wrong on both counts! Pas de souci, Ange promised, it's not one of those super complicated games where you have to follow clues and match photos with locations on the build. Pas de quête cette fois ci, he said, une simple chasse aux oeufs avec 10 cadeaux. Well, a girl needs all the cadeaux she can get, and anyone can chasse an oeuf, am I right?

The build isn't open to the public yet - it will be live from April 7 - 16 with a group visit planned for Saturday 8 April - join us if you can !  Before the hordes arrive, though, it seemed a good idea to go and take the measure of this build, the latest in a long long line of seasonal builds by Nani Ferguson and Ange Menges, a creative duo who have been working together for over a decade, since the old days on the Paris 1900 build in Second Life.

But then, there was something else going on on this sim. Sure, plenty of gaily colored eggs, but then this thing. Very strange... Dune? Tremors? Hard to know. And, is that a dead swan on its back? That's when I started to worry about this place. 

Stumbling onwards, and suddenly - Velociraptor amd T Rex babies! Someone was caging them, perhaps to ship out to other grids? There's a merchant vessel out there in the bay...

Stumbling on, and picking up a set of sofas in a lucky egg-touch (is that the correct term?), the island opens up into a village of minka, the japanese traditional houses. 

And the boom - a godzilla moment - the dragons and dinos are everywhere!

 Perhaps the first time a mesh house has been torn in two on OSGrid. Still looks pretty good, although it's going to be difficult to explain to the insurance people...

A little less traditional but some how kinda Japanesey, among the water lilies, these scary looking birds, not sure if they are throwing up or have some sort of anteater tongues? 

Either way, best steer clear of them. Anyway, they have no eggs, so not a problem - but a fun gif. Hey wasn't is one of these bird that was lifelessly draped over that weird tube creature at the start. Maybe this place is more dangerous than your average egg hunt.

And that's before you come across the alien demon babies...

There's so much more here, a decidedly phallic temple enclosure, a bunch of mushroom-infested huts, qqll kinds of interesting figured including a guy carrying the largest hermit crab you're ever likely to see. It's going to be a fun visit, hope to see you there on April 8 !

HG Address:  hg.osgrid.org:80:Absalom