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The 7th Annual Flame of at Eugene Glass School

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rotatephpAre you looking for something to do and somewhere to go August 28-30, 2009? Well look no further than Eugene, Oregon for the 7th Annual Flame Off at the Eugene Glass School! There’s two days of competition and one day of event awards and fun ceremonies. Go to their web site for the information you need to sign up or just attend.

2009-catalogThe competition sounds like a great time for experienced glass workers. The categories include: sculpture, goblet, wearable, marble/paperweight, beads, team sculpture/goblet, and the EGS Challenge Competition. You say, “What is the EGS Competition?” This is something that they started last year and it was such a success they brought it back again! Two to four contestants have 20 minutes to create and object with only the materials in the bag in front of them. They have no idea what those materials are. The winners of each segment continue on and compete until there’s the final one on one. Yea ha!! Sounds like a blast. And probably very entertaining to watch.

The rules for the competitions are in their brochure on the web site but if you just want to watch that’s possible too. It’s going to be a fabulous glass weekend!!rotate-1php

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Book Review: Off to the Nursery

One of the best things about the return of warmer weather is getting to plant new flowers and starting the vegetable garden if you have one. Off to the Nursery by Alice Oehr is subtitled “a celebration of gardening, plants and seasons,” and it’s also a celebration of diversity (because gardening is for everyone) and caring for the earth.

The book starts with the work of getting the garden ready for spring, pulling out the old plants and spreading compost made from kitchen scraps. They grab tomatoes and peppers, learn about zucchini and eggplant and explore the tasty world of herbs.

They also look through the seeds, succulents, berries and fruit trees, flowers and aquatic plants, talking about the benefits of different plants and how fun they are to grow. Maybe you can relate to the family buying what seems like way too many plants?

The book was originally published in Australia, so some of the flowers mentioned might not be familiar to your or your kids, but that’s kind of fun, too. You can also use this as an opportunity to talk about which plants in the book can grow where you live and that just like animals, plants have preferred habitats, too.

Illustrations are colorful and the book combines a standard font and a hand written font to make it feel more like a journal about the garden. The illustrations include fun facts and growing tips such as always planting mint in a pot or germinating seeds on a wet paper towel before planting.

If you want to introduce kids to gardening or just talk about what kind of plants can be grown at home where you live (yes to tomatoes, probably no to the kumquat tree), this cute book is a great addition to your spring reading list.

About the book: 30 pages, hardcover. Published 2025 by Scribble US. Suggested retail price $18.95.