If you happen to be a cardholder with the Bank of America, you have a chance to score some free entertainment and enlightenment starting this weekend and continuing on the first full weekend of every month through December courtesy of BoA’s “Museums on Us” program.

Take your photo ID and any valid Bank of America or Merrill Lynch credit or debit card to the Museum of History & Industry, The Wing Luke Asian Museum, Northwest African American Museum, and Tacoma Art Museum on free weekends and get complimentary admission for you and a guest.

Part of what makes the Northwest Flower and Garden Show so appealing is that it takes place in January: grey skies and inclement weather make downtown Seattle seem so dreary and lifeless, but inside the Convention Center the Show is full of life with flowers and trees and plants of all sorts. In addition to being a useful resource for anyone interested in growing things, it’s a nice break from the gloom of winter, like a mini-vacation.

Every year the NWF&GS has a theme. This year’s is “Beauty & Functionality”, emphasizing garden designs that are both attractive and useful. In a city where many people have very small yards–if they’re lucky enough to have a yard at all–there’s a real value in maximizing the space available to you.

The display gardens created by professional garden designers are the centerpiece of the show and this year they offered the 2010 Judging Panel a serious challenge as all of them were extremely well done, utilizing the theme in many creative and beautiful ways. The judges awarded seven Gold, six Silver, seven Bronze, and two Crystal awards to the regional creators who integrated sustainable features into their full-scale display gardens. The Founder’s Cup, awarded to the Best in Show, went to Le Jardin Home & Garden Design and B. Bissell General Contractor, LLC for their collaborative work called “Ahead of the Curve”.

Another great garden was Seattle Tilth and NW Bloom EcoLogical
Landscapes’ “A Family’s Little Farm in the City”. Organic produce grows in raised beds and containers; goats chew weeds and produce milk, and chickens help aerate the soil via their mobile “tractor coop”. This garden is a closed loop system in which nothing is wasted. Rain wise principles, composting and solar power are a part of this garden’s every day life. In addition to a Gold Award, “A Family’s Little Farm in the City” won the American Horticultural Society Environment Award, the Pacific Horticultural Society Award, the Sunset Western Living Award and the 425 Magazine Award.

All of the gardens were lovely. One of my top favorites was Plantwoman Design’s Silver Award winning “Swimming a la Naturale” which centered a natural water pond in the midst of low-maintenance shrubs and plants designed to attract wildlife to your yard to share your chlorine-free pool with you.

Seattle Urban Farm Company earned a Gold award for “Crops for Clunkers” which cleverly repurposed an old pick-up truck into a mobile garden.

Don’t have a full yard? Container gardening continues to grow – and it’s not just plants in pots crowded onto a patio, there’s still plenty of room for creativity.

To learn more about the gardens and their designers, visit the NWF&GS website. The show continues through Sunday at the Convention Center.

Unless there’s somewhere else you just have to be on Wednesday, February 3, at 9 am, you’re going to want to be at the Convention Center as that’s when the Northwest Flower and Garden show opens to public. Lush, amazing display gardens, seminars on gardening for everyone from the novice to the expert covering topics relevent to both the condo-dwelling container gardener to the McMansion owner with a huge, comples garden, the Northwest Flower and Garden Show has something for everyone.

Even people who don’t garden, like me. I’ve been going to this show year in and year out for a very long time now because I find it soothing and interesting and inspirational. People I know who do garden tell me they’ve gotten more useful information from one day at the NWF&GS than they’ve gotten in an entire year of study, but even someone like me, with black thumbs and an aversion to putting my hands in dirt, anyway, find much fascination at the show. The display gradens are truly spectacular, presenting not just interesting ideas on using one’s available space, but dreams and desires. I’ve learned a tremendous amount of information about our local landscape, weather, culture, flora and fauna, all of which has been interesting and enjoyable.

If you are a gardener, you’ll gain even more: besides the seminars, there are a zillion vendors and other visitors on hand to give you advice to make your garden grow exactly how you want it to grow. If you’re looking for gardening supplies, well, you’ve got a whole world of items all at your hands in one convenient location.

The show runs through February 7. Wednesday through Saturday the show’s hours are 9 am to 8 pm. See the show Sunday between 9 am and 6 pm.

Tickets are $20 at the door for adults and $5 for anyone 13 – 17. Children 12 and under are free.

Grave Danger v. Derby Liberation front in a photo by Slightly North

The Rat City Rollergirls skate into the 2010 season with a bout on Sunday, January 31 at Key Arena. All four home teams–Sockit Wrenches, Derby Liberation Front, Throttle Rockets and Grave Danger–will battle each other tourney style as they duke it out to see which non-profit group each team has selected will score the biggest donation based on the team representing them.

The Sockit Wrenches will be fighting for the Lambert House, a center for GLBTQ youth. The Pinup Angels send care packages to American servicemembers stationed around the world, they’re represented by Derby Liberation Front. Throttle Rockets are standing up for Fisher House, an organization that enables military family members to be by their loved one’s side during hospitalization for illness, disease, or injury. Grave Danger is there for Old Dog Haven who provide homes for Washington’s senior dogs.

Doors open at 2:30 and the bouts begin an hour later. RCRG season ticket holders, don’t forget that you get the opportunity to enter in your very own door on the east side of Key Arena, enabling you to score the choicest seats in the house. (If you’re not already a season ticket holder and would like to be, check the RCRG site for details.) Individual game tickets can be purchased at the door; in recognition of the tough economic times, the Rollergirls are sweetening the pot by offering a deal: buy four tickets and get a fifth free. Take advantage of this offer by gathering your group and heading down to an in-person ticket location or purchase in advance online through Ticketmaster.

This week is Hunger Action Week in King County. This week, a variety of public officials, local media personalities, and bloggers will try to live on the value of food stamps given to either an individual or family in the state of Washington.

The Basic Food Benefit in the state of Washington is $7 a day for individuals, $12 a day for a family of 2.
So far the new mayor, Mike McGinn is taking part, as well as KOMO radio host Brian Calvert and a whole list of local bloggers (including me).

Follow along on the United Way of King County’s blog.

Did you know there could soon be a few more reality TV stars in our midst? It’s true! Mission:Sustainable (think a green Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”) is premiering at the Fisher Pavillion on February 11th. The pilot episode features several green leaders in our community including KUOW Internship Coordinator Nathan Friend and Chef Becky Selengut.
The show selects a family (nominated by their friends) who is in dire need of an environmental makeover. Three of Mission:Sustainable’s consultants will work with the family to show them where their actions are most hurting the environment and help them make changes necessary to reduce their environmental impact.
Everyone on this project donated their time and in order to host the premiere, they need to raise $5000. They’re close too. Only $497 more and they’ll be set. If you’d like to donate, visit their website and click on their Paypal link.
Mission:Sustainable hasn’t been picked up by any networks yet, so your only chance to see it is at the FREE premiere. Yes, that’s right. They need the $5,000 because the premiere is absolutely free to the public. All you have to do is RSVP.

Please forgive me for playing the “Jasper Fforde Role-Playing Game”. You see, I am going to try to tell you why you should read some of Jasper Fforde’s books and what they’re about. The game goes something like this.

Me: “You should really read this book, The Eyre Affair”
You: “What’s it about?”
Me: “Well, there’s Thursday… and she’s got a dodo. No, that’s not really it, well, Jane Eyre… literary detective… books, pages… Err, Miss Havisham tries to break a land speed record*…ARGH. Just read the book!”

*Ok, technically, Miss Havisham and her speed record are not in The Eyre Affair, they’re in The Well of Lost Plots, but it read well.

That is the Jasper Fforde Role-Playing Game. You can’t really describe his books with any standard categorization. After attending his talk and reading at Third Place Books tonight, I’m not sure you can describe the man with any standard categorization either. Well, that’s not really true. He’s smart, funny, and (shhh, don’t tell my husband) darn cute. Tonight’s reading was entertaining and funny. As you can probably tell from the little role-playing game above, reading a random section from one of his books isn’t exactly easy. In fact, as my husband put it, we would gladly pay for Jasper Fforde to read his books aloud to us if they always included the commentary as he went along. There was lots of “Well, you have to know that…” and “you see in this world, colors are used…”. He couldn’t get through two sentences without stopping to explain something or other in the book. But that’s why you should read the book. There is so much depth to his books, and the plots are well thought out and intricate, that they are a joy to read.

He confirmed that there will be another Thursday Next book. In fact, he’s working on it right now. On average, he told us that the Thursday Next books take him about 100 days to write, but this book, Shades of Grey, took over 400 days to write.

He showed his intelligence in more than just his talk though. My husband stood in line to get our book signed and as per the norm, the attendants put a post-it on the page with the dedication. My husband asked for “John and Patricia” and Jasper Fforde asked him, when he got up in line, “Are you sure you don’t want Patricia and John?” Smart man, that Jasper Fforde. I need to go back and read The Eyre Affair, particularly since he gave us some insight into the writing process.

The only negative part of the evening was the seating. I really love Third Place Books. The book selection is fabulous, the staff is helpful and pleasant, and even the food court is pretty nice. However, they packed the chairs in so tightly that I was touching the shoulders and thighs of the people on either side of me and my knees were practically touching the back of the chair in front of me (and I’m a relatively small person). Next time Third Place… add just a bit more space around all of the chairs. Just a touch. Please.

Personally, I tihnk the Jasper Fforde books defy a standard classification. There are the nursery crime books, the first focusing on who pushed Humpty Dumpty off of that wall, and the second on Goldilocks and those bears. Then there are the Thursday Next books, which are” literary detective” novels complete with the ability for the lead character to jump in and out of works of fiction. Strictly, the are fantasy, but really, they are so much more.

Mr. Fforde has a new book out, Shades of Grey, and he’s coming to Third Place Books tonight at 6:30 for a reading and talk. If you’ve never been to Third Place Books (either Lake Forest Park or Ravenna), you’re missing out. They have a fantastic selection and are really a neighborhood hangout location. Shop local and show your support for your local booksellers.

Third Place Books
17171 Bothell Way NE
Lake Forest Park, WA 98155

Serenity fans rejoice: You can spend your New year’s Eve at Central Cinema drinking beer, having pizza, and watching the movie – show starts at 7:00 so you’ll still have time afterwards to party it up even more.

My suggestion: since you’re already there, stick around for Central Cinema’s Party Like It’s 1999 Millenium Reboot Sing-a-long party that starts at 10 pm. Worth stopping in on even if you don’t go to the movie and tickets are a mere $12.

“Labyrinth, the Game” by the ever-creative Seattle School

What are you doing New Year’s Eve? Cramming yourself into some bar that’s just jacked the price on their drinks 300 percent? Staying at home watching next year’s has-beens shriek on TV as if the ball drop in Times Square is the most unique, original and exciting event EVER? Well, if you don’t have something actually fun to do, the Seattle School, The Adventure School, and Wexley School for Girls are getting together to give you something super fun: AS THE WORLD FALLS DOWN, a Labyrinth-themed New Year’s Eve Party that doubles as a fundraiser for the Lifelong AIDS Alliance.

On hand will be a fantabulous cornucopia of local art talent including:
TARL art collective featuring Eli Hansen
The Beta Society
Degenerate Art Ensemble
Miss Trannyshack Anna Conda as The Goblin King
Ben de la Creme as Sarah
Fuchia Foxxx as The Noble Fox
Iva Handfull as the Fire Bird
Gale Force as the White Owl
Stella Rose & Girl Jo as puppet go go girls.
The Bog of Eternal Sexiness
and Dance Magic by Lisa Dank, DJ Frankenheart, DJ Riff Raff, and DJ Darek Mazzone

The Seattle School performs an installation/performance piece. It could be “Peach Gluttony”. It could be “David Bowie Reassignment Machine (75% accuracy)”. It could be “Hall of Hands” or it could even be “Jennifer Connelly Chain Gang”. It could even be something else, but you won’t know until you go and see it. You will not be disappointed.

VERY IMPORTANT: Tickets will not be sold at the door and must be bought in advance, which you do by visiting Brown Paper Tickets. Tickets are $125 (or $99 if you know the secret code. Type Bowiespackage in the discount window when buying online.) Your ticket price gets you an open bar! installations! performances! puppets! art! a Bog of Eternal Sexiness Dance Floor! food by Skillet! AN ACTUAL LABYRINTH!

The party starts at 8 and runs til 2 at the Oddfellows Hall. Happy New Year.