I have always loved the mix of ingenuity and practicality found in things created from other things. I am talking about art, clothes, jewellery, household objects, furniture - you name it; anything designed using unexpected salvaged or recycled materials.

Reclaiming style : using salvaged materials to create an elegant home is a great new addition to our library collection. It features the work of Retrouvius, a design and architectural salvage business, and demonstrates the potential in designing with salvage in the home. The photographs are beautiful, inspiring, and have given me a serious case of "I could do that!".

If you are interested in this topic and want to explore more we have a wealth of books full of examples and projects for practically everyone. The Design District blog even featured another salvage design book Recycled Home recently. Check their post out out here. Terms to get you started include: creative reuse (or misuse if you have a penchant for mischief), salvage, upcycling, refuse as art, trashion, refashion, and found objects.

The following are a few of my favorites followed by two websites:

1000 ideas for creative reuse is the perfect introduction to this topic as it covers so many different styles and approaches. Also available as an e-book.

Unscrewed : salvage and reuse motors, gears, switches, and more from your old electronics is for the mechanically gifted interested in geekcraft. Also available as an e-book.

Building with secondhand stuff : how to re-claim, re-vamp, re-purpose & re-use salvaged & leftover building materials an overview of types of salvaged materials including how to work with them. Also available as an e-book.

Cut-up couture : [edgy upcycled garments to sew] for fashion lovers.

Playing with books : the art of upcycling, deconstructing, & reimagining the book a complete guide to altered books including materials, techniques, projects, and a gallery of examples.

Superuse is a website showcasing contributions from artists, designers, architects, and those interested in the topic of reuse. I encourage you to check it out. You can view projects from around the world and filter them by type. This is how I recently came across a great initiative from the Canadian Wood Pallet and Container Association called repallet. They provide the blue-prints and background info (where to find them, which to use) and the rest is up to you!

We love hearing from you so please contact us with your creative reuse project or recommended reuse resource.

-Chelsea

Calgary Public Library

The library is always a wonderful place to take the kids to spend a few hours, looking for great books and movies. What is better than time spent browsing through the children's collection? For information on locations and hours, visit our webpage.

Please join us at Crowfoot Library for variety of fun activities for children ages 6 - 12. Activities take place from 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., Monday, March 25 – Thursday, March 28th. No registration required.

On Thursday, March 28th from 1-3:30 pm, Central Library will be featuring the Easter-themed movie Hop. No registration is required.

Thornhill Library is offering "We've Got Magic to Do - Just for You" on Thursday, March 28 from 2:00 - 2:30 pm. No registration required.

Check out other fun library activities on our program page. Enter the date and the audience and see what is available at a library near you.

City of Calgary Arenas

Various City of Calgary arenas will be offering free public skating on Easter Sunday, March 31.

Inglewood Bird Sanctuary

This is an excellent time of year to see the birds at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary as the leaves are not yet out on the trees, and spring is on its way (we hope). The park is open sunrise to sunset, year-round. From October - April, the Nature Centre is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. closed Mondays & statutory holidays.

My co-workers tell me that you often see other wildlife as well as birds.

Not Free, but Fun

Spring Rally in the Alley - Are your kids car-crazy? Visit Gasoline Alley Museum for car-related fun activities. March 22 - April 1, 9:20 a.m. - 4:00 pm.

The Calgary Zoo is always a fun place to visit. Time your visit so you can see the Penguin Walk on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Check out the Zoo's Easter Eggstravaganza on March 29 and 30, free with your zoo admission.

Fort Calgary is open daily from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. except for Good Friday. This is a wonderful place to visit Calgary's past.

Telus Spark has various programs during the spring break, including the travelling exhibit "How to Make a Monster - the Art and Technology of Animatronics".

Out of Town Events

Lake Louise - The Volcom Peanut butter and Rail Jam is Volcom's amateur snowboard contest series. The event is absolutely free, on a first come first serve basis, and boasts tons of free prizes and PB&J sandwiches!

Check out the Easter activities at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, always a fun place to visit.

A blog post by library Eco-champion Dave

Raise your hand if you have grown up with plastic, e.g., Lego, IKEA tables, Styrofoam coffee cups and the like. This material is gradually replacing cardboard, wood, metal, glass, ceramic, natural fibres, etc. It’s even in chewing gum! Do you ever give it a second thought? Could you imagine living without it? One woman has and did, and writes about this iconoclastic stance in her new book: Plastic-free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and You Can Too.

Beth Terry was a carefree plastic consumer until she learned about No Impact Man and saw what it can do to wildlife. Now she had a goal, started a blog and wrote this book. It gives you the lowdown on plastic: what’s in it, and the harm it can do—in short, why you might want to limit your use of it.

Plastic is a durable material, but is so often used for short term applications: It’s made to last forever but designed to be thrown away. (In effect, it’s overqualified). It is inexpensive but hard to recycle or compost, and so ends up buried in landfills or collecting elsewhere, like in the oceans.

The author’s big beef is with single-use plastic (not durable goods) but she does show how you can remove plastic from every part of your life.

This is a positive primer on how to live more sustainably. The author looks at plastic and asks, given the downside, how can we do without, or how can we do better. She also profiles other inspiring individuals who are also doing their bit for the common good.

Terry includes chapters on the major offenders, including plastic bags, food containers and beverage bottles. She gives the straight goods on recycling (it’s the last and least of the 3 Rs). There is information on natural fabrics, growing your own food, and saving money by making your own cleaners. Part of the problem is consumerism. The less you buy, the less packaging you have to deal with.

And, if the reader is overwhelmed by the scope of the problem, there is a chapter with advice to help you cope.

This is a book to inform, inspire and incite for every level of organic enthusiasm. Reading this book might add another R to your vocabulary: R for Refusing single use plastic!

Also check out the No Impact Man book and DVD at the library.

Core Strength TrainingCore strength training is part of any well rounded fitness program. You might be asking what is core strength exactly? According to the Collins English Dictionary, core strength is the strength of underlying muscles of the torso, which help determine posture. Working these muscles goes a long way to improving your balance and stability. The good news about core strength training is it does not require any specialized equipment or a gym membership! If you are looking for a place to get started working on your core, the library has you covered. Here are a few recommendations:

I recently picked up Core Strength Training by Dorling Kindersley. If you are just starting out or a fitness expert, this step by step guide has it all. What I love about this book is each exercise has a clear diagram, shows what muscles you are/should be working, gives variations on the exercise, and rates each item on a difficulty scale. Also, there are tips on technique to ensure you are doing the exercises correctly and safely. At the back of the book, Kindersley puts together exercise routines - there is even a section that covers pregnancy. Look for it at your local branch.

A few others to check out: Core Strength for Dummies by LaReine Chabut and Delavier's Core Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier. How do you work YOUR core?

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