Genmarie Stiber, owner of Roots Plant Rooters, in Cleveland, sat behind rows of hanging plants in her booth Saturday during the Medina County Home and Garden show Saturday at the Medina County Community Center, 735 W. Lafayette Road, Medina. (KATIE ANDERSON / GAZETTE)

Hundreds flocked to the Medina County Community Center on Saturday and Sunday for a taste of spring.

The Medina County Home and Garden Show opened Saturday with about 135 vendors from kitchen designers to landscapers, crafters and farmers filling the Medina County Community Center.

Upon walking into the center, people heard live piano playing by Duane Carlson of Fairlawn, and saw an array of spring flowers, plants and trees as part of a large landscaping display designed by Mike Biskup, of Medina.

Biskup runs Greenkeepers Lawn Service and Landscaping out of Medina and has been designing the landscape display for the show for the past 14 years, he said.

All you see is snow all winter, he said. Even if they see snow outside today, they can still think spring when they come in here.

Biskup said some people come to the show with a purpose or a home project in mind, while others come in to get out of their house and into the spring spirit.

Thats why Linda Pelka, of Medina, went Saturday with her 3-year-old granddaughter, Avery James.

We wanted to get some landscaping ideas, she said. Then you look outside and its snowing.

Lisa Bertok, of Brunswick, said she goes to the show every year, and since it was snowing Saturday, she just had to get out of the house.

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Spring blooms early at Medina County Home and Garden Show

(KSLA) -

Severe Weather Awareness Week continues in the ArkLaTex. Today's topic concerns something found in every thunderstorm, even non-severe ones....lightning.

Lightning is often referred to as the underrated weather killer. After flooding and tornadoes, more people die from being struck by lightning than any other violent weather phenomena. In the last 30 years an average of 51 people per year were struck and killed by lightning in the United States. People who survive being struck by lightning often have health issues, including muscular and neurological problems. Below is a state-by-state look at lightning deaths from 1959-2011.

When you hear thunder, that's the time to seek shelter. If you're close enough to the storm to hear the thunder, you're close enough to be struck by lightning.

Remember the 30-30 rule

The first 30 represents 30 seconds. If the time between when you see the flash and hear the thunder is 30 seconds or less, the lightning is close enough to hit you. If you haven't already, seek shelter immediately.

The second 30 stands for 30 minutes. After the last flash of lightning, wait 30 minutes before leaving your shelter. More than one half of lightning deaths occur after a thunderstorm has passed.

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Severe Weather Awareness Week: Lightning

Out in the Park teams up with CubaDupa

Wellingtons annual queer* Fair will go ahead as part of the CubaDupa Festival, on 29 March 2015.

CubaDupa, described as a magical playground of adventure, delight, and taste, will feature live entertainment and involves the local businesses along Cuba Street and the wider Cuba Quarter. The Festival has a large footprint, and Out in the Park has been given one of the largest sites available the carpark on the corner of Ghuznee and Leeds Streets.

The Fair has now been dubbed Out in the (car)Park as a cheeky nod to its location. It will be held between 12pm and 5pm on Sunday 29 March.

We are thrilled to be working with the CubaDupa Festival, the CubaDupa team welcomed us with open arms and found us a great site to hold a smaller version of the Fair and we also start CubaDupas Sunday programme with our much-anticipated Parade says Out Wellington Chair, Virginia Parker-Bowles.

It was also important to the all-volunteer team to salvage some of the hard work that has gone into planning Out in the Park. Postponing the Fair was a tough decision, but it was the right one. The extreme winds made it much too dangerous to set up gazebos that weekend. We are excited about this new opportunity to hold it as part of a large and dynamic Festival like CubaDupa explains Parker-Bowles.

While bad weather had forced the Fair to be postponed, Parker-Bowles says the all-volunteer team behind the Fair is focussing on the silver linings.

When it was clear the Fair couldnt be held in February, the support from the community was amazing. They turned out in force at the Lust party fundraiser, they went to the brilliant mini Fair at 19 Tory Street that a group of stallholders set up, and also to the fundraiser at Bad Grannies that featured many of the performers wed booked for the Fair. So many people came up to members of the team and wished us well, it was quite overwhelming. Joining the CubaDupa programme gives us another shot at having the Fair, and we are grateful for that chance.

Out in the (car)Park will be held between 12pm and 5pm on Sunday 29 March 2015, on the corner of Ghuznee and Leeds Streets, as part of the CubaDupa Festival. The Parade will leave Civic Square, and proceed up Cuba Street, and onto Ghuznee Street to the new site.

For more information, visit http://www.outinthepark.co.nz or http://www.facebook.com/OutintheParkWellington

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Out in the Park teams up with CubaDupa

65/94 Seaworld Drive, Versace penthouse, Main Beach. Image supplied. Source: Supplied

EVERYWHERE the eye looks must see a feature.

This was the brief versed by Santo Versace when the Milan fashion house he presides over built the worlds first fully fashion-branded hotel Palazzo Versace, at Main Beach, in 2000.

And the quote sums up everything and more about the avant-garde hotels dual-level penthouse and its $5.89 million price tag.

For the past eight years it has been an escape for Canberra couple Maureen and Richard Tindale but they have reluctantly decided to sell.

PALATIAL PENTHOUSE QUINTESSENTIAL VERSACE

The wow factor technically starts at the driveway, which lays claim to the second-largest pebble mosaic in the world. It continues past the magnificent 750kg chandelier in the hotel lobby, beyond a 65m lagoon and man-made beach, to one of just two dual-level rooftop penthouses in the world-famous six-star hotel.

This penthouse, along with 200 luxury hotel suites and 71 condominiums, encompasses the hotels design features that fuse the opulence of European palaces and classical architecture from Rome with Versaces logo.

It is wow from the front door but not from the rich parquetry flooring, Persian rugs or marble imported from Carrara and the Benedictine monks in Italy, but from the stunning views of the Gold Coast.

65/94 Seaworld Drive, Main Beach. Image supplied. Source: Supplied

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Palatial penthouse at Main Beach

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Photograph by George Sakkestad The back wall of the Millbrook Stone shop on E. Main Street is covered with master molds that give customers an idea of the decorative patterns that can be applied to things like fireplaces and kitchen hoods. Gary Edwards, left, and Barry Tripp are master stone carvers who learned their trade in England.

There's a new shop in Los Gatos that's run by two childhood friends whose back story is unusual, to say the least: They are master stone carvers. It's an occupation you don't hear about too often these days, but the finished products made by Gary Edwards and Barry Tripp are really pieces of art.

Edwards and Tripp own Millbrook Stone at 32 E. Main St. in Los Gatos. The quality of their work is on display at the shop, but it's also seen in houses and buildings from San Francisco to Carmel.

Currently, the pair is working on homes in Saratoga and Monte Sereno.

Edwards and Tripp hail from the village of Longburton in Dorset, England.

"It's very rural with about 1,200 residents," Edwards said. "It has a church, a pub and farms. You blink and you've gone through it."

Realizing there were very few career opportunities in Longburton, Edwards and Tripp decided to learn the art of stone carving. They attended masonry school and later apprenticed with master carvers while working on historical buildings throughout England.

Then, they received a commission from a Los Gatos resident in the mid-1980s. "We carved stone for his house in England and brought it over here and installed it," Tripp said.

Edwards added, "We came over with 70 tons of stone, plus all our hand tools."

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Los Gatos: Master stone carvers bring new life to old trade

Gazebos from Forest Gardens available at MKM
Require a space for quiet contemplation? From seating areas (such as arbours, arches and pergolas) to larger garden buildings and summerhouses, MKM have a wide range of ethically sourced ...

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Gazebos from Forest Gardens available at MKM - Video

Vendors prepare for the home and garden show /Jacqueline Schutte

OTTUMWA, IOWA -- Vendors are setting up for the 22nd annual Ottumwa Home and Garden show this weekend.

Eightyvendors are present, and event organizers say that means about 80 different ideas for home renovations.

They are presenting cabinets, lawnmowers, landscaping, yard decorations, gazebos and appliances.

There will also be a few speakers at the event, including Pete Seyfer and Megan Turner from Alliant Energy Powerhouse from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.on Sunday.

Their program can be found on KTVO every Sunday at 5 p.m.

The Ottumwa Area Chamber of Commerce organized the event, and they say spring is a great time for getting home improvement ideas.

"A lot of times they'll come out and they'll have an idea of what they want to do for new cabinets or landscaping or they just come over with no idea in mind but then they pick up ideas as they get here," said Tim Kurtz, Executive Director of the Ottumwa Area Chamber of Commerce.

A $5 admission will be charged for the event.

Friday March 6 from 3 p.m. - 8 p.m.

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Vendors prepare for 22nd annual Home and Garden Show

By Andy Morris Thursday 05 March 2015 Updated: 05/03 09:56

Buy photos Love Rugby Town.... Malcolm Freeman from Oxygen Graphics, Zoe Russell from ZHR Marketing and Simon Ainley from Garden Gate Flowers are helping to bring Rugbys first evening street food market to Jubilee Gardens tonight for the launch of 1st Thursdays. Picture by Jon Mullis 09.015.008.rug.jm1

LATE-night shopping comes to Rugby tonight (Thursday March 5) - alongside a food market and street entertainment.

The town centre will come alive after five with the launch of 1st Thursdays - a group of independent traders' idea to boost business by keeping shops open until 8pm and offering special promotions and street entertainment on the first Thursday of every month.

The first event will feature Rugby's first evening street food market at Jubilee Gardens, the Regent Place square where the Rupert Brooke statue stands.

Co-organiser Simon Ainley from Garden Gate Flowers explained the plan was to bring a party atmosphere to the town centre.

He said: Right in the heart of the town centre we have this lovely triangle of grass, trees and benches in which to soak up the delicious tastes and aromas of our street food chefs.

"It is an underused public space that we are delighted to be able to make the most of for our late night shopping extravaganza.

Its really going to be a fantastic event.

From 5-8pm visitors can eat under gazebos in Jubilee Gardens to the sounds of local musicians Ben Watts, Kate and the Moon Cats, Becki and The Dove and The Rattletones. Caterers include The Hungry Toad, Savanna Grill, The Vegan Grind House, The Jabberwocky, Big Daddies Diner and The Bournville Waffle Company.

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Shopping street party debuts in Rugby tonight

Swimmers using the Rotorua Lakes are being advised to stay out of the lakes ski lanes.

The lakes Harbour Master and maritime officers have received complaints from water skiers that swimmers are using the designated ski lanes when the lakes are busy, creating problems for skiers.

One complainant who received an infringement notice (fine) for exceeding five knots outside the ski lane said they had brought a learner wakeboard rider in slowly at a safe place where there were no swimmers, because they had counted 23 swimmers in the ski lane. Later in the day there were more than 40, including small children.

Lakes Harbour Master Pererika Makiha said the ski lanes were designated to keep both swimmers and skiers safe, and swimmers should stay clear of the designated lanes. However signage designating the ski lane was often obscured by vehicles and gazebos.

"Skiing from shore is only permitted within the designated ski access lane or reserved ski area," he said.

"People also need to remember that water skiing is a three-person sport. You must carry an observer who is over 10 years of age. The skier must wear a lifejacket and ski in an anticlockwise direction."

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Swimmers advised to stay out of lake ski lanes

Move over foreign drivers, now foreign swimmers are putting themselves in danger by straying into the wrong lane.

It's got to the point where Bay of Plenty Regional Council has had to issue a warning to swimmers to keep out of designated ski lanesin Rotorua lakes.

According to Rotorua Wake & Ski Club president Ian Barker, it's a theme that echoes some of the problems seen on New Zealand roads, where tourists seem to not follow the rules.

"It's always a problem because we've got lots of tourists in the area who don't understand that our ski access lanes mean that boats can speed in with a skier behind them into that area, so if a swimmer is in there it's certainly very dangerous," he said.

"Our harbour master is very good at putting signage up, but it's always an issue trying to get people to read signs."

Lakes Harbour Master Pererika Makiha said maritime officers had received complaints from water-skiers that swimmers were using the ski lanes when the lakes were busy.

One complainant who received an infringement notice for exceeding 5 knots outside the ski lane said they had brought a learner wake-board rider in slowly at a safe place where there were no swimmers because they had counted 23 swimmers in the ski lane.

Later that day, the number exceeded 40, some of them small children.

Ski lanes were designated to keep both swimmers and skiers safe, and swimmers needed to keep clear of the designated lanes,Makiha said.

"Skiing from shore is only permitted within the designated ski access lane or reserved ski area," he said.

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Tourist swimmers in the spotlight, as well as drivers