Word Is

Local niche catering business Ivy’s Cookin’ is celebrating 20 years in business. Check out Ivy’s vegetarian menu, designed as a convenient alternative to eating out, at ivyscookin.com   Pizza Research Institute is moving just a little farther down Blair, from 530 to 325 Blair Blvd. They’ll still be open until moving day in late April.   Continue reading 

It’s About Time – April 2013

April is the month we’ll be saying goodbye to most of the wintering waterfowl. I am going to miss the buffleheads. The resident early birds have already started nesting while many migrants are just arriving. They will be checking to see if the old nest is suitable for refurbishing for another season. If it is, they will soon start singing songs of domestic joy. The bushtit flocks don’t break up while nesting and feeding young. They do forage by themselves now, unaccompanied by their usual winter companions, juncoes and chickadees. Continue reading 

Crew’s Control

Rowing makes waves nationally - and at Dexter Lake

As the final bell rings at South Eugene High School, 40 girls trade their books for oars as they head to Dexter Lake, where they practice four days a week. Some members of the South Eugene Rowing Club have collegiate crew scholarships to look forward to, but for now, hard work into the early evening on this vast lake is solely in preparation for their third-to-last regatta of the spring season. Continue reading 

Hey Hippies! Country Fair Tickets!

This just in from the Oregon Country Fair's PR service:   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, March 29, 2013 Online pre-sale tickets for Oregon Country Fair Start April 1 VENETA, Ore. — Presale sale tickets for the 44th Annual Oregon Country Fair (OCF) go on sale, April 1, 2013, exclusively through TicketsWest.com. Continue reading 

Easter

It started a long time ago, with a fella who may or may not have existed, and who may or may not have been crucified, buried and resurrected. Fact-or-fiction notwithstanding, Sunday, March 31, is Easter. For some, Easter Sunday is a devout and religious celebration in which the miraculous resurrection of God’s only son is remembered fondly and enjoyed accordingly. For others, it’s all about the chocolate, baby. Continue reading 

Gettin’ Clean in Eugene

The Growing crisis of opiate abuse in the Northwest

Opium has, and has always had, this country by the short hairs. But for myriad reasons, the dope epidemic in the U.S. tends to elude detection as the massive health crisis it is — reasons that are intricate and complex and interpenetrating, deriving almost in equal parts from public-policy myopia, bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo, political opportunism, inadequate social welfare, incompetent or absent education, rampant drug hysteria and the inexorable nature of addiction itself. Continue reading 

Trading Hands for Feet

Ashiatsu means massage by foot

Hands are often an integral part of massage therapy, but not for those who practice ashiatsu. Feet are their main instrument, used to smoothly work out all muscles of the body that are sore. Michelle Wallace practices ashiatsu, a form of barefoot massage therapy, through her massage studio, Feet First!, and welcomes anyone who wants to experience what she calls “bodysurfing.”  “It feels like a big wave of pressure that is moving down your spine and up your spine,” Wallace says. “It’s a broad, deep pressure that is relaxing.” Continue reading 

Dirty Derby

Scientists use roller girls to study bacteria

Tens of millions of bacteria are crawling on your skin and squirming in your gut and in your mouth. Thank goodness! Your microbiome — that’s the collection of tens of thousands of species crawling through you — plays a role in training the immune system, and some skin bacteria even helps prevent acne. But scientists are only beginning to understand the human microbiome. That’s where the Emerald City Roller Girls come in. Continue reading 

Peaceful Practices

Happiness starts in the mind

With the Dalai Lama visiting Eugene in May, there could be no better time to examine the peaceful practices that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, recommends for living a happier, healthier inner life. “I think the overall theme of his visit is the path of compassion and peace as a global remedy,” says Jigme Rinpoche, spiritual director and co-founder at Eugene Sakya Center. “Global does not mean an international theme — it means compassion as the foundation of every relationship in every moment of the day.” Continue reading 

Divine (Cross) Fits

CrossFit — the Cross-Training Exercise Program — Kicks You

Robin Runyan is a four-year CrossFit veteran and coach. She came to CrossFit because other workout and conditioning programs didn’t hold her attention; CrossFit’s quick pace, varying routines, close-knit community and friendly competition appealed to her. Runyan is with me at Eugene CrossFit, near Valley River Center, to guide and coach me through my first workout. I’m far from an exercise enthusiast, so I’m going to need all the help I can get. Continue reading