Old Economy Village is offering a Progressive Trades Adult Workshop 8:30 a.m.- 2:30 p.m. May 13.
Participants will gain an appreciation for how a 19th-century tradesman practiced his craft. This class will introduce individuals to: blacksmithing, cabinetry, tin smithing, tanning, working leather and carving slate. Participants can choose to craft a tin-punch lantern or a decorative slate wall hanging. They will be using the same methods and tool types used by craftsmen over the centuries. Registration and prepayment are required by Monday. The cost is $65, which includes lunch. Details: 724-266-4500, ext. 101.
Wedgie: A tool for arthritis sufferers
Chicago gardener Cookie Wherry is out to give the Wedgie a good name. Not the junior high prank. This one's a gardening tool.
Wherry, an arthritis sufferer, invented the Wedgie to create planting holes with less mess and wrist strain than digging with a trowel. The plastic, wedge-shaped gardening tool is simply inserted into loose soil and rocked back and forth and side to side to create the hole.
The Wedgie can be ordered by writing a check for $16 to Wherry Enterprises of Illinois Inc. and mailing it to Wherry Enterprises, 1 E. Schiller St., Suite 5D, Chicago, IL 60610. A printable order form can be found at www.wedgie.biz .
Learn how to create cards
Sending a greeting card tells the recipient you thought about him. Making a greeting card tells the recipient he's special.
You can learn how to craft cards that send that added message with "Creative Cards," a new book by designer Paula Pascual. The book teaches the techniques involved in card making, then presents instructions for 27 projects including announcements, party invitations and birthday and holiday cards. Each project carries a symbol to indicate the time required.
"Creative Cards" is published by Firefly Books and is priced at $19.95 in softcover.
Audubon Society's plant sale today
The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania will hold a plant sale featuring more than 80 plant species native to the region. The Audubon Center for Native Plants Spring Sale will go from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. today at the society's Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve, 612 Dorseyville Road in Fox Chapel. Native plant experts will be available to answer questions at the show. Details: 412-963-6100.
HGTV features zippiest housing areas
Everyone knows that real estate values are hot all over, but some ZIP codes are hotter than others. Now, HGTV plans to show us which ones, in the new special "Hot Zips" at 10 p.m. May 15.
Using real estate sales and appreciation data from 2005 and 2006, plus perceived "trendiness" factors, producers picked ZIPs in eight cities to showcase.
"Trendiness, which can't be quantified, quite often comes from word-of-mouth, brokers and newspaper articles," says Brett Alexander of CBS News Productions, which made the special. "For instance, (33139 in Miami's) South Beach has high appreciation -- and it attracts celebrities."
Some surprises: Philadelphia, often lamented as a city in decline, nevertheless has ZIP 19103, or Rittenhouse Square downtown, which is becoming the "6th Borough" of New York City.
And "all I knew about San Antonio (the historic district Alamo Heights in ZIP 78209) was the Alamo and the Spurs," Alexander says. "But it's the best value for your dollar in housing in the country."
Rounding out the list: Phoenix (85034), Las Vegas (89103), Naples, Fla. (34102), Austin (78767) and Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood (11211).
