Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

The Easthampton Bear Fest 2009 has begun. On Thursday night Easthampton celebrated with a Welcome the Bears Party! a Mardi Gras themed party held at Eastworks and catered by Apollo Grill. Party goers had the opportunity to view the over 130 proposals and vote for their favorite. The judges are going to have their hands full. There are only 30 life sized fiberglass bear sculptures and every one of the proposals I saw was amazing! On Friday, a Free Family Welcome the Bears Party took place at Eastworks. It was an opportunity for kids as well as adults to see the unpainted bears, view the proposals and vote for their favorite Local artists were on hand to help the kids make their own bear masks. CREATE Children's Art Studio hosted a "decorate your own bear" day. Kira created cute "bear statutes" to give little artists the opportunity to paint or otherwise decorate their own bear. A special bear will be marching with the Easthampton City Arts contingent in the Holyoke St. Patrick's Day Parade (want to be involved? -- contact Easthampton Bear Fest or the Easthampton City Arts for information) and on June 13th there will be Bear unveiling during Art Walk! The Bears will be on display around the down town area for four months and the event will culminate October 11 -18 with a week long celebration of the arts, a gala ball and the auction of the Bears! The proceeds will benefit Eathampton public schools art programs, Riverside Industries Art Program, provide commmissions to the artists who decorate the Bears and to help sustain Easthampton City Arts.At Laurel Mountain Basket Company, we love bears! Our Bear-y-Special Gift Basket is one of the gift baskets we are featuring for Mother's Day this year and bears of all sizes in our large assortment of baby gift baskets.

Tea For Two Or Just For You!

I loved coffee. I would drink pots of the rich, delicious liquid every day. A treat for me was a trip to the new Starbucks in town for a Grande. Forget the biscotte or other sweet bakery treats offered as an afternoon boost. Give me a tall, hot cup of coffee!

Not today. Today I'll still enjoy a cup of coffee after a dinner out, or a breakfast meeting, but today my drink of choice is tea. In my Gift Basket shop I carry an assortment of teas as part of my inventory and I like to taste test the product I sell. I especially like to test chocolates and cookies, and I let my husband test the salsas and bar-b-que sauces. My dogs love to test the dog cookies and new toys! Anyway, I started testing the variety of teas I was offering and found that I really enjoyed the green teas and the white teas.

We have a local tea blender, The Tea Guys where I get some really exciting teas. Being from Massachusetts, and featuring many designs themed for Cape Cod, I use a lot of their Cranberry Harvest tea. It really captures the sweet-tangy taste associated with cranberries.

I find drinking a warm mug of tea sooths my spirit so I use teas in many of our bereavement and get well gift baskets. I'll often choose a green tea or fruit tea to compliment a gift basket filled some short breads and butter cookies while I'll use a stronger breakfast tea or Earl Gray with heartier fare such as pancake mix and locally produced maple syrup. No matter what teas I use, we top our cello wrapped gift baskets with beautifully crafted, colorful bows.

So, the next time you are looking for a really great gift idea for the tea drinker in your life, you'll find a great selection at http://www.laurelmtbasket.com/ . We're working on our 2009 line of gift baskets for Mother's Day. Be sure to check them out while your there.

Thanks

Marie

Best In Show

On February 9th and 10th we'll be watching a group of real champions at the 133rd Westminster Dog Show at Madison Square Garden. 169 breeds and varieties of dogs will be judged in seven different groups: Hounds, Terriers, Non-Sporting, Sporting, Herding, Working and Toy. One dog from each group is named Best In Breed and one will be judged Best In Show.
Last year after the show, we asked our clients to send us photos of their "champions" and tell us a little about them.
Our dog Dana holds the distinction of being judged Best in the Herding class again this year. We may be a little prejudice but she's still a champ at keeping our home from being overrun by chipmunks and squirrels.
Best in the Sporting class goes to our Chocolate Lab friend Sadie. I understand that you'd better not miss a shot while bird hunting with Sadie because she'll give you a look that lets you know you are totally incompetent and strongly suggests that you go back the range for more practice. Sadie just had her first litter. She and her nine puppies are doing fine, it's her human we are concerned about. While she is at the kennel, he's having to work on the house and drive around in his pick up truck all by himself.
Best of the Working class was the most difficult to judge. Many of our clients' dogs work very hard with their humans all day long. Gunner, Julee, and Sparky's owners all have home offices in which the dogs work very hard watching over their mistresses.
Our boy Fox is hands down winner in the Toy class. There is no toy in the world that does not belong to Fox and he will let you know in no uncertain terms. Just ask his sister Dana. But she has the game all figured out. She steals his "toy de jour" while he's eating and parades around with it until he is in tears.
A big silver loving cup is nice, but our champions prefer a more dog friendly prize, like their very own personalize doggie treat tin filled with lots of yummy treats and toys or a Best In Show Gift Basket with enough toys to keep them entertained for hours. We also have great gift baskets for people too! Visit us at www.laurelmtbasket.com .