No, that's not sarcasm. I look forward to it every year, usually starting around Thanksgiving. The 3 main challenges at my house are leaves and soil tracked in by the dogs, leaves dropped by all the withering plants I drag inside every year because they look so pretty in October that I can't stand the thought of leaving them to freeze outside, and the ever present cat hair. Is it just me, or is it hard to feel like cleaning is effective with all the windows closed and dreary winter light to illuminate the task? So, I always look forward to that first weekend that's warm enough for me to drag all the plants back outside, along with dog beds...
In 2017, I completed Master Gardener training, given by the University of Missouri Extension. The importance of note taking, record keeping and documentation was addressed and I took it to heart. My current residence, where I've lived since early 2005, has given me an enormous number of challenges, from which I've learned. Unfortunately, I never kept notes or records of what I've done, or what I've learned, so I'm guilty of committing repeat offenses. In an effort to combat the problem, in late spring of 2017, I wrote GARDEN on the cover of a partially used spiral notebook, and put it in my sunroom, with great plans to make that my garden journal. Number of entries made in that notebook...
We continue our series of posts featuring the namesakes for Sal Romano’s adorable dog pillows with “Muey the Shih Tzu”, the pillow that began it all. Described as, “Always slightly scruffy, but with a heart of gold”, the Muey pillow was the first to be run in our catalog, and was such a hit with the customers that we soon added numerous other pups to the pack. Muey was my baby girl. She was eight years old when she and her father, Shoji, came to live with me. They had been put up for adoption by a lovely young woman named Jamie who had recently joined the army, and could not find a family member able to take them. I...
We've been proudly offering dog breed pillows featuring the fanciful artwork of Sal Ramano for several seasons. We gave all of Sal's subjects a name when we created the catalog page. You might be thinking that those were just random names we made up to give the pillows their own characters, but no, those are names of actual dogs known and loved by member of the Linda Anderson staff. More blog posts will be coming to introduce you to each of them. This first post, however, introduces you to the namesake of our product number 636029 that the entire staff knows and loves. Meet Chevy, the Blue Heeler. The picture was taken just moments before I sat down to write...
A dainty little pot of scrumptiousness. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of enjoying a pot de crème, it is a lusciously rich treat that you will always remember and be eager to order again at any opportunity. To be honest, I can’t say what is was that first drew me to Pots de Crème over a decade ago – was it the promise of the dessert’s divine creaminess, or was it the enchanting lidded pots they were served in? All I knew was that no crème brulee or flan could compare to the flavor and texture of this magical dessert. I scoured the internet for recipes, tried as many as the waistband on my pants would allow, and...
