Buzz: Christmas keepsakes from Stewart’s – Times Union

Fans of Stewart’s Shops now can have a holiday reminder of their favorite coffee: coffee cup ornaments for the Christmas tree. A limited supply went on sale last weekend, priced at $8.99 each. It’s the first year that Stewart’s is offering these souvenir ornaments in its 74-year history. Each ornament, in the shape of a small coffee cup, comes with the year on it.

We have a friend who has collected various ornaments through the years, including an extensive collection of Troy’s Victorian Stroll commemorative ornaments. Perhaps this is the year she’ll find a tiny ceramic coffee cup under her tree.

Spare a spore?

The FT Weekend’s House & Home section last month gave a brief shout-out to Green Island-based Ecovative Design in its story on all the uses being found for mycelium, the root structure of fungus. Ecovative has been a pioneer in developing uses for the material, including as a substitute for plastic foam packing materials that it supplies to Ikea, the FT reported.

But mycelium also is being used to create furnishings and items ranging from lampshades to coolers that keep wine chilled. Maybe someday it can even be used as a replacement for the polystyrene coffee cups and similar containers that seem to litter the region’s roadways.

Happy at work?

Then consider yourself fortunate. A website, comparisun.com, researched how happy workers are in each state, including such variables as hours worked, income and commuting time. The happiest workers were found in Montana, North Dakota and Utah, while the least happy were in New York, Illinois and New Jersey.

We’re guessing commuting time must have played a role. When we think of Montana or North Dakota, traffic congestion is the last thing that comes to mind.  But there’s plenty of congestion in New York and the other two states.

New York came in worst. Other than miserable commutes, we at The Buzz are pretty happy. Then again, we don’t try to head north on the Northway at 5 p.m.

Summer gifts

With the possibility of a winter storm later today, some of us are already looking forward to summer. The Saratoga Race Course has just the gift.

For the first time, Saratoga will offer Grandstand and Clubhouse season passes as holiday gifts for next summer’s meet. Grandstand passes are $50 while Clubhouse passes are $75. They’ll be available beginning Cyber Monday, Dec. 2, at NYRA.com/Saratoga.

And if you’re feeling really generous, you can include reserved parking in your gift. The clubhouse season pass with trackside parking costs $195, while a grandstand pass with parking on the north side of Union Avenue is $125.

Passes don’t include reserved seats. But you will also be enrolled in Saratoga Season Perks, a program offering discounts at area retailers, restaurants and attractions.

Passes purchased by next Saturday, Dec. 7, will be delivered in time for holiday giving, according to NYRA. Apparently, their delivery system isn’t quite as fast as their thoroughbreds.

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