Brainstorming for metaphors between cooking and baseball is how it all started. The bouncing back and forth of ideas lets them become much more than they could have been without the teamwork. Pati Grady, the founder of the Cooperstown Cookie Company, is open to all sorts of ideas. She has set up the perfect climate for creativity and productivity.

In a fresh new company there are so many possible places to use watercolors. The web site, the newsletter, the cookie tin itself, gift tags, cards, T-shirts and endless other possibilities as the company grows.

Going to food shows to look, concert and holiday baking extravaganzas at Pathfinder Village, being at a tasting table at special events at the Baseball Hall of Fame, watching people try the cookies and smile; all of these experiences become natural ingredients for batches of drawing brainstorms. Pati sifts through and chooses the ones to be put into production.

Then back to the studio and the watercolors and brushes and paper. The challenge is to keep the freshness of the loose sketches as they are transformed into more detailed, refined paintings.

I love the cookies; Classic Baseball Shortbread, and also the satisfaction of knowing that they are delicious and natural. It is exiting too to celebrate this special American passion in a new way. The cookies make people happy and are helping to support Pathfinder Village.