Ate a blueberry breakfast bagel this morning perched on the porch swing watching the world wake up. The overcast sky is a beautiful slab of marble streaked with blues and grays. The yard is quiet except for the birds crunching sunflower seeds and the tree’s leaves rustling. The wind chimes are playing their one ping pipe songs in the cool breeze. I just love sitting in the porch swing. Almost went to sleep it was so pleasant and comfortable.

My Penelope is sick, coughing like she has the whooping cough. She woke me up at the crack of dawn coughing. I’m waiting for middle brother’s vet clinic to open. She does this frequently from chowing down on something nasty she finds in the yard. I call myself watching her when I walk her but she managed to sneak a tidbit of something and wolf it down before I could stop her. I grew up with yard dogs that had cast iron stomachs and even ate leftover collards. Even after eight years I’m not used to having a delicate house dog. But…she’s saved us from three possums and a snake in the house, one snake on the porch, and she’s run a few raccoons off, too. Protects us from the UPS and FedX trucks and the mailman’s van, too. Let her hear an air break and she’s in combat mode! She is my tiny dachshund warrior!

Been nice in a way not having to wonder all day where I’ve put my cell phone. It died with the “black screen of death” yesterday. The world is really addicted to cell phones. It’s really freeing to not have one but I’ll be back in the real world when UPS delivers my new phone today or tomorrow. I just hope I can transfer everything over to the new phone. But with the screen dead I’ll probably have to manually put things in.

Don’t know how we ever traveled without Maps. I couldn’t get to my son’s house if the Maps app went out. Gonna pay more attention on my next drive up and not depend on the app. Chief was always my Maps app. I also research things and talk thoughts into the Notes app when I’m pondering on the porch. Like everything else the cell phones have good and bad features. Young people, especially girls do need them when they are old enough to drive. Unfortunately the world isn’t safe and innocent anymore. I feel safer when I travel because of the cell phone.

Went to Wally World on a short grocery list run this morning. Without the cell phone I couldn’t do a pick up order. Had a short list but as usual I’m amazed at the prices. Saw lots of empty shelves, too. But the purchase of the day was two bags of Brach’s candy corn!! I love candy corn! Had not thought about it till I took a short cut through the Halloween section and it called out to me. Bought two bags of the deliciousness. What’s not to like, it’s pure sugar, 15 pieces, 110 calories. That’s half of candy bar calories! Penelope would like to eat it too but I’m not sharing with her. Even put it in a pint jar so she could not figure a way to climb the desk and get the bag. The last trip to middle brother’s clinic before today involved a Hershey Kiss she wolfed, tinfoil and all! I told Brother she hadn’t eaten any. I had put them up but when he took her temperature he showed me the tinfoil on the thermometer. P can be sneaky when snacks are involved.

Don’t’ guess I’ll ever get over my candy addiction. I can remember the first time I got a piece of Doublemint chewing gum and the first time I ate a sweetart. My Uncle Bill always had chewing gum in shirt pocket. He came to one of my birthday parties when I was little and when he came in the front door he leaned down and told me “Happy Birthday” and handed me a stick of Wrigley’s Doublemint chewing gum. Been addicted every since. My grandmother Mama Doris gave me a little store display box of Doublemint gum one Christmas and I was thrilled to have so many packs at one time. Had bone tumor surgery as a teenager and oldest sister-in-law gave me a shoe box full of chewing gum and bubble gum. That was exciting!! Even got a bucket of bubble gum from a friend at work several years ago. You know me you know I’m a gum chewer.

One of my friends brought a package of sweetarts to school from his daddy’s store when we were in elementary school. I loved them! Made my mama take me to the store to get some after school that day. We always stopped at that store for a treat after going swimming at the Country Club pool. Used to buy the big round sweetarts and eat them on the band bus on Friday night football trips. They were so tart you’d get fever blister bumps on your tongue.

My candy of choice now is usually Hershey Kisses. A serving is 7 pieces so you can be reasonable and piggish at the same time. Oh! And the white powdered donuts…four is a serving. Don’t say no to those either. Got to keep my chubbiness up. Don’t want to be a skinny grandmother! I have to shade those babies in the summer and keep them warm in the winter!

“A little candy now and then is relished by the wisest men.” – Roald Dahl