Coming Down ~ Blast from the Past

Anyone out there with Christmas lights still up outside?  Not on, but up?  Come one, you can admit it.

With the snow finally melted, and the wind and rain and rotten weather finally giving us a break, our lights are coming down.  Today's the day.

They were looking so hideous out there at this time of year too.  I think Hubby will appreciate them down now.  He's working yet another long day (on Sunday of all days).

Yesterday, in a matter of a few hours, my morning spring air turned cold.  And then it came again.  Snow.  Ha.  At this point in the season, one can only laugh right?

So the weather botched my day on the porch, but that's okay.  By 5:00pm, and a long day, and kids off to two parties in two directions, I donned my PJ's and hunkered down with my book.  We started up both stoves, and thank goodness, I still had homemade hot chocolate. 

Of course birthday parties mean that the kids needed birthday gifts, so we picked up some candy to put in the gift bag.  I brought home these three to share with the rest of the family.  I wanted to share a "blast" from my past.

My father part owned a drug store, which had what we called a fountain (food counter with stools, and booths).  It also had a candy display that included penny candy.  This was the place you went to before you went to the movie theater next door.  You'd get a bargain for your movie snacks here.  This is the place I worked at, as a young teenager.  My first job.

 (photo from BGSU Center for Archival Information)

I remember buying the Chiclets in the box.  These today are similar, but they don't have the see-through window on the box.  I used to buy the Chunky bar too.  In my childhood, I bought the milk chocolate one.  I remember the gum shaped and wrapped in paper, just like a cigarette.  I remember us pretending to smoke them, and blowing the powder out the end, that came on the gum.  Ha! 

I remember the root beer barrel candy, the dum dum suckers, and more.  I remember serving coffee at $.35 a cup, plus $.02 tax, and free refills.  I remember the sandwiches we sold - egg salad, tuna salad, ham salad (which we made with ground bologna, which we ground ourselves), and chicken salad.  I remember selling sloppy joes (when we had it by my work shift time), hot dogs, and hot soups. I remember the hard scoop ice cream (not the sloppy, foamy, fake soft stuff they sell today) - vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and butter pecan.  We made the most awesome shakes around town, and had the absolute best hot fudge topping.    I can remember my nightly clean up routine like it was yesterday.  I remember helping my older brother with janitorial work some nights too - emptying the trash, sweeping and mopping and cleaning the bathrooms.

Isn't it funny how a few pieces of candy and bring me to think about so many past memories of one place?   I think I will go jot down some thoughts into a journal today.  

......because those thoughts, will trigger other memories and cause a chain reaction.  I better write it down while it's hot on  my mind.