Today is Halloween. I can't remember if Mom and Dad had candy for the kids last year. I think they were gone, maybe. But in the past, they had candy for the trick-or-treaters. Although it was usually just tootsie rolls or dum-dum suckers, they DID do something. I guess they liked seeing the kids. I used to tease Mom about the fact they would only give them "one" tootsie roll each (and these there the tiny ones!), and she'd say, "Those kids go all over town. They get enough candy!" She was right. I Street usually got hit hard. People would come in from the county and drop their kids off in carloads. When we were kids, Dad would get a pumpkin and carve it. He even did this for me when I was in college (and maybe even when I lived there after college. ) His Jack-O-Lantern's always looked the same. They had triangle eyes and nose; a few teeth. He'd take a black crayon and draw it on first, then cut it precisely in his engineer way. He'd draw lines down the pumpkin to make sure the eyes and everything were exactly straight and centered. Then he'd put a can cut in half in there for the candle. It would sit on this black wrought iron table we had on the front porch. One time Mom bought a red devil costume for me. This is what I had wanted. I can't remember any other store bought costumes. We usually just threw things we had together to make a costume. That's all I remember.

When I was a kid, Mom used to buy Brach's Mellowcremes this time of year. It got so that we had to buy it every year. It had to be Brach's. It had pumpkins, moons, black cats, bats, corn, haystacks, jugs, cat faces... maybe some others. It tastes like candy corn pretty much, but the yellow ones had sort of a lemony flavor and the brown ones a chocotatly flavor. The jugs had a maple flavor. It is hard to find that assortment anymore. You can buy candy corn and pumpkins, but that's about it. Mom wasn't really into sweets that much, but she liked this candy. I looked for it this year, but haven't found any, so I'm settling for candy corn. I'm on my second bag so far...

October is my favorite month (but not so much this year). I love the fall colors. Mom and I went to Nashville and Brown County every year in October. We went every year probably since sometime in the late 80’s. When I lived in Chicago those two years, I would come back home in October so we could go. It was just Mom and me. We would go to Nashville first and shop and eat lunch at the Hob Nob or The Ordinary. There were certain stores we always went to: The Olde Bartley House, Trilogy Gallery, the Art Barn (when Bruce Humes was still alive and painting), Village Candlemaker, For Bare Feet, Lawrence Glass Blowers, The Alley Shoppe, Caramel Corn Cottage, Mainstreet, and another shop on the main street that I can’t remember the name of—she usually bought something in there. I’ll have to think about the name.

The Olde Bartley House: she bought potpourri in there, a gift for Joe and Judy once. She loved Bruce Humes’ paintings. She had 4 in the living room and one time she bought me one, so now I have 5. Even if she wasn’t in the market to buy, she always wanted to go to the art barn and look at his stuff. We always went to the Trilogy, but rarely bought anything! We just liked to look at the stuff. It was kind of pricey but really neat furniture and decorations. One time she did buy me this woven footstool and I still have it and use it daily. Right now it is in my bedroom and I sit on it to put my shoes on. Not sure where it will go in the “new” house, but I will definitely use it somewhere. She bought it for me when I was living in Bloomington in my apartment, so that would have been around 1990. We always stopped in the Village Candlemaker, and she almost always bought something. A candle, votive holder, tea lights, decorative “candle ring” (she had lots of those)—stuff like that. But she almost always bought something. She bought me a red, stained glass votive holder in there once. I still have it. Don’t remember buying much in the Alley Shoppe except little Dachshund figures. They used to have a section just for dog stuff, and it became a thing for her to buy something “Dachshund” for me in there. Now I have all these little Dachshund figures. I liked For Bare Feet for the same reason—they have dog stuff. Socks, pillows, etc. Last year when Mom and I went, I bought this little stuffed Dachshund and some tiny Dachsie socks for Maggie. Mom and Dad were going up for Maggie’s baptism, and I wanted Mom to take them to her. Mom didn’t go in the store that time. She waited outside on a bench. I remember coming out and showing the stuffed dog. Then there was the Glass Blowers Shop. She almost always bought glass Christmas ornament in there. She really liked those. I can really only remember one time when she didn’t buy one. When she made a purchase, she would keep the receipt or business card and write on there what she bought so she would remember the next time where to get it. I always had to buy caramel corn at the Caramel Corn Cottage. ALWAYS. It was my thing. They make the best caramel corn I have ever had and I only get it once a year. And, we almost always bought fudge somewhere—most recently at the Sweetwater Gallery, I believe. We would buy fudge to take home to Dad, who took care of Sophie while we were gone.

Now that I think about it, Mom wasn’t feeling very well last year. The prednisone was making her tired and we didn’t go until later in the day because she always had pain in the mornings from the PMR. I thought maybe she wouldn’t want to go, but she did. I am so glad. But because of all this, we didn’t stop in Brown County State Park on our way home. We had done so in the past, but we decided we’d just do it “next year”. The year before, I think, we had visited places in there we hadn’t before. We went to Ogle Lake and Strahl Lake and walked around. It was a beautiful day and took pictures. Mom bought a pass each year to the State Parks. She loved to whip that thing out so we didn’t have to pay. Usually, though we would just drive around and look at the scenic views.

By this time it would be around 4:00 or so, the sun starting to go down, so we would head to Bloomington. We would eat somewhere (Red Lobster, Mark Pei, Olive Garden) and maybe do some more shopping at the Mall, Target, Osco. Whatever we felt like. We didn’t have an agenda. Our agenda was just to spend the day together. We always had a good time. I would always drive. I liked driving her and taking care of her. She would have to get her “pillow” out of the La Sabre so she could sit up higher, and every time I had to hear how I didn’t have a trash can in the car. I would always clean out the car, though, the night before and maybe even wash it so it would be nice for her. We would get home about 7:00 or 8:00 (usually later!) and if Dad heard us, he’d come out on the front porch while we got Mom’s bags and things out of the car. He’d look at his watch and say, “Hell’s Fire!” like my God, what had we been doing all day and what all did Mom buy? But he was just playing. Then we would go in and show him what we bought. We always bought some kind of sweet treat for him. I’d say it was his reward for taking care of Sophie all day. Mom would usually forget that pillow and I’d have to take it in to her.

This year, I will not be going to Nashville. Aside from being too busy with the house and moving, I’m just not up to it. It will never be the same again and I am afraid I would miss her so much this time. It was such an event for us. I might try it next year. This is the 13^th. We would probably be going this week, as we liked to go over there during the peak of fall color. Last year we went on October 10th. We always went during the week—too crowded on the weekends. I would take a vacation day. I always wanted it be perfect when we went. Mom would watch the weather and pick a good day. Only one time I can remember it raining. A few times it was cold. But usually, it was a beautiful Fall day and we enjoyed the weather and each other’s company.

I miss you so very much, Mom.

Love,

Susie