ten cent trip

Cracker Barrel isn't my favorite place to eat, but I do love the shop...and whenever I do stop in, I make sure to buy a dollar's worth of the 10 cent candy sticks. My favorite? Clove. It's not really sweet...not really spicy...it's just right. And it's a flavor that reminds me of my Grandma's house. She always had a small dish of candy out...peppermints, the aqua & white kind...life savers, any kind, for my Grandpa... and clove. I know the clove is her favorite. I don't think I liked it back then, but now? It's one of my favorites, because it is hers. My memories of times with Grandma D are tucked close to my heart- "dough boys" on Sunday mornings, lunch at Friendly's with a Friendly Frank and a Friendly Cola, her driving ridiculously fast down a very dangerous hill so we could have that flittery feeling in our tummies, a fancy dinner out where I first had the "intermezzo course" of sorbet. When I go to visit her at my Mom's house, I try to remember to bring her a clove stick, or two- and she gives her giggle of excitement, and then we hug. She says I'm the best hugger...Funny, I think she's pretty good, too.