Charlie and me buzzed over to the Agway, Saturday. He was picking up his snow blower, which was in for a tune up, and I wanted to get some more bulbs to sneak into the ground. You know, before it’s too late. I got some assorted tulips and daffodils. Come spring, you can’t have enough of them, in my opinion. Those hopeful, green shoots pokin’ their way up out of the remaining patches of snow. Then, gorgeous flowers: red, yellow, pink, orange! It perks my spirit up, no end.

Ran into Pearl Plaisted at the A&P this week. She was doing a little pre-holiday shopping.

“Hi there, Pearl,” I says, as I’m ringing her out. “I see you’re gonna to be making some pies for Thanksgiving.”

“Yup! Desserts are my department. My daughter Sally cooks the main meal. Oh, and I’m responsible for the homemade cranberry sauce.”

“Yum! I bet that’s good. Where’s your side kick?” I ask, referring to her husband.

I run into my cousin Ronnie’s daughter, Shannon, down to the Wally Mart the other day. She was there with her friend, Emily. They’re cute girls, both in their mid-twenties, unattached. You should have seen their shopping cart loaded to the gills with paper towels, toilet paper, feminine products and about twenty bottles of Oil of Olay.

“Wow,” I says, “would you look at that haul!”

“We’ve been couponing!” Shannon says. “Got some wicked good deals, too.”

“I’ll bet.”

I know, I know, I should probably be talking about last week’s storm. How no one can believe we had snow like that before Halloween; how the power was out a couple of days; how there’s still folks without power. (Can you believe that?) ‘Round these parts, ‘bout all you could hear was the sound of people whining and generators doing their thing. You got your little portable ones that give you a few lights, heat, fridge, and hot water all the way up to what we call the “Taj Mahal,” where life goes on without interruption.