random thoughts – Day 2,188 (Saturday) – corned beef and devil dogs

The weather mood swings continue. There was fresh snow on the lawn and the bushes this morning when I hauled myself out of bed. During the course of the morning, it was cloudy, it snowed again at varying intensities, and it rained frozen ice pellets. Then the sun came out.

Irish at the British.

There was a plan to meet my sister and her husband, and Mom and StepDad at the British American Club for their annual corned beef and cabbage Irish dinner. The food was good, the tables were decorated with little pots of fake clover and green and white carnations, and at times the music was just too loud to talk, but then the volume was adjusted and it was good.

It was an afternoon at a table with family and friends talking about a variety of topics including scammers and fraud protection, crazy stories from my sister's job at a credit union, and electric utility costs. The elders left before we got to the good stuff  like stalkers, stupid songs we had to sing in elementary school (“Get Along Home Cindy, Cindy, I’ll marry you some day” still randomly invades my brain and hangs out for too long), updates on pets, and hated adult chores like grocery shopping and daily cooking. We laughed over our childhood family car trips from Massachusetts to Fort Worth, Texas and Lantana, Florida in the summer heat with no A/C. We tallied up who fainted at which vacation spot (Sis was Disney World, I was Six Flags over Texas and West Point). The usual. It was fun.

On the way home, I stopped at Dollar General. There was no particular reason other than when I am near the place I go in. Then, while walking around it seemed I should have a reason to be there. After roaming the entire store, I ended up buying a new hand soap for the kitchen and Devil Dogs that were on special two boxes for $5. I was more of a Ring Ding fan as a kid and my brother liked Devil Dogs. I thought about him when I bought them. Really, I bought them because of him. It will be five years this summer since he removed himself from this world and some days the hole feels bigger than other days. Today, I tried to feed the hole in my heart with a mass-produced snack my brother liked. 

Devil Dogs.

The “Mochaccino” Devil Dog flavor is an update for the modern palate and it’s pretty good. I still think Ring Dings are better conceptually because they are covered in chocolate, but now that Ring Dings aren’t wrapped in foil anymore, they have lost a bit of their flavor edge. Maybe tomorrow I’ll dip some Devil Dogs in chocolate and see how those are. It would involve chocolate, so it won't be awful.