Today I had breakfast (which turned into lunch) with my sister. As a "birthday gift" she gave me a package of Circus Peanuts because she remembered that I liked them as a kid. I guess my husband liked them too since we ended up splitting the package. I was amused at how memories rushed at me with just one bite of a sugar-y peanut-shaped marshmallow.
One summer Kim and I stayed with good family friends in Minnesota while our parents were moving us from Sioux City to Charles City. We were 9 and 11 years old. This family owned the only grocery store and every day we were allowed to walk down to say "Hi" to Schmitty and to spend a little of our money at the candy sections. 
The store also boasted a pop machine from which you pulled your bottle out of a column of sodas. Grape was an especial favorite.
The store also boasted a pop machine from which you pulled your bottle out of a column of sodas. Grape was an especial favorite.I remember those candies: Pixy Sticks, wax lips, Bottle Caps, Bazooka Bubble Gum, candy necklaces, salt water taffy, red hots, root beer barrels, etc. We could walk to the store with a quarter in our pockets and bring back the change.
It's amazing how tastes and flavors can trigger memories. I can't remember ever taking time to think of these vintage candies. Yet now a number of pleasant scenes from childhood remind me what great fun it was to be a kid and to have just a bit of candy in my pocket.For anyone with a hankering for a particular old-fashioned treat, I found a website which sells many of the candies you ate as a kids. It even seperates the candies by decades.
What candy do you remember?
