THE PEANUT GALLERY: The Candy Man Can

Hear ye, here ye. I, the King of Candy Land, hereby declare it safe for Trick-or-Treating to commence in all my kingdom. And to ensure safe passage through the Gumdrop Forest and the Peppermint Pass, I have unleashed my trusty Tootsie Roll hound to protect my royal subjects:

The motivation for my decision, of course, is to make the day enjoyable for the Lollipop Princess. You may know her by her commoner's name, Peanut:

Thy royal mother-in-law (royal in several ways, if you know what I mean) actually MADE that costume out of a nearly-outgrown Tinkerbell dress. The alternative: spending a king's ransom on the actual costume ye royal princess saw in one of those overpriced catalogs. All of this, of course, worth it to see her finally, after five days of waiting following that wicked Hurricane Sandy, running from house to house in a blur:

Halloween brings joy to our our kingdom...

Perhaps most important, it brought a smile back to My Queen's face:

This one taken before the storm

I've been all Sandy, all the time for the past week. So I wanted to treat you to a fun diversion. But if you can, please help those affected by the storm by donating to one of the causes I linked to at the end of THIS POST. Every little bit helps. Thank you.