It was a sad Halloween; the first without kids here as a home base or trawling the neighborhood. Nora was off at a friend’s, in another neighborhood, so there was absolutely no reason for me to walk around the block and observe their decorations and/or home improvements since last year.

So I sat home and greeted what seemed to be even fewer trick or treaters than normal. It may have been a result of the kids on the block growing up, but it seemed a preponderance of houses had their lights off this year, probably dissuading marauding gangs of costumed kids to waste their time.

Halloween is a game of numbers, better to try luck at overdecorated houses on Brace Street or move over to zombie alley on Four Mile Road.

Still, Nora came home with a decent sized bag of candies (in a plastic Target bag; I was mortified) that I felt a need to categorize like it was a normal year.

The results follow.

Of course I don’t know if the results have been altered by what she’s already eaten, traded or given away.

Having said that: Snickers was the top candy with 8 but in three different sizes. Three FunSize, three even smaller Minis, and two fullsize; the only full sizes of the night. M&Ms were next; all funsize, three peanut three plain. There were six funsize Almond Joys, five individual Reese’s peanut butter cups.

There were just two Butterfingers, two Kit Kat bars, two Twixt. One lowly Hershey bar funsized. And a Ghiradelli square of white mint, possibly the most pretentious offering.

Of the non chocolate offerings, There were two smaller packs of Sour Patch, two of Swedish Fish and twoof brands less familiar to me: Life Savers Gummies Spiders, which is just too many plurals in a label, and two Trolli Sour Frite Crawlers.

There were just two Tootsie Pops, both raspberry.

There was one pack of Skittles, one of Wonka Bottle Caps, one AirHeads.

I was concerned about the final two selections: a fourpack of crackers and peanut butter (really?); and the Starburst variations. There was one two pack funsize and two indivudual pieces of Starburst, red and pink.

Not sure if she had already opened a package or somebody along the way was really cheaping out.