I Needed A Little Halloween

     For going on three weeks now I have been under siege by some genre of Frankenbug, some gnarly microbe,

...that not only refuses to die despite my copious ministrations,

​...but that continues to morph on a daily basis, one day presenting as a killer sore throat with headache, another as an agent of 24-hour dry coughing fits,  another as aching sinus congestion or a cruddy cough. Then my microbe takes a day off, leading me to think I'm finally on the road to recovery, only to return the following day in one of the old varieties or a new one,

...all of which has left me feeling  drained,  under sort of a physical and mental malaise, some days too tired to do any but the  most pressing tasks, like getting to work every day,
​     Or canvassing for Hillary,

...which I did for three hours on Saturday and another three hours yesterday, coughing and blowing my nose and dragging all the way.

    But  I felt driven, seeing as Hillary's been under a  malaise herself the past few days, and I'm starting to wonder if it's the recent election trends on I've been seeing on Fivethirtyeight, my election prognosticator of choice (see post from 10/10/2016),

...that have been giving me a case of blues-tinged anxiety on top of my Frankenbug, my election anxiety mayhaps  being  the real reason I've been feeling so extra- grody for the past few days.
     Until today, that is.
     Today I felt happy in spite of my headache and sniffles and Hillary's poll numbers.  Because today was Halloween.  I love Halloween.  I've always loved Halloween.  I loved it when I was young enough to go trick-or-treating, and I even remember being excited when I was 13 and old enough to stay home and give out candy to the little kids.
     But I loved Halloween most of all when my own children were young.

      Halloween was always my favorite holiday until my children were grown up and we all decided to stop giving each other Christmas presents, after which Christmas became my favorite holiday.  Besides, once one's own children are grown Halloween does lose some of its essence.  Though I still find Halloween delightful, and I still enjoy the decorations,

...setting out the treats,

​...and, of course, handing out the treats.

     But what I love most about Halloween these days is sitting on the porch watching all the little tricker treaters,

​...or the not-so little  ones,

...strolling up and down the sidewalk and from house to house with their parents.

     I love seeing all the neighbors out their porches, and everybody going over to each others' houses to chat a little as long as we're all outside.

     And I don't mind that the street is lined with cars and the sidewalks crowded with people  from other neighbor- hoods who've come over to trick-or-treat in mine;

...for when is the neighborhood so full of life and fun and children and excitement?
      It occurred to me a few years ago that we should really do trick-or-treating on Christmas afternoon.  Wouldn't it be fun to have the streets full of people and the neighbors out and children going from door to door on Christmas?  And wouldn't it give everyone something to do for the rest of the day once the presents were opened and before dinner?
      I don't know, I think it would be nice.
      In any case, this was a nice Halloween.
      Tomorrow I can go back to feeling icky and anxious.  But it was a short, sweet break, anyway.