Last week I was driving home from where I used to live in North Haverhill (on the west side of the White Mountains) when I encountered Mabel Frazer. She was walking alone along a country road. She looked so independent and great that I turned my car around and asked if I might take her photograph. Yes, she said, looking pleased. She told me that she lived in Vermont, had worked in a nearby factory for thirty years, and commutes to work for an hour back and forth every day. This is her favorite time of year. She makes herself fifteen (or so) different outfits for Halloween, and she wears them to work in celebration.
I'm truly sorry that I didn't get to see Mabel in any, and all, of her other get-ups. But my friend Lois, who lives close by, saw her the very next day. According to Lois, Mabel was wearing a green and yellow caterpillar costume, with purple dots - complete with the signature bouncing antennae! She was still in the middle of nowhere, walking on her ownsome along the road.
Happy Halloween, Mabel.

© Myfanwy Phillips, North Haverhill, NH, 2017