Stormin' Norman

Today Arlington was a hotbed of activity, thanks to an annual event known as Norman's Attic. Although the name is a reference to artist Norman Rockwell, it's really a combination craft fair and town-wide tag sale and has become quite the draw over the years. The craft fair part takes place along Arlington's main street, aka Route 7A, with stalls set up on both sides of the road; while you're there, you can even pick up a map to the various tag sales taking place all around town. This year the weather could not have been more perfect: sunny but not too hot, blue skies, and virtually no humidity. So I decided I'd wander around for a bit and combine checking out what kind of stuff was for sale with taking some different sorts of photos for my daily post.

To start things off, a couple of looks at folks browsing the stalls; there were probably as many people in town today than we see the other 364 days of the year combined:





Making new friends... maybe:



This dog opted to watch the two dogs pictured above interact from a respectable distance:



Another dog enjoying the shade while its human works:



A few shots I took as I strolled along:







The folks who run VTKnife had a tent set up this year, and as I checked out their offerings—which included everything from penknives to machetes to a few samurai swords—one display in particular caught my eye:



And in case you're wondering if that label actually says what you think it says:



The owner told me he was surprised that more guys don't get nervous when their girlfriends or wives make purchases from that particular tray...

Speaking of things I couldn't resist photographing, check out the name of this particular business:



Yup, once upon a time you could buy fire extinguisher material in a cardboard tube:



You gotta love multi-tasking: by working her spinning wheel at her stall, this lady catches people's attention, shows off the wool she's selling, and makes even more yarn to sell all at the same time. Genius:



Since several of the craft fair stalls are set up right in front of St. James Church, the folks who run and attend the church set up their event tent and start cranking out the food. So I thought I'd close with a look at the line of people waiting to get some lunch just a few minutes past noon, as I thought it was pretty darn impressive.