YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN?

The pictures to the right are of Arlington, Vermont, famous for maple sugar, being the former home of Norman Rockwell, and the birthplace of yours truly. This time of the year, we have the social event of the year, Norman's Attic, a yearly neighborhood tag and home made products fair. They line their booths on main street on a blue skied, lazy 70 degree day, and the town comes to life. How I wish could be there today. This is the blurb from the neighboring (we do not have a truly local paper) newspaper, the Bennington Banner....

ARLINGTON - The Manchester and the Mountains Regional Chamber of Commerce is calling for residents, local organizations, crafters, merchants, antique dealers and tag sale rs to participate in the 13th Annual Norman's Attic Craft Fair and Community Wide Tag Sale. The event will take place on Saturday, Aug. 11 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Arlington, the long-time home of Norman Rockwell.

I say that my hometown does not have a newspaper, and in fact we still do not. In fact, we still do not have many things in my hometown that you are accustomed to. Crime and bigotry, for example. A police department is another thing we don't have. In the rare times we need one, we pay the Manchester, or Bennington police department to come over. We don't have a fire department like you may have---ours is all volunteer. How about a traffic jam? None in Arlington. In fact, to this day, they still do not even have a traffic light, only stop signs.

Add to this leaves that explode once a year, snow that is absolutely beautiful for the first week of winter (and a genuine pain in the ass the rest of the time), friendly, genuine people, and wildlife....deer, fish and clean, pure streams, and you get a small picture of my hometown. Did I mention covered bridges? Yep, we got em, and I grew up playing on them.

So, cancel your trip to Europe or Hawaii this year, and chart a course for Vermont this year. Vermont, the fourteenth state (we were a part of the thirteenth as well), a place where you can smile and start up a conversation with anyone and get a conversation and a smile in return. Vermont, a place where the pace slows down, but the energy never does. Vermont, a place where you can still leave your doors unlocked and sleep comfortably. Vermont, the Green Mountain state is a state of mind as well. Nobody visits Vermont and goes away unchanged. Vermont, the way life used to be, and still is for the lucky few that still reside there.