The "West End" of Alexandria has the traditional Mile Long Yard sale along Taney Avenue and adjacent streets during one of the final Saturdays of September. Today was the day. This year we were lucky the rains held off and neighbors and friends were able to enjoy a good bargain in cool and dry -- if not sunny -- weather. Everyone seemed to have a good time. From food and furniture, to lawn implements and old videotapes, electronic devices that were cutting-edge at one time, well loved toys, musical instruments, shoes, and jackets, the yard sale this year was the bargain hunters heaven.
Returning home, I started thinking about the wonderful community building aspects of our own St. Clement yard sale when, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we invite the extended family over to our place to purchase one of 600 or so beautiful Christmas trees. Ah, you can smell the aroma of Do
uglass firs wafting out from the branches, sticky, pungent sap on your hands, and needles in your socks and hair. The air is cooler then -- the hot coffee or cocoa between your hands serves a useful purpose -- and I have an even warmer feeling when I see old acquaintances, friends who perhaps I see only once a year...in pursuit of the perfect tree.The Mile Long Yard Sale is like that. It happens a couple of months earlier. And it's a wonderful harbinger of the colder months and the warm thoughts to come.
-- Pat Jones
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