From The Chaos and Rubble Comes the Grateful Dumpling

We had a brutal beginning to the market the other night, where you feel like you're being pulled in every direction but the right one. However, though it started out badly, it ended on a good note and turned out to be a really nice evening for the Grateful Dumpling.

Oddly enough, the day started out on a good note, because I&A's friend E called and mentioned that they were going to the swimming hole and wanted to know if A&N could join in. Could they ever, they were thrilled at the idea. It was a warm day, too, so a perfect time to jump in some cool water. The only problem was, I couldn't join them because I had to prepare dumplings for the market. E was more than happy to watch the kids, and we trust her, so we were in business.

We had errands to run beforehand, however. We had to visit the dump and also had to do some preparation for the mid-week market, which meant getting wrappers and other assorted goodies. We also wanted to check out the new Coop in WRJ. We had to accomplish all of this before noon so I could get the dumplings ready for market and also feed everyone before their big splash in the drink.

With no time to waste, we hit the road. We're stoked about the new Coop, but it was smaller than the Lebanon version, and you can sense that it's still going through some growing pains. Then again, they had only been open for two days. Either way, the selection was not great, and a lot of the things we look for at the big Coop were not there, most notably nitrate free cold cuts and certain kinds of yogurt and beer. You can see that things will arrive with time.

Mind you, I'm not complaining, simply observing. We then headed over to New Hampshire, and that's when things got complicated. Normally we just cross the bridge over the Connecticut River, but the darn thing was closed because of yet another repair job. This meant I had to get on the freeway and then cross over, which added about 20 minutes to the trip that would normally take 2-3 minutes. Plus, traffic was a bear because of all the detours. I felt like I was in LA. We got to the market, got our wrappers, then I had the brilliant idea of getting a movie for R&I, so I went over to Video Stop in W. Leb, and the darn place was closed. I forgot they don't open until noon. I think I'm over that place, though I think they just put in an after hours drop off.

We didn't have time to whine and dawdle, so we went home. From there I threw together lunch for the kids and started heating the oil. The kids were so excited about swimming that they waited outside for their friends, so I wasn't even sure when they had left. At some point in the middle of the cooking, I got a phone call from E telling me that IH had forgotten a bathing suit and could she borrow one of A's? I was mostly done with the cooking, so it wasn't a horrible situation, but I did have to shut down the operation to go over there, which for the record, I was more than happy to do.

The problem was, I started getting complacent, and slacked off. Before I knew it, it was crunch time and I hadn't even loaded the car. Fortunately our local market is much more relaxed, and you can pretty much get there when you want. This, however, can come back to haunt you.

The kids were all going to the market together, so I was riding solo, which was fine, but it was a bit of a rush to get it all together. When R got home, I was still there and running around like crazy, and by the time I got there, I'd forgotten a few things. I had to keep calling R to bring them, and I could sense that she was irritated and that life as I knew it was now over.

Part of the problem was that the previous week's local market was not a good one for the Grateful Dumpling. It was slow, hot and miserable, and we had dumplings left over, which is never a good thing. Also, the mid-week market wasn't so great, either, so our mental dispositions were not in a good place. Through in my ineptitude, and we pretty much did not want to be there.

In fact, we were late in setting up, by as much as one half hour. On a bright note, if you can see the positives in things, people did come up to me and say that they wanted dumplings, even though we were not up and running and did not have any. One woman came and said she was there just for the dumplings and needed a bundle. What could I do but apologize and make some excuses. She said she'd come back, and she did, though her tone told me that there had better be dumplings when she did.

When R got there, she was a bit frazzled, understandably so, and it did not portend for a good afternoon. We were still missing things and her response when I asked her why she didn't bring them was, "Because (you loser) you didn't tell me you needed them."

Uh-oh.

Once we had it together, we pretty much had the attitude that we just wanted to go home and recover. Let's sell what we have and then pass out on the couch, it had been a rough week.

Things started to pick up, however. One adaptation that really helped us was to put a tarp on the side of our tent to shield us from the sun. This made a world of difference, and made our time cool and pleasant. I can't tell you how huge this was.

Also, the market was lively, and plenty of customers streamed through, some of them repeats. Many of the kid's friends were there, and they had a blast, pretty much running around the entire time.

It was, to say the least, a very nice evening, even in lieu of its inauspicious beginnings. We sold out of dumplings, the evening ended on a bright note, and we pretty much closed the bar. We could have left much earlier, but hung around to help out and just enjoy the moment. It was really nice.

Just goes to show you, you just never know how things will turn out.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to robert davey and Colin Brough for the pics.