Happy Father's Day

I spent this past Father’s Day doing what I love best - you guessed it, making dumplings. For all it’s worth, the market has been on the slow side, so we don’t need to make as many as we have in the past, but it’s always slow at first, and things will probably pick up as the school transitions into its Summer population.

I had indicated that I didn’t want to make a big deal about F-day because I don’t think it’s such a big deal. We had gone to Balloon Fest the previous day and had a long, fun and eventful day, so we had our fill of good times, at least I had. The weather was fabulous, too, so I wanted to get some stuff done around the house, especially on the yard. Sunday is also ultimate Frisbee day, so we had to be at the field by 6:00. This meant we couldn’t eat supper at the usual time because it’s hard to fun like that one a full stomach.

Either way, I woke up early and started in on the dumplings first thing. Even though there were plenty of other things I’d rather be doing, it’s good to get the dumplings out of the way ASAP so you can free up your day to do other things, like make more dumplings. Just kidding.

R came downstairs later and helped out, and we finished around noon, which is great, because there was grass to cut and wood to split and barns to build. She ended up doing loads of laundry and cleaning up the mess that the kids and I make throughout the week. Sorry.

After the dumplings were made, I embraced the cliché of fatherhood and mowed the lawn. I’ve found that this year, and to a lesser extent last year, I’ve come down with grass OCD. That might be the only way to keep it from getting out of control, but I feel this overwhelming need to keep it nicely trimmed, and act accordingly. I felt like last year, with the two markets and all, I had no time to cut the grass, and it was always messy and unkempt. It really bummed me out.

This year, I’ve been mowing/weed whacking like a mad man, but it’s been in fairly good shape, and green! Even the kids have commented on the fact that it looks like a lawn this year. Bear in mind, these things don’t happen by accident. All part of my lawn rejuvenation project.

At some point, R and the kids wanted to celebrate F-day, even though I was happy just doing yard work. We were pondering a trip to Hanover for Boloco burritos, but the kids were still tired from a very active day at the B-fest, and a trip all the way to the big city was probably a bit much. We decided to check out our friend’s (RC) new restaurant, The Farmer’s Diner, in Quechee. He took over the place after it went out of business earlier this year. It is a great location, but before our friend took over, the food was mediocre and the service poor.

Now he’s revamped the place, the food is great, and the service wonderful. The diner only serves breakfast and lunch, but it’s open later in the day until 4:00, so we could feasibly eat an early supper there. That’s huge, because it’s hard finding a good place to eat that’s affordable and somewhat healthy. The new menu is great, with local foods and products, and very nicely prepared. We had breakfast burritos with this amazing salsa, and A had the buttermilk pancakes and N had an omelette. The food was wonderful, and we’re happy to have found a new place to chow down.

After supper, we had ice cream at the Gorge, and then back home split more wood before heading off for ultimate frisbee, but that’s a story for another time.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Leon Tiedt for the pic.