What I should be doing now is......

....many things.  Not the least of which is sewing.  At least my cold is mostly gone and it's springtime pretty everywhere you look outside.

Well.  Some things are prettier than others.  The pollen has been horrendous.  This is the re-accumulation two days after we vacuumed the porch.  I don't dare open the windows.  I also seem to be much more sensitive to the pollen this year (cough, cough).

So the new vacuum system has been getting workout...inside and out.  There is a learning curve though.  I'm figuring out how to maneuver all that hose around without too many kinks and tangles.  Kind of.

The pond is covered with a pollen slick as well.  Every surface is covered.  The dogwood trees are still pretty though, and the early azaleas are blooming.  Today I noticed the wisteria has burst into bloom as well.    I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying the greening of the view out the front window.  Cheers one right up.

As it's been an uncomfortable couple of weeks, The Tramp has done his best to cheer me up.  Awwww.  Isn't he a sweetie!

Piglet discovered very quickly that she could just step through the porch railings and gate.  After chasing her several times and endlessly worrying when we had to open the front door, we finally got around to browsing the aisles at Lowes and found a cheap simple solution.  So far so good!

And because dummy me left the windows open one night in the kitchen and bonus room, I spent most of a day on pollen clean up.  The first wipe around the kitchen sink got me this.  Good grief.

I left four windows open in The Sandbox.  Did I say dumb??  OMG  Rather than just vacuum off the ironing table I realized it was high time for a new cover.  After The Tramp and I stapled the new canvas over the batting, I sprayed it with water.  The wrinkles disappear immediately and the canvas dries tight as a drum.  It's like magic!  It's also pretty magical to have a nice white surface to work on again.  :-)

 So I recovered my portable board too.  Nice!

Yesterday was Dad's ninety-third birthday (wow) and we had a pleasant dinner together.

The Viking had the pleasure of spending last week with his other grandparents.  They had lots of fun together and he misses them, but it is nice for everyone to be back in their regular routine.   So today we took advantage of what may be the only non-rainy day of the week and spent some time at the park.  It got pretty hot in the sun.

So he wasn't too terribly reluctant to break away for lunch.  You can see how sweaty he was under his hat.  Selfie time!  He loves to mug for the camera and watch himself in action, but hasn't quite figured out that it isn't always a video and he sometimes needs to be still for a moment.  So we took umpteen photos to get a few vaguely in focus.  :-)

French fry!!

And of course for some reason we had to make french fry smiles.

Sewing is calling from all around me.  Two t-shirt quilts are waiting for their borders and UFOs abound.  I did finish the cutting in preparation for the upcoming retreat.  5,390 little pieces in that bin.  Crazy!  I can't wait to get my hands on them.  Tee hee!

In the meantime, I think I'll go to bed.  The Viking will be here bright and early, and since it will be raining we can spend some quality time in The Sandbox.  Me with fabric, and he with his trains, planes and automobiles.  Sounds like a plan.

Now I have to convince someone to move over and make room for me.