We're getting a grip on paperwork (I did go on about that before, sorry), and getting used to holding our breath about the boat and various other things. My father got very ill with a virus, and spent a week in hospital and a week with us recovering. It was very scary for a few days until he started eating again. He's made a very good recovery, and is making smart remarks about my record at cribbage (very poor lately), and is out and about at all his regular activities. Now that he's better, I can worry about the kids.

Life in the woods continues to be calm and restful. That's in between the extended periods of hellish hard physical labour (for Randy). Destruction of the rotten, rotten deck was completed and the rebuild started while Dad was recuperating here. Probably a bit noisier than the hospital, but the food here is way better. He got used to the sound of the nail gun. There's an advantage to wearing, or not wearing one's hearing aid.

The new deck is fab, and Randy's finishing it up with a pergola roof-thing that will eventually support grapes and ivy. Maybe not in my lifetime, but hey. Randy got the job done in record time, in spite of endless mutterings: "I'm a old guy. I'm too old for this." Next, he'll get the other rowboat finished and rigged. With dogged perseverance, it might be ready for the Lake Annis regatta in August.

In times of worry and waiting, I've been known to undertake projects that pretty much guarantee extra teeth-grinding, swearing, disorder and disappointment. I occasionally have demented drive, I just don't have Randy's skills.

So it seems like a good idea to slipcover the couch. The answer to your next question is no, I don't really know how or like to sew (but it's got to be easier than writing a book). You'd think that the sewing machine I got in St. Martin for about 10 euros would have fired my creative juices. I made covers for six pillows before that piece of crap stopped working, and I kicked it from the boat all the way to the Salvation Army in Providenciales. Bah.

How to approach a slipcover. Warily. I found a tutorial online, and it looks like just fitting and pinning and sewing, no biggie. Problem is that I'm crap at this stuff, and I know I'm crap, and so even contemplating the project makes me grumpy. My sister knows this, and offered the encouraging news that "shabby chic" is in style, so maybe I can start a "crabby chic" movement. Or maybe flabby chic. No stopping her once she's on a roll.

Haven't started it in earnest yet, just mucking about with fabric choices. There may or may not be photos of this project. I'm using red fabric, so any blood won't show.