Living in the northeast and having spring allergies is awful. But I’ve arranged my window views for maximum fun. My office looks out on the veggie garden and the bird feeder, where the recently-fledged babies are learning to land without wiping out. Cardinals, a flock of young housefinches,  and (unfortunately) a rowdy gang of grackles, a plague of doves and a cute young red-bellied woodpecker who hasn’t figured out how to extract seeds from the feeder yet. A flicker pokes between patio bricks for ants, and a robin works the lawn. The other benefits of being a prisoner of Zenda is the work I’m getting done on my theatrical murder mystery.  Not to mention cleaning the fridge and editing my ridiculous book collection.