Yesterday I saw the first of the iris - one of my very favorite of the springtime array. (It's amazing how hard it is to capture that beautiful amethyst flower digitally. I find that dramatic shots taken from below the bloom reveal more of its complex, sexy shape than those taken from above - which is odd since the pollinating insects come from above. Surely they're looking at the flower differently than I am, yes?)
OK, where was I? Oh yeah, the first iris. That always marks the beginning of my Season of Sneeze, a.k.a. the Tyranny of the Green Dust, a.k.a. oy vey. What it means is that I have to close my windows during the most beautiful spring days of soft air and low humidity. Whenever I step outside, My hair goes under a hat. When I return home, I wash my face, snort saline then blow my brains out, change my shirt and hope for the best. At this time of year I change my pillowcase every day. Seriously. I place homeopathic eye drops in my poor, bloodshot, itchy eyes, guzzle Chinese medicinal herb tea brewed from a witchy-looking bunch of stalks, pods, and dried out flowers. I take Claritin, receive acupuncture, gulp tinctures to strengthen my immune system. On the worst days I just have to lie still in my hermetically sealed room while trying to breathe, my eyes squeezed shut in spite of the soothing effect that comes from the steeped dandelion teabags and cold washcloths I place over my eyes.
I try, oh God I TRY SO HARD not to rub my eyes because that just makes everything worse. Sometimes, though, like Dr. Strangelove I lose control. Before I know it, my fist locates an eye socket. After that, my histamines are in a frenzy.
Oy. vey.
Also it is my tradition to complain every year here on the blog. Mea culpa!! Maybe next year I'll have health insurance. Maybe I'll get a prescription for some heavy-duty allopathic allergy meds. Maybe I'll get allergy shots. Maybe I won't complain. Ya think?
Maybe! In the meantime I'll hunker down while the green world does its wild, frenetic, crazy fertility dance. L'chaim. Ah-choooo!! Oh yeah.
23 comments:
I made the mistake of sleeping with the window open the other night. Not a good idea. I'm trying hard not to rub my eyes, either. It starts a chain reaction of poof and itch! (sneezing as I type)
No wonder we love winter so much!
Oh you poor thing. I can totally relate. Not now but when I was a kid. I had allergies so bad. Basically I was allergic to the outdoors and cats and dogs of which we had both. Went the whole allergy shot thing which I hated especially because your body adjusts to the shots and they have to gradually increase the dose and frequency. Sometime around my 20th year I outgrew them.
reya - when i moved to the little town i live in now i was told i'd develop allergies. "ha"! said i thinking i was such a healthy specimen i was above that sort of wonky immune system sort of stuff. but the "ha" was on me as sure enough, every spring i get the exact same list of symptoms as you describe here. drugs - i avoid pharmaceuticals but not for this. no way man. i'm in for whatever prevents me from clawing my eyeballs out. i love rain - never moreso than when the pollen comes out. you shall know our suffering by the trails of kleenex. steven
YES I always love spring rain. It brings the pollen down, so I have a day or two respite.
Thanks for your kind thoughts. It's so tiresome of me to whinge every year. For heaven's sake.
I have little in the way of allergies, but my wife is allergic to just about everything.
Well, we all have to be good at something.
And spring doesn't last forever.
YES, it doesn't last forever. In a few weeks, the humidity will arrive, along with the bugs. That's the end of pollen season.
yay!!!!
I have taken allergy shots for 25 years. But this year I am suffering mightily from whatever is in the air. It leaves me with itchy eyes and a shortness of breath as my lungs try to process those almost invisible bits of pollen. There's not much more to do but wait it out I guess.
I knew it was going to be a bad year after all the snow, etc. Those trees have plenty of water and they're rarin' to go.
So - great. Go. But leave me out of it, please!
Serious allergies! You could wear surgical mask and hazmat suit for a couple of weeks- that might help. We have so much rain up here that allergies to pollen and floating green air are not so hearty. wish I could send you some magic meds- got to suck for a few weeks being that miserable! I send a good thought and a kiss...there...better.
Somebody needs to invent a goldfish bowl helmet with a fine water mist included, then allergy sufferers could all pretend to be spacemen for a few weeks as they sheltered in their domed headgear...
I'm laughing, as only a fellow sufferer can, at the all-too-familiar descriptions. It's the only downside of spring.
whoa...is that a pollen hand print? yea, i've been eye rubbin', and i just had to go out into the garden picking and pulling, came in covered in bumps...but i can't help myself; it's spring--yay!
You know, my digital camera does not do purple well. Maybe it's something in the technology, I don't know. But in any case, your photo is gorgeous and you certainly seem to have captured the essence of the iris!
I read that Florida is having a record allergy season -- I didn't realize it extended northward to you all as well. I'm sure we'll get it here too! Ugh!
the green dust is probably a week away--I have a feeling given the wild winter --we are in for a bounty of pollen---stock up on the puffs --here's hoping you feel better soon!
Reya~ Are we sisters? Sometimes I connect so much to your writing.
The Iris is has & always be my favorite Flower. How lovely indeed is the Iris!
The evil Green Dust... Hate it! I am savorily enjoying every second of this spring... before I am struck down with the evil hayfever. However, I have found on a good note, the Lexapro that I take seems to help although that is not what its for! I am hoping it will again be my hero!
Love to you my dear! Hail the saline sprays!
The iris is beautiful. Again, you are so ahead of us seasonally wise. This week we hope to visit a park in Newark NJ (of all places) that has beautiful cherry trees. We hope to hit it at its peak, but who knows. Can't compare to your cherries, I am sure.
So glad I don't suffer allergies. As a kid I had really bad asthma but I seem to have out grown it. Thank goodness. And after we moved east four years ago, I have never been plagued with asthma symptoms. Go figure! You would think that the dry west is the place to be. Au contraire!
Here it the yellow haze from pine pollen! One morning it was so hazy in my neighborhood I couldn't believe how thick it was. I was talking to a neighbor & the pollen was floating down between us! I took about 5 minutes for the car to be completely covered AND Gertie had a layer of yellow on her coat! Itchy eyes here!
Lizzy I feel like sneezing just reading about the pine pollen.
Janis, indeed all hail the saline sprays!!
I'm tucked in to my hermetically sealed space this evening. I've washed my face and arms, toweled off my hair, rinse my nose and mouth, anc changed my sheets. Hoping for a good night's sleep.
Many zzzzz's to y'all!
poor you! altho with all that floral abundance around you it would be hard not to get an allergy attack i suppose? I also love love those irises and that is a fabulous shot! thanks x
Beautiful iris! Sorry to hear about the allergies..Hope you had a good night's sleep after all? I have just discovered your stunning, gorgeous cherry blossom photos, by going back in time - they are fabulous! Thanks so much for posting them, I could just gaze at them for hours!
That is a most beautiful photo of an Iris! So you suffer from the pollen (I don't) but I do not like the bugs, or the poison ivy and deadly nightshades. But at least one can protect oneself from these. So, I
really sympathize with the pollen problem, yet you managed to produced a wonderful photo of an Iris before it got hit with the heavier April showers!
"amethyst" is the perfect description of this color.
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