19 Comments on “The Dastardly Culprits What Make Me Sneeze”

1. Maybe you didn’t eat enough dirt as a child? Probably too late to make up for lost time, anyhow. Score another victory for big pharma.

   Yes, the blooms sure are lovely. Reminds me I should get some shots of our apple blossoms to document what the trees look like — some day I’d like to know what the heck kind they are…

2. Do you make anything out of the crabapples in the fall? Or are the trees just for pretty?

3. It’s nice to blame the crabapples, but generally, any flower that’s showy (insect pollinated) has pollen too big to be an allergen. It’s most likely juniper, elm or something like that that’s wind pollinated, and just happens to be shedding pollen at the same time as the lovely crabs.

4. Dirt huh? How about nine years of allergy shots weekly in my arm from age eight to seventeen? That’s what it took so that I only occasionally have to take an antihistamine during these times. When the rain doesn’t dampen down the pollen, that is. But I’m not bitter! (Actually, I’m really *not* bitter, because I’m probably much better off than John right now. It’s all a case of timing, unfortunately.)

5. Ulrika O’Brien:

   I never really had any sort of allergic reaction to anything until I moved into the country. I think it’s the sheer amount of pollen pumped into the air around here that does me in. When I lived in the suburbs my springs were largely blissful.

6. If you had been born in Ohio, you’d probably never notice. I never did.

   Then I moved to Florida, where taking Claritin (or the generic) is a daily ritual. Winter just holds different pollen for me to sneeze at here. At least you do get a break in winter.

7. My wife and I recenly made our move to the burbs outside Philadelphia. We bought the house in November and never saw the property in springtime.

   Everything started blooming last weekend. Holy crap! Included the mess is a HUGE crab apple tree. The plan is to make cordials when the fruit hits this summer.

8. Sure! Blame the poor flowers. It isn’t their fault that your body creates an inappropriate response to their totally benign pollen.

9. It’s birch and lime pollen that gets me. Especially limes, you could see it drifiting off the trees in huge greeny-yellow clouds of dust where I used to live. That was not fun.

10. I haven’t had to go to the doc every spring and pick up inhalers and drugs to fight the dreaded hayfever for a couple of years now, because my Aunt Pat told me what to do. Just find a local beekeeper, and grab a couple of pounds of local honey. Because it will have some pollen mixed in, it helps your body gear up to fight of the hayfever. Whenever I start taking it, I get a really weird feeling in my sinuses and along the back of my throat. It’s a little unpleasant, kind of irritated, but it goes away after 3 or 4 days, and then I am hayfever free. A couple of pounds lasts a few months used as a sweetener on the morning porridge. Tastes bloody good too, with some vanilla sunflower seeds tossed on as well. I swears by it, so I do. :)

11. What kind of camera do you have?

12. Wait until the crabapples come in. You can launch them quite a distance with a tennis racket.

13. It’s a lovely photo; did you wear some sort of mask or cloaking device while taking it?

14. Cloaking device? So the flowers wouldn’t see him? That idea has all sorts of implications…..

15. Yeah, what kind of camera do you have? It takes beautiful snapshots. I want a nice camera.

16. Mine haven’t bloomed quite yet. Although they’re still apples hanging off the darn thing from last year.

    I have a mind to take a chain saw to the God forsaken tree.

17. This won’t do you any good, but I used to snuffle through every Spring with red eyes when I lived in the midwest. Then I moved to the southeast, and my allergies vanished, despite pine pollen that coats everything in a thick layer of yellow dust. Clearly, I am allergic to something that dislikes long, hot humid summers.

18. I have about a dozen crabapple recipes in my Favorites if you want them. Jelly, schnapps, crisps, etc…

19. That is what you get for living in a place that has seasons.

    You should move to the tropics where plants do not have the urge to bloom apocalyptically in the couple of weeks they find suitable.

    I used to live in Atlanta where I had to scrape the coat of pollen of the car each morning. The repeat azaleas where nice in a runny-nose, tear-filled kind of way.