Food? I have more photos. Or plants? I'll go with plants today. Yesterday I had one of the worst allergy days I've had since we moved here nearly 16 years ago. I don't know what pollen was in the air, but it was poison to my eyes and nose. I must have sneezed 100 times during the day, and I went through a couple of boxes of mouchoirs en papier (a.k.a. Kleenex). I'm exhausted, but I'm not yet feeling full symptoms of the hay fever this morning. I need to go to the supermarket to get more mouchoirs. The last time I had such a severe allergy attack was 10 years ago, on an April day when I happened to be in North Carolina.
On a better note, here's the view we are seeing right now when we exit the lean-to greenhouse that's attached to the west wall of our house.
This is a wisteria that we planted about a dozen years ago. One year it came unattached from its support wires, which Walt put up on the wall of the house back then, and we found it lying on the ground one morning after a bad windstorm. On the advice of friends, we pruned the fallen vines, put up new, stronger support wires, and managed to get the unwieldy wisteria put back in place. It worked, obviously.
There's news about other plants too — some good and some bad. It's definitely purple-flower season in Saint-Aignan. On my walks around the edges of the Renaudière vineyard, all over the place I'm seeing a lot of the little purple wildflowers called Pentecôtes or orchis pourpre around here, (which are the wild orchids Orchis purpurea). They have proliferated this season. And irises — we have irises galore in the back yard. I stopped and tried to count the iris blossoms and the iris buds that are about to burst open in the three or four patches where we have planted irises over the years, and there are well over 100 of them. I need to get out and take some photos of all these flowers. However, this allergy attack is slowing me down and it's supposed to start raining this morning. We're in for a week of rains, if predictions are accurate.
One final piece of news. We have "new" neighbors. One of the daughters (along with her husband) of our former neighbors across the street has taken over the task of maintaining that property, even though they have no plans to live here full-time. Her elderly parents no longer drive and therefore no longer come to stay in their house in the country here.
The husband is an enthusiastic mower, and that's commendable. The grass needs to be kept under control. The man in question is overly zealous, though. He's on a campaign to cut down every low-hanging branch around their huge yard so that he can mow under trees more easily. Day before yesterday I walked around the edge of their yard and saw, shocked, that he has cut down a plum tree that has given us many kilos of little sweet, juicy red plums over the years. In her day, his mother-in-law, who's now 85 (her husband just turned 89), used to always tell me to come and get as many plums as I could use when they started ripening. I would mostly pick them up off the ground. Now they are no more, I think. I'll miss them. I believe the new neighbor had no idea what kind of tree he was cutting down.
I've got weather induce brain fog today. Lots of dust in the atmosphere from North Africa apparently. Anyway, my sympathies. Have you tried Humex nasal spray? The one with a bit of cortisone in it. It's available over the counter at the pharmacy. I find it quite good at improving the symptoms, although it's not a cure and you can't use it constantly.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your new neighbours actions. Such a shame to lose a good fruit tree.
I've always avoided nasal sprays that contain cortisone. In the middle of a major allergy attack 20 or 25 years ago, I went to a clinic and a doctor there administered a cortison shot. When I told my regular doctor about it, he hit the ceiling. Very bad for your immune system, he told me. Walt used a cortisone nasal spray for several years in California (doctor's orders), and now his sense of smell is greatly diminished.
DeleteSorry to hear about your allergies. It's a miserable complaint to have to deal with every year.
ReplyDeleteAlso sorry to hear about the loss of the plum tree. If the man wasn't there at the right time of year he probably had no idea that it produced so many beautiful plums. Or maybe he didn't care. There are a lot of people who know nothing at all about gardening other than just hacking things down.
It really is a shame to lose that tree, but I can't really say anything about it to him. And I certainly won't be the one who tells his mother-in-law. She loved that tree and those plums, and she was very generous in sharing them with us. Last year, I didn't get any plums. One day I saw a car that I didn't recognize parked over on the neighbors' property. Then I saw a bearded man walk back to the car carrying a supermarket bag of something. When I walked over there later in the day, I realized that all the plums were gone. He had stolen them! Later, I told the neighbor, when she was here from Blois, and I said I had assumed it was one of her sons-in-law or grandsons. She talked to everybody in her family and nobody confessed. The thief was just that — a thief.
DeleteHope you'll feel better very soon. This glycine is absolutely gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThanks. There are a lot of glycines growing around here. I went to Noyers this morning and admired quite a few of them along the way. Should have taken my camera.
DeleteLes jeunes gens ont glissé dans la piscine!
DeleteLe cuisinier secoue les nouilles.
DeleteThat must be painful!
DeleteOh, what a shame about the plum tree!
ReplyDeleteYep. Nothing is constant but change. Et il n'y a rien qui puisse donné une idée de l'infini comme la bêtise humaine.
DeleteHate to see any tree get cut down. Loving your wisteria! It's beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
DeleteLove your wisteria. I'm sorry to hear about your allergy problem and the plum tree murder.
ReplyDeleteThanks, E. A bad couple of days for sure, but things are looking up now. The good news is that my own plum tree, which I planted 10 or more years ago, is covered in little red plums. They're not as good, though, as the freestone plums that grew on the neighbors' tree.
DeleteIn our town, the first thing you do after you move in is to cut down all the fruit trees because they're "messy." It's really sad.
ReplyDeleteHope you're feeling better soon.
Yes, fruit trees can be messy. But it's a shame to cut them down that way. I do feel better today. Yesterday wasn't too bad either. Day before yesterday was a different story.
DeleteSo sad about the plum tree. But be glad you're not in North Carolina, the pollen this spring has been horrific. Everything covered with yellow dust every morning, and I get into sneezing fits and can't stop. The rain should help you.
ReplyDeleteWe have the same kind of pollen this year. I had to hose the car down before I could go to the supermarket yesterday, it was so coated in yellow powder. And I have those sneezing fits, teary eyes, and a drippy nose. The cashier at the supermarket had the same symptoms. It never did rain yesterday. It just threatened. This morning it's been raining lightly, and I do feel better.
DeleteGlad you fell better today. Let's hope it's gone for now!
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