Wildflowers and Allergies

Spring has sprung. Or, as we refer to it around here, pre-summer. But whatever it’s called, it’s one pretty season. This is due in large part to the many varieties of wildflowers that pop into bloom this time of year.

Every year we say we should take pictures of the wildflowers. And every year we manage to go through the whole wildflower season without snapping a single one. This is due in large part to the fact that said wildflowers tend to crop up in the grassy median along the interstate or on hillsides beside the highway and I don’t particularly fancy getting killed to obtain the perfect shot.

But this year we lucked out. First, it happens to be a great wildflower year. Wet winter, you know. Or, as we refer to it around here, post-summer. So there’s an abundance of wildflowers to choose from this year. And the second bit of luck came in the form of visiting the grandparents for the weekend. A walk around their neighborhood provided multiple opportunities to photograph wildflowers. All without risking life or limb. Talk about a win-win situation.

The only downside to the whole wildflower/pre-summer situation is all the allergies entailed therein. Apparently, the pollen count right now is off the chart, the highest in recorded history. And all this pollen has prompted my second-born to spontaneously develop allergies. Like his older brother before him, his eyes gelled with goop and swelled to ridiculous proportions. And his were actually much worse than his brother's. In fact, a hugely-frightening swelling of the whites of the eye as an initial allergic reaction is becoming something of a rite of passage in our family. Though the swelling goes down after a day or three, the redness sticks around a lot longer, so that’s what we got a picture of.

Poor little guy!

But pretty flowers.