I walked into my screened lanai last night (that's the room I showed under construction in my last post) and was overwhelmed with a cloying sweet fragrance. Within less than a minute my nose was running, my eyes were itching and I was sneezing. I did what I needed to do (the laundry is out there) and dashed back into the house, shutting the door between the house and the lanai. My allergy symptoms continued until bedtime. I know that benedryl will control this stuff, but I already have problems with extreme dry mouth from my tummy meds, so I decided to try to ride this one out. When I go up this morning I knew I'd made a mistake. My entire face was puffy, the area around my left eye disproportionately so. The sniffles and sneezeing started up again as soon as I walked into the front of the house. I've been taking benedryl all day. It makes me sleepy and saps my energy and there's the whole dry mouth thing also.




I've been assuming something was blooming in my neighbor's yard across the fence. I went outside a few minutes ago to see what it is that is making me so sick. Darn! Can't blame it on the neighbor. I usually trim the stalkes off of the top of my ti plants as soon as they appear. I found out my first year here that they attract massive quantities of bees. I'm allergic to bees, too, so I try to minimize the attraction. I hadn't been out in that yard in a while and the stalks had shot up and are covered with spikey purple balls. Little white blossoms open up when darkeness falls, which is why it was so strong last night. Unfortunately, darkness is falling now and it's a little late to start trimming. I'll have to take care of that when I finish work tomorrow.



While I was out there I realized I've been horribly neglecting my herb garden. The birds have planted wild tomato plants again, the sort that make little tiny, bitter tomatoes. My Dad liked them on his salad, but I don't at all. I guess I need to spend a few hours out there tomorrow. I pulled a few small ones the last time I was out there. Today I discovered one growing into my rosemary bush. It's large enough to already have little pea-sized green tomatoes showing. If I can just stop sneezing long enough & open my eyes fully behind the puffiness I'll take care of all that.

No, I didn't get a new camera yet. I have possession of the homeowner's association camera for a few days. Maybe I can sqeeze in some time tomorrow to stock up on fresh photos for my blog!

Labels: gardening, just stuff, life in Hawaii, photos