Connecticut has a reputation as a state that brings out the worst in people's allergies. When my wife and I moved here in 1978, we found a whole new bunch of allergies we never had while living in New York.
As winter rolled into spring over the past month, I found myself wondering when the buds would start popping on the trees in my backyard, and when the grass would finally start to green up. This last week of sunny, warm weather seems to have pushed both the grass and the trees to move into full pollen mode. And while the new green on the branches and on the ground looks really nice against the blue sky of spring, it's becoming hard to see the colors through my increasingly itchy, watery eyes.
Nevertheless, it's a ritual I've lived through for many years now, and I know that in a few weeks (a few miserable weeks, I might add) all the trees will be in full bloom, and all the grass will have sprouted, and the allergy season will die down until late summer, when the ragweed blooms and the hay fever season begins.
Well, it's almost time to mow the lawn. Now where did I put that pollen mask?
