The gnome standing on the cancel is just cuter than heck. These are from Chuck and arrived for Mr Wilson's birthday. I still haven't cornered him to open the rest of his birthday cards. But, every time I return from one of my extended mercy-missions to Chicago, I am rejuvenated and energized to complete the hoard reduction project. So, I imagine we will get them opened and posted pretty soon.
Here comes the rant.
One of the saddest parts of the trip was watching my poor granddaughter struggling with seasonal allergies. I happened across an article about why scientists blundered us into the current situation. I did a little more research and found this article which is better and older.
If you don't want to read the article - in a nutshell - many trees have males and females - and the females produce seeds and fruits so they are messy - and in the case of ginkgo trees - super smelly. So *they* started planting only male trees which produce the pollen. And now there are mostly male trees everywhere - in cities and towns where they are planted. (not forests). And the abundance of pollen has caused a rise in allergies and asthma.
Grrrr.
It's too late to do anything about it - and considering all the other problems we are facing - it is probably not anything that is going to get any attention at all. But, thank you for letting me rant.
Allergies are like migraines. If you have not had one - you have no way of understanding how awful they are. So, even if you think people who are suffering with allergies or migraines are just whining, try really hard to empathize with them. My allergies were so bad that I went through the whole shot thing for about 5 years - which helped a lot. But, it is a pretty challenging treatment to buy into.
That is infuriating! Once again, males ruin everything! Just kidding, my husband and sons only ruin some things. But, how did they think using only male plants was a good idea? I have had allergies for many years (probably since the '80s, come-to-think-of-it), and to know that it was done purposefully makes my blood boil. Thanks for the link, which I used to read about dolphins and the universe as a way to calm down after the tree stuff :) I have a ginko tree on the side of the house, which looks lovely, but in the fall it drops ALL of its leaves at one time! We never park near it during the entire season, as there is no warning.
ReplyDeleteLove the gnomes! I use them on many Xmas cards and am now branching (haha) out to other uses.
Deb