No Dreaming, Just Sneezing

2:36 am and I am AWAKE.
No rest for the weary, or people with allergies, apparently.
My cats can't tell time, but see me getting up from bed. So it must be time for breakfast.
OK - I pop open a can of Super Supper. Good kitties get a midnight snackez. But they really aren't hungry, so after a few licks they are off to go be cats somewhere else.
So here I sit, hoping to tire myself into sleep. I can hear my husband quietly snore from the bedroom. I am too uncomfortable to be jealous. Well, almost.
Hold on, need to get some more tissue. OK better.
I remember as a child in California being allergic to practically everything. I took medicine for asthma, we had to give away our cat, SnowBall, and I couldn't eat chocolate. We moved to Utah in 1980/81 and my allergies subsided; I have been able to keep cats, eat chocolate, and I don't need asthma medicine. I suppose I shouldn't complain too much about allergies, since I remember worse times, but at 2 in the morning my whiny side gets the better of me.
The last few weeks of May are when my allergies start and last year only lasted a few weeks, so hopefully I only have one more week. I am trying not to take any meds, except eye drops. I couldn't function without them. For anyone curious, here is what is pollinating in Utah right now: http://www.intermountainallergy.com/pollen.html.

Judging from their graph, Grass, Oak, and Mold are at the highest count. Grass is beautiful, but right now it is my enemy. I need the respite of four walls and cement.

Bloomidy Bloom!

One week later...

The insect spray worked wonders, and rid most of the pesky aphids. I noticed only a slight discoloration or browning on these first blooms, which I am sure is due to the spray since the temperature didn't climb high enough to cause problems. The roses border my front porch, facing east, and get a healthy serving of "Sunny-D" most of the day. Morning or evening are my favorite time for them as the light effects are most dramatic, and their colors most vivid.

There are three roses bushes, but so far only two have bloomed. I am still waiting for the white roses to emerge from their leafy cocoons. They are quite pretty, with broad flat leaves, and they unfold to a loose, white flower. Unfortunately they are delicate, and succumb to burning after only a few weeks of summer sun. Fortunately they bloom often, so if I trim every few weeks, the rose bush remains spring new.

Over the years, there has been some cross-pollination by our friendly neighborhood bees, and the white and pink rose bushes will sometimes carry some of each other's coloring. Also, they have different petal shapes, and the pink rose bush originally had a thicker cupped petal. But as the picture shows, the pink bloom flowered more like my white rose bush. (Go Darwin). But this is the first year I have taken consecutive pictures, so I could be remembering wrong. (Go Dementia).

I will continue to take pictures through out this summer; it will be interesting to see how things develop. Plus, roses are the perfect posers! Even a photo-novice like me can capture a nice picture!