who would have thought a tree could be evil?

Another trip up north to my lake...







This was meant to be a nice, relaxing visit with my parents and Jeremy's grandparents. We'd have a nice campfire, maybe a sauna, play cards, and spend lots of time outside.





















We did get to do some of those things, but about a half day into the trip, something terrible happened.





It started with a sneeze. Then another, and yet another. Next thing I know, I'm stricken with the worst allergy attack since about 5 years ago (coincidentally a spring spent in Sudbury).

The cause?



This is a picture of a birch tree with a bunch of seeds blowing in the wind. Looks harmless, right? Not to me though - I have a bad allergy to birch pollen and used to suffer from horrible allergies when I lived up north. As I got older they got less severe, but since I haven't been around these stupid mean trees during springtime, my tolerance for their pollen is pretty much gone.

So while we played board games, went for walks, watched hockey (a whole other disaster that I refuse to discuss except to say hopefully next year will be better for my team), went for boat rides, etc - I was constantly sneezing or blowing my nose.

After trying several different combinations of allergy pills, things got a little better, but weren't great because they made me very tired. argh

We did have a great visit, and the drive home went very well (even got some nice pics from the French River) but I have made a commitment to never ever visit Sudbury during May again!