Paris - Paying Homage to Monet in Giverny

The pond features a Japanese bridge, very photogenic

Visiting Claude Monet's home and garden in Giverny, France, is a magical experience. The massive garden is most impressive, filled with all kinds of flowers, from roses to irises, dahlias, tulips, sunflowers, wisteria and on and on... you can't help but be in awe of such a place. It's kind of an organised chaos.

Then the pond with the waterlilies, complete with the Japanese bridge helps you immediately see why Monet painted his famous waterlily paintings.

Monet's house is painted pink with green shutters

He lived at this house for 43 years, from 1883 until his death in 1926. 

I visited his home over 10 years ago and was so transfixed by the experience that I promised myself I had to come back if I had the chance.

So when I found out we were going to Paris, Giverny was definitely on the list.

The first time I went was part of a tour, and the tour bus took us directly there. So this time we were on our own and I did a bit of research, as Giverny is about a one hour away by train from Paris. There are a few blog posts explaining the process, which is pretty straight forward.

First check the train schedule, and we took the 10.12am train from Gare Saint Lazare to Giverny. 

I bought the tickets online, but it was quite a hassle to figure out how to scan the QR code for us to pass through the turnstile! Nevertheless, it was eventually sorted and we got on the train.

One of the rooms upstairs in the house

An hour later we got off the train found a mini electric open-air train in front of the station with a woman selling 10 euro return tickets per person to get us to Monet's home. It turns out her tour is 20 minutes, winding around some other landmarks, whereas a giant coach can take tourists to the house in half the time.

After we were dropped off at the parking lot, we still needed to walk another 15 minutes through the small village to the actual house. I bought timed tickets (12pm) ahead of time so we were able to go straight in (along with a lot of other people).

First up -- the house. There was a long line to get in, and it took a while for it to move because visitors were excited to take pictures of the first room, the gallery, which was filled floor to ceiling with paintings and photographs. 

The house, painted pink with a green trim, is large for 10 people, as Monet and his second wife Alice Hoschede-Monet had a total of eight children from previous marriages. While the gallery is quite large, as well as the bright sunny kitchen in yellow, the bedrooms are actually quite small.

A large stove with a beautiful tiled backsplash

Visitors can also see Monet's fascination for Orientalism, or things Japanese in particular, with Japanese prints in the kitchen -- including one of a women's bath house -- and others sprinkled around the home. There are also two ceramic sleeping Siamese cats.

However it's the garden that's much more interesting! The flowers are so photogenic, everywhere you look you can easily compose a nice photo. Some influencers are wearing dresses to take selfies.

The pond and waterlilies are in another area, which entails going through an underground passageway leading to a large pond surrounded by greenery, including large stalks of bamboo. Everyone flocks to the Japanese bridge, which is covered in green wisteria leaves; could you imagine when the wisteria flowers are in bloom? 

Off to the side of the house is where the gift shop is, and it does a brisk business selling all kinds of things Monet, from photography books to children's books about the artist, colouring books, scarves, T-shirts, and jewellery.

One can easily picture Monet painting this scene

We had to hurry through the gift shop because we had to catch the 1.40pm shuttle back to the village in order to get the 2.52pm train back to Paris. It's a pity there isn't another train after 3pm -- it doesn't come until around 5pm.

One tip we discovered is not to go on a Sunday -- almost all the restaurants in the area are closed! We managed to find one enterprising restaurant serving mostly pasta and pizza that was open. The pizzas we ordered were freshly made and delicious. 

Many other people who were at Monet's house the same time as us were catching the same train back. 

Nevertheless we arrived back in Paris around 4pm, invigorated and inspired by Monet's garden!

Claude Monet's home

84 rue Claude Monet

27620 Giverny

Montreal's Atwater Market

Atwater Market was built in 1930s Art Deco style

Chef Andersen Lee took us to his favourite public market in Montreal called Atwater Market near Lachine Canal. It's not touristy, more locals who come here to buy perennials and wines, as well as meats, vegetables and cheeses.

Thick-cut slices of smoked meat at Alywin's

The market is named after Edwin Atwater, a 19th century businessman and city councillor, and the Art Deco building opened in 1933 during the Great Depression in a bid to stimulate the economy. 

Inside there are two floors housing butchers, cheesemongers, a shop selling coffee beans, a boulangerie and patisserie. We went into Aylwin Deli to try their smoked meat sandwich (C$16) on rye and pumpernickel bread, but the thickly sliced meat tasted flat, with no peppery taste.

Nevertheless, we marvelled at the stalls selling an abundance of asparagus, not only green but purple and white as well, fresh bulbs of garlic, giant stalks of rhubarb, and fresh herbs.

Large selection of vegetables and fruits for sale

We also tried some pastries -- a coffee-flavoured eclair, and one with chocolate ganache inside, and a small lemon tart with lime zest. They were all delicious, washed down with a refreshing raspberry lemonade.

There were lots of baskets of colourful perennials to hang or place in small balcony boxes at home, while oenophiles enjoyed wandering the aisles of a giant wine shop selling a wide variety of bottles.

Lee likes to come here, pick out a bottle, buy some cheeses, cold cuts and a baguette and have a picnic.

It's such a French way of organising a casual bite that also tastes amazing -- with a glass of wine. 

If you don't drive, it's also relatively easy to get to Atwater Market by metro too.

Colourful perennials ready to be taken home

Atwater Market

155 Green Avenue

Montreal

Tremendous Display of Tulips

Tulips galore! The tulip festival on until May 3

Tis the season for tulips!

These flowers only bloom for a few weeks and yesterday we drove to Harrison to see the Harrison Tulip Festival by Onos Farms. It's a two-hour drive from Vancouver, near Harrison Hot Springs.

The festival started on April 10 and will finish next week on May 3.

These tulips look like peonies

When we arrived it was overcast and actually a bit chilly from the wind. Nevertheless we were thrilled to see the tulips -- some 150 varieties and colours. 

Around the corner from the entrance were some unusual tulips that were large and looked similar to peonies. There were other tulips with the bulb shape, and with beautiful colour combinations like white with burgundy, orange and green, pointy-shaped petals, mauve with frosted edges.

Then after some lunch (lamb and chicken donairs, Greek salad, and hummus with tzatziki and pita bread), we wandered to the giant field where there were rows of tulips in different colours. 

If you walked around the whole show garden, it would probably be over 2km. We were told to only walk on the wide paths, not in between the rows of tulips. A staff member in blue would occasionally tell off visitors, many of whom English was not their first language...

So many rows of tulips in various colours

Nevertheless it was fun to see all these tulips and take lots of pictures of them and with them. Despite the chilly weather, many women wore sleeveless dresses to film themselves prancing around the farm. Some even wore heels, when the website advises visitors to wear comfortable walking shoes because you are on a farm...

Apparently there are some 14 million of them grown on the farm. At the gift shop we asked about buying tulip bulbs, but they are not available until October! So that was a bit disappointing. But my mom hasn't had much luck planting them -- animals like squirrels and racoons like to dig them up and eat them!

After our tour of the farm we made our way home, taking another two hours!

Harrison Tulip Festival

5039 Lougheed Highway

Agassiz, BC

Picture of the Day: Camellia

So pretty and so symmentrical!

Camellias are in bloom in Vancouver, and this is one from our backyard!

I can't get over how symmetrical it is!

Remembering Leslie Cheung 23 Years On

The fans and flowers are back. Photo: KJoules

The sad anniversary of Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing's death has come again. It's been 23 years since the singer and actor took his life at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Central on April 1, 2003. 

And the fans are back at the hotel with flowers and messages for their idol. In 2022 police in civilian clothes used the national security law to prevent people from gathering; as a result fans could only take a picture of their flowers in front of the hotel and then leave.

In Vancouver, I still have yet to visit the park bench in Stanley Park that is dedicated to Cheung; his fans gather here with flowers and tributes.

One of his co-stars, actress Joey Wong posted a video on her social media showing her sitting on the bench along with clips from A Chinese Ghost Story that she and Cheung starred in in 1987.  

In the movie, Cheung is scholar Ning Caichen, who takes shelter in a deserted temple in the forest and falls in love with a ghost called Nip Siu-sin, played by Wong.

Wong, who lives in Vancouver, wrote in her social media post: "Even though I haven't spoken about you [all this time], my heart is full of memories."

We're all reflective now, because we all miss Gor Gor...

Picture of the Day: Magnolias

Magnolias in various stages of blooming

Magnolias are blooming now, and like cherry blossoms, are only around for a short time.

But did you know you could eat them?

They apparently taste like ginger and cloves, and not only can they be consumed fresh in salads or steeped in tea, but also pickled in vinegar, steeped in sugar to make syrups for drinks, and dried and blitzed into powder for seasoning.

Ideally pick them when they are still buds, otherwise the ones that have bloomed taste more bitter.

To prepare the magnolias, remove the centre of the flower called the carpel, as it is quite bitter. Wash the petals thoroughly in cold water and remove any brown, papery bracts around the buds, and any bruised petals. 

Have you eaten magnolias before? Let us know!

Picture of the Day: Spring has Sprung

Bumblebees already here in Vancouver

You know it's spring already in Vancouver when you spy a bumblebee rolling around in a crocus...

Botany Lesson in the Forest

Murdoch showing off a horsetail

This morning I attended a botany walk at Pacific Spirit Park which started at the park's headquarters, just near the beginning of the 16th Avenue highway. About a dozen of us joined the stroll led by naturalist Dave Murdoch. He's a retired school teacher and admitted right away that he was not a botanist, but taught geography and has done some research on native plants in the forest.

The park on 16th Avenue is not one I have been to so it was nice to explore another part of the forest (sliced up by the highway).

Flowering thimbleberries

Murdoch walked along with two walking poles, which meant the walk would not be too arduous, though most of the participants were keen walkers.

As we wandered along the trails, he would point out interesting facts. Some of them include:

There are around 100 varieties of moss in the park;

Salmonberries always grow near Alder trees because they give off nitrogen, which helps the salmonberries develop. Indigenous people eat salmon with salmonberries. If you peel the bark of Alder trees, underneath it's red, and that is harvested and used as a dye for clothing.

Salal berries are a source of food for First Nations, with lots of Vitamin C. They are also eaten with salmon.

We also saw thimbleberries flowering, and wild blueberries. Will have to look out for the berries later in the summer.

There are also horsetails in the park, long stems with what look like bristle leaves. These plants date back over 100 million years ago because they have been discovered in fossils. Apparently they were used as toothbrushes!

Holes made by birds or animals

Sword fern is the most popular fern species in the park. There are also bracken fern, also widely found here.

Practically all the trees in Pacific Spirit Park are what's called second growth -- the first growth were cut down and new trees planted, which are about 50 to 100 years old. When the first growth trees were cut, they were dragged out of the forest by horses. 

With that, our walk was over in about an hour and 20 minutes. Neat to see there are people willing to show others what they know about the forest! And a beautiful day for a stroll. 

Picture of the Day: Yellow Peony

Beautiful yellow peony that is rare to find

Yesterday we visited a friend's home where they have two beautiful yellow peonies blooming.

Most peonies are various shades of white to pink to maroon, but yellow is considered rare. That's because it's hard to breed them to get the golden colour. 

So here's a picture of one to admire!

Picture of the Day: Pink Peonies

Beautiful peonies in bloom already!

It's that time of year again when my mother's peonies are in bloom!

This year we counted 30 buds that will blossom this year, thanks to organic compost to fertilise the soil.

A week ago the buds were coming out and then boom! They have unfurled into a massive mass of brilliant fuchsia and pink petals.

When examined closely the petals are quite delicate, and like sakura, these peonies fade soon after blooming.

Is it no wonder that Chinese painters liked to paint peonies, which are known as the "king of flowers", perhaps because of their size. Peonies represent wealth, honour, prosperity and success. 

We are taking pictures of them everyday, capturing their spirit and beauty before they disappear... for another year.

Year of the Snake Seems like a Tough Sell

It's a tough sell to get customers to buy flowers for CNY

Although Chinese New Year is only days away, in Hong Kong, vendors selling flowers and potted plants at the flower market in Victoria Park are reporting sluggish sales.

While there are a lot of people checking out the fair, which has 395 stalls this year, flower sellers like Lee Siu-ming, owner of Chun Shing Flowers Trading, which specialises in orchids, are reporting business is down by 30 percent.

"People aren't willing to spend," he said. "I am negotiating prices with them till my gums bleed, but some of them still aren't convinced."

There are 395 stalls at Victoria Park this year

Lee said the reasons were because of the slow local economy and people going to Shenzhen and other places in China to shop.

However, stalls selling snaked-themed products seemed to do well, like snakes on cushions and stuffed toys. 

One stall vendor observed that while many mainlanders came to the fair, they were more curious about what was available and hesitant to buy anything. 

"They're more interested in sightseeing and taking pictures," said Terrence Lo, who was selling books.

"The language barrier and concerns about customs regulations deter them from buying books."

In addition, local customers aren't buying as much either.

"The older generation who are often our most loyal customers, are becoming more selective," Lo said. "They're looking for bargains and are less likely to make impulsive purchases."

Sounds like the Year of the Snake is going to be a tough one, much like the Dragon before it...

Joe Average: No Average Artist

Average lived with HIV/Aids for 40 years

It is sad to find out that LGBTQ+ artist Joe Average died on Christmas Eve. He was 67 years old.

His art was whimsical and colourful

He was well known in the art community for his colourful, upbeat paintings and several murals of his could be found around Vancouver. They were mostly of faces of people, or flowers, or even animals and insects personified with big red lips.

But mostly Average was a symbol of surviving HIV/AIDS. He was HIV-positive at the age of 27, which motivated him to become an artist and advocate for HIV/AIDS awareness and LGBTQ+ rights.

"He had Aids for 40 years and he maintained his healthy attitude by being creative," said Michael Harding, a longtime friend. "Creativity is what kept him alive, and the love of the community."

This was evident in him donating artwork to many charitable causes.

Average's artwork made it onto a Canadian stamp, and on a loonie designed for the Royal Canadian Mint.

Average's work was featured on a stamp

In 2021 he was appointed to the Order of British Columbia, and last year the Order of Canada. 

Vancouver is so lucky to have such a talented and giving artist who did so much for the city and its residents through his art.

A Retrospective of Hockney's Whimsical Approach to Art

Hockney's interpretation of Yosemite

We paid a visit to the Palm Springs Art Museum again, after our first visit two years ago. This time the exhibition is on English artist David Hockney and it demonstrates a range of his work not only chronologically, but also in terms of the various mediums he uses.

A photo and painting of sunflowers

Entitled David Hockney: Perspective Should be Reversed: Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation, the show includes almost 200 of the artist's works in prints, collages, photographs and iPad drawings.

I don't know much about Hockney, save for his colourful, whimsical works, like his swimming pool paintings, and he designed a print for the 1972 Munich Olympic Games of a man diving into the water.

His curiosity in experimenting with new technology, in particular iPads is really interesting, as someone in his late 80s is open to trying new things and seeing if it works for him and his art. For example he did a sketch of Yosemite in his iPad and it could easily be a lithograph, with vibrant green trees in the foreground, and the mountain in the back. He uses various circles, dots, squiggles and scratches to create texture and depth. 

His collage portrait of his mother

Hockey also tries to make art fun and pokes fun at how people think it has to be high brow. In "Photography is Dead. Long Live Painting", he has a photo of a vase of sunflowers in an homage to van Gogh, but next to it is a painted version of the same flowers. 

There's also a portrait of his mother that he made by taking numerous pictures of her at one sitting and assembling the pictures together to create one image. The same goes for a massive collage of the Grand Canyon.

What I liked the most was a giant painting of two of him! Both sitting in chairs with their backs to the viewer, one smoking, the other not at a wall full of his paintings of flowers in vases on checkered tablecloths.

The museum got cheeky and replicated the painting with the same flower paintings framed on the wall, and the included two chairs similar to the ones in the painting complete with a side table and silk rose, and invited viewers to be in their own Hockney work. Quite amusing!

Two Hockneys looking at his flower paintings

David Hockney: Perspective Should be Reversed

Until March 31, 2025

Palm Springs Art Museum

101 Museum Drive

Palm Springs, CA 92262

A Visit to Blake Garden

Beautiful green views over the city

A relative who lives in the Bay Area took us to Blake Garden today, a public garden north of the UC Berkeley campus in an area called Kensington. We had to go up hills and along narrow roads before we reached the entrance.

It's free admission, with entrance at a pedestrian gate off to the side. There's no paper map to follow so it's best to just wander around and the paths eventually meet up with each other. The garden is 10.5 acres which includes Blake House, which is supposed to be the residence of the president of the University of California. 

Giant flowers under blue skies today

But upon closer inspection you can see it's deserted and empty, and not maintained. We asked a gardener working on the property about it and she said the last president lived there 15 years ago and since then successive presidents prefer to live closer to the campus. The place has also fallen into disrepair and would need a huge budget to not only renovate the home but also maintain it. Not exactly a priority at this time, which is too bad, but at least the garden is kept up using organic methods.

The house includes a long rectangular reflecting pool that is fed fresh water from a grotto. Upon closer inspection of the manmade pool there were giant Japanese carp swimming in there! They got excited to see me, thinking I would feed them and came swarming around, but then realised I did not bring anything, and there's also a sign warning visitors not to feed them human or fish food, as they are already well fed.

Twin Japanese girls and their parents came to have a picnic by the pool and the siblings were excited to see the fish. One of them counted how many and rushed back to report the number to her parents.

Blake House in the background

Wandering around the garden we were impressed in particular by a giant magnolia tree. We'd never seek such a big tree with big leaves and big flowers in a creamy yellow colour. While the garden tries to maintain things as natural as possible, many of the 1,500 species of flowers and shrubs did not have labels so we either had to guess or didn't know what they were. 

Nevertheless the view was beautiful -- down below we could see San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. The garden is quite compact, as it abutted some public roads and residential area. There's a mini redwood forest but we didn't go in, and instead admired some Asian-inspired ceramic sculptures near the Blake House, as well as the numerous flora and fauna.

There was also an area with a sign that says "caterpillar X-ing" and some milkweed grown there to help foster more butterflies, and there were a lot of succulents and flowers, a few roses and even an artichoke tree with artichokes growing on it!

Blake Garden is a lovely place to walk around and immerse yourself in nature for a few hours!

Massive magnolia flower!

Blake Garden

70 Rincon Road

Kensington, CA

Picture of the Day: Hydrangeas

Hydrangeas look particularly pretty this year

In Vancouver, people's lawns may be yellow, but their flowers are blooming in their prime, in particular hydrangeas.

These giant colourful floral pom poms are flowering beautifully in particular this year and it's because of the hot weather we've been having these few weeks. 

These big floral pom poms are fun to see

Apparently across Canada all the hydrangeas are doing very well. They can come in white, cream, pink, blue, and violet.

Unlike roses, hydrangeas bloom for several weeks and are so pretty to look at!

Interesting to note hydrangeas are native to Asia, in particular China, Korea and Japan. 

The word hydrangea comes from the Greek word "water vessel", referring to the shape of the seed capsules. 

Picture of the Day: Ocean Spray

Ocean spray are blooming in Vancouver

These flowers are called ocean spray, with the Latin name holodiscus discolor. A prolific contributor to the neighbourhood email discussion board pointed out they were in bloom in a nearby park so I checked them out.

On closer inspection they are very tiny white flowers that are clumped together and look like mini floral chandeliers. The flowers attract hummingbirds, bees, butterflies and other pollinators. The other day I saw a bee spending a lot of time in them.

Doing a bit of research, there are seven to 10 species of holodiscus, from British Columbia all the way down to Bolivia! 

It's also good to know these plants are drought-resistant and are pretty hardy. 

Picture of the Day: Peonies in Bloom

The brief life of peonies make them even more special in May

For a brief window of about two weeks in May, my mother's highly-anticipated peonies bloom and just as quickly wilt.

It's an annual spectacle we take in and watch in awe as these giant flowers unfurl themselves like creased silk sheets from a tight bud.

Giant bursts of pink in the garden

Her green thumb secret is using fertilizer she has composted for months that she spreads on the soil three times a year to ensure the blooms come out. There are well over a dozen of them together on the bush, making it hard to photograph them all.

But here they are in their pink glory! They are Chinese peonies, not at all like the western ones that look like giant carnations.

They inspire those Chinese watercolour paintings. But here I've captured them with my iPhone before their beauty fades...

The Non-Casino Macau Tour

Even the stairs are painted with cats in Macau!

After lunch at Miramar in Macau, my relatives took me on a stroll in Coloane Village. First stop was to get half a dozen egg tarts from Lord Stow's. As you approach the unassuming shop, you can smell the butter baking in the oven. 

Lord Stow's famous egg tarts

The staff have boxes of freshly-baked egg tarts ready to go and were doing a brisk business when we arrived. It wasn't busy, but a small steady stream of customers.

Then we walked along the waterfront, and in the distance you could see Zhuhai, like the distance between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. 

As we walked along the side streets, we spotted many colourful murals, many painted by art students. It's a great and inexpensive way to bring some vibrancy and character in the neighbourhood, and many visitors take pictures too. 

There are also many green thumbs in the area because in front of people's homes they had small gardens and made the most of the space they had with lots of potted plants and flowers that beautified the streets.

At one small shop selling souvenirs and coffee was a sign that said "Macau Cultural and Creative Ice Cream". We were curious to find out what this meant and asked the two staff there. One came over to where we were and pulled out the freezer to show us Macau buildings in different colours on a popsicle stick. So that's what they meant by cultural ice cream! Clever! They were 25MOP each so we didn't get one...

This pond will be filled with water lilies later

Then we walked down a mosaic staircase to Wetland in Avenida da Praia, which has a view of the giant casinos in the area: Galaxy, Morpheus, City of Dreams, Venetian and Paris to name a few. There's a giant shallow pond where later in the summer it will be filled with water lilies and lily pads. A few fish were swimming in the muddy water, but it was extremely shallow for them. 

At the other end of the pond were restored homes of Macanese officials. We were able to visit one of them that was furnished with antiques to give visitors an idea of what life was like in the 19th century.

For example the families were so religious that they had prayer benches in their bedrooms, and had religious effigies of Christ, or paintings of Christ around the home.

Nearby was also the former IEC Long Firecracker Factory. The complex is made up of several old and abandoned buildings, though no one is allowed inside them. They are one or two storey concrete huts and in between them are barriers built to hopefully prevent the spread of explosions in case any of the firecrackers were set off accidentally. 

Fireworks were manufactured in these buildings

Apparently at one point Taipa was home to five fireworks factories, but by the 1980s production slowed down. This village was set up in 1925 and closed down in 1984.

While it was a hot and humid walk, it was a great way to see the other side of Macau (the non-casino version)!

Floral Display Flaunts Funeral Vibes

Originally the flowers were all white, with "funeral vibes"

Today is the last day of the Hong Kong Flower Show at Victoria Park, where visitors can check out beautiful floral displays big and small, but another one is being set up in East Kowloon that's gotten a lot of flak recently.

Originally thousands of live flowers were going to be displayed as a backdrop for photo-taking at East Kowloon Cultural Centre in Kowloon Bay, but then Kwun Tong district committee members switched to LED-lit flowers because the former "took too much effort in watering".

Criticism resulted in adding colours on flowers

But when the flowers were installed -- all white no less -- there was an uproar about spending HK$500,000 (US$64,000) on a display that had "funeral vibes", as white signifies death in Chinese culture. Others said it had a "toilet vibe", referencing toilet paper with embossed floral designs.

After the snarky comments about feeling like being in a "mourning hall", the flowers have now been injected with some colour -- pink and orangey-pink -- to brighten things up a bit during the day, and they will glow at night.

Kwun Tong district councillor Cheung Ki-tang said originally the colour and design of the flowers and the display were not discussed in meetings because these were "minor details".

Really? If the point is to create a floral background for people to take pictures, surely the colours of the flowers and how they are displayed are important?

"The new look is more colourful now. It's good that the government is receptive to public opinion," he acknowledged. "But the original design also looked good to me too."

Someone has to have the last word...

Picture of the Day: Spring is Blooming

Lovely magnolias in bloom under blue skies

This weekend we had almost summer-like temperatures with a high of 15 degrees! 

With that comes signs of spring -- first it was snowdrops and then crocuses, and now the magnolias and plum blossoms are beginning to bloom.

Plum blossoms in fierce pink

I have only seen plum blossoms so far -- cherry blossoms are more dense in terms of petals, and dusty pink in colour; I hope to see the city "pinked out" as writer and artist Douglas Coupland has described Vancouver in spring.

While it's lovely to see all these flowers coming out, my sinuses are frazzled!

My allergies are back with a vengeance!

Last year I didn't suffer from allergies after being in Hong Kong for so long, but perhaps my body has adjusted and now I'm getting itchy eyes and am prone to sneezing.

I'm taking some mild medication for now, and hope these allergies will be over soon!