The shot's a bit blurry as the bug was speeding along quite nimbly over the leaves. I think this might be a female European oil beetle.
Many of you expressed concern about my wine enjoyment in the comments section of the last post. Fear not! I have not yet decided to give up wine altogether. I mean, wine is one of the basic food groups, right? And I live in a vineyard. My triglyceride levels were not that high, after all.
But a curious thing happened. When I stopped the wine for two weeks, my sinuses cleared up. I hadn't breathed so freely in over a decade. Then, the day after I started having wine again, my sinuses blocked up and I am now having nasal allergy-like symptoms: runny nose, itching, and sneezing.
It could all be a coincidence related to spring pollens in the air as these weather systems bring up nasty stuff from the south. Ken has really been suffering from that lately. Or, in some odd twist of fate, the universe could be telling me that I'm allergic to wine.
When I'm in allergy season, I remove or decrease a whole lot of things in my diet - alcohol (esp wine) being the first to go.
ReplyDeleteI think the thing is that they contribute to the general pool of "irritants" that spill over into allergic symptoms once you hit a critical level.
wine has sulfites; could you be allergic to that? fate can drop dead!
ReplyDeletein philly, our basic food groups are cheesesteaks, tastykakes (snack cakes), soft pretzels, peanut chews (candy), and bluecoat gin.
A-M, you forgot hoagies!
DeleteAnd you made me hungry for a mid-morning snack! You're tempting me with Tastykakes! Not fair! I'm sitting here remembering licking the chocolate icing off. Oh well, I make better chocolate cupcakes now, but it's funny how just mentioning Tastykakes brings back the sensations. Anne-Marie, I'm planning to go to Philly in October to see some Girls' High classmates; I'd love to meet you.
Anne marie
DeleteI was going to suggest sulphites also
Mike, I agree with you. The pollen is pretty bad right now. And wine probably aggravates the pollen allergies. Soon April will be behind us (we're having a very late spring) and things will improve.
ReplyDeleteThat moon last night was something! Some wines cause more allergy symptoms than others for me. Moderation seems to be a word I use more often now that I'm "up there" in age lol.
ReplyDeleteFantastic photo!
ReplyDeleteWalt
ReplyDeleteAdd a little of Flax seed powder in your breakfast every morning and don't worry about your wine consumption :-)
That's an amazing thing to experience.... having a stuff nose for 10 years and having it subside when you stop drinking, and last for the duration of the time you stop drinking, and then come back when you start again. I doubt it's a coincidence, but, hey, I'm not a doctor!
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should try organic wine to see if it makes a different with your allergies. It could be the sulfites and it could also be the chemicals they spray on the vines.
ReplyDeleteYep. Wine makes me stuffy, but I don't care.
ReplyDeleteI've read that to stop a habit one needs to replace it with another habit...perhaps a spirit (grand-marnier or perhaps pastis?) for the wine or would those still have those sulphites? Just a suggestion.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulously colored beetle! Are there very many around your environs? Nice you could "wrangle" him to walk on the contrasting-copper-colored leaves!!!
Very Egyptian
ReplyDeleteYou got me to thinking about my sinus problems and wine. But I only drink two glasses with dinner. And there have been times when I didn't drink any for a week or two with no improvement in my sinus problems. So I'm thinking that wine is not the problem.
ReplyDeleteWine has histamines, so you could be reacting to them--maybe try taking an antihistamine every day? Giving up wine completely just sounds too depressing.
ReplyDeleteDear me! What a terrible thing that would be, having an allergy to wine ! Shudder!!
ReplyDelete