Hay fever is horrible, the symptoms are crippling and any chance of enjoying the beginning months of summer are often spoiled by the problems caused by hay fever. I have been getting symptoms of hay fever for many years they have ranged from swore and swollen eyes, irritated nose, sneezing and coughing to difficulties in breathing.

I don't like taking drugs regularly so am not a fan of antihistamines, they do have their place in the treatment of hay fever symptoms but I try and go without them for as long as I can.

I was diagnosed with Asthma when I was fourteen years old, I seemed to be having trouble breathing and I remember my father taking me to the beach to get some fresh air. Over the years that followed I was prescribed various drugs and remedies unfortunately none of them worked that well. I thought if you saw a doctor and he found out what was wrong with you then after some treatment or other you would recover. No so with Asthma, in fact the more treatment I received the less my condition improved.

Asthma is a very distressing condition its symptoms range from mild irritation to times when it is almost impossible to breathe. People with Asthma find it very difficult and frustrating when trying to explain to people what it is actually like. They cannot understand that no matter how hard you try that you cannot breathe.

The emotional impact of this illness is devastating, you feel isolated, alone and misunderstood. You worry about your breathing being noisy and disturbing others, you are unable to take part in physical activities which others take for granted. You isolate yourself and spend a great deal of time on your own.

The degree of symptoms vary from a mild irritation in the chest which prevents you from focusing on much else to not being able to walk up a flight of stairs without assistance. Eventually I was taking drugs four times a day and carrying around the compulsory Ventolin inhaler wherever I went, often having a puff or two or usually more before attempting any physical exercise.

Remoska cooking

A great cooker for use all the year round but wonderful for use in the summer.

Cooking is one of the most important or frequent things we do and most of the time traditional cookers are fine. But as the weather in France got warmer cooking on our wood burning range became a very hot and uncomfortable job. The search was on for an alternative to allow us to turn our range off. We considered all sorts of options but needed something that was energy efficient and environmentally friendly, easy to use and didn't take up too much space.

After considering many options we placed our order for a Remoska. The Remoska was originally designed and produced in the Czech Republic sometime around the 1940/1950’s, so long ago, nobody can remember exactly! We selected this little oven because it met all our criteria but also because it looked and sounded very easy to use.

We needed something small, low energy, efficient and able to cook almost anything but especially pizza for the children.

Lammas

Lammas, Lughnasadh

August 1st - 2nd

This is the festival of 'First Fruits', it takes place at a time when the first corn harvest is ripe enough for reaping and the first woodland fruits are ready to pick. Lughnasadh has been associated with the Celtic god Lugh because of the similarity of the names and the fact that ancient Irish texts are the origin of the festival name. Quite why this is so has puzzled many historians as Lugh was more a god of warriors and kings, not harvest and though many place names in Celtic lands included a prefix possibly derived from Lugh, there doesn't seem to have been widespread worship in other ways. It has been suggested that the name Lug may be a mean something in itself rather than a reference to the god.

Having said this, if one bears in mind that many fairs seem to have been held at this time all over Britain it is possible to suggest that perhaps it is the races and games and elections of officials that took place at them that may provide the connection between the Lugh and this time.

Lammas is more easily understood, it is the Anglo-Saxon term for 'loaf mass' and it again refers to the first ripe corn that was made into a loaf. This was often used then as a blessing on barns and land to ensure the safe harvest of the rest of the crop. Although it can not be verified it seems possible that the Anglo-Saxon festival was inspired by an earlier Celtic one.

In Wales the date was known as the Gwyl Aust, or feast of August, and this is thought to have given rise to the medieval name for the same date of Gule of August. An interesting local point worth mentioning is that the lower Dyfi valley seems to have been a meeting place for the local tribes of Celts, as it was neutral ground. The church closest to this site dates back to the 520C.E. and was built near to the remains of a Roman fort and possibly on a prehistoric site (as it has a rare oval graveyard), it is dedicated to St. Peter ad Vincula, whose calendar feast is 1st August. This is a rare name for a church there being only a few in Britain and this the only one in Wales. Could it be that the local Celts met here on that date? After all what better time to find new converts to the faith. Needless to say this is pure speculation!

Other customs associated with this time are the renewing of protective charms on cattle, barns or fields. Gathering at sacred wells, lakes or rivers, or climbing significant hilltops, bonfires and bannock baking, and games and plays. Due rents were often paid now and marriages arranged.

And what of today? Lammas, now, is still a time to acknowledge the first of the harvest, hay and other crops may have already been gathered and there is an abundance of juicy fruits bursting with vitality. The main harvests are yet to come of corn ( lets not forget that cereal crops also brought beer as well as bread to ease the hardships of life), root vegetables and long keeping staples for the winter months. This cycle continues even though we may have no direct part. Our energies are those of mature adulthood, parenting still, but of a more complex kind. Now is the time to assess our achievements in the year, to take pride in what we have done and consider what may yet be achieved with the final productive energies left.

Our inclination maybe to laze in the sun and so we can put it to good use. It is a good time to take a few days to appreciate the season, see friends and family, visit local craft fairs and events that support local people by providing an income to get them through winter months. Enjoying the abundance, but all with a thought to the encroaching Autumn and the hard work that brings. Even in our modern lives anything we can grow and harvest ourselves takes the burden of our Mother Earth so any garden and pot produce such as the good old tomato is especially welcome on the Lammas table.

Date August 1st - 2nd

Foods

Loaves of wheat, oat, and corn bread, barley cakes, baking bread (gingerbread man) in honor of the God. corn, potatoes, summer squash, acorns, wild berries (any type), apples, pears, berry pies, elderberry wine, mead, cider, beer

Herbs

Blackberry, Frankincense, Heather, Oak, Oat, Sunflower

Colours

Red, orange, golden yellow, green, light brown, gold, bronze, gray

Gods & Goddesses 

Lugh, Lleu, The Mother, Dana ( Lugh's wife & queen ), Tailltiu, Luna, other agricultural Goddesses, the waxing Goddess

Incense and oils

Blackberry leaves, apple blossoms, rose, rosemary, chamomile, heather, eucalyptus, frankincense, sandalwood