once in a while, in the past, i've had
itches from what i thought were stray bits
of oil from poison ivy. i couldn't really
figure out how it was happening as it was
infrequent enough that i could not pin it
down to one tool i was using or a piece of
clothing (it all got washed anyways) or
gloves.

then a few days ago i helped snip some
lavender branches and went back to work on
what i was doing. a while later i had to
go pee, so not thinking too much about it
i left the glove on one of my hands (i had
to really go, ok ), and it brushed
against bare skin (very happy to say not
_that_ bare skin *whew!* ).

later on that day i had the start of an
itch and figured it could have been from a
spider bite.

then it got worse and spread and ...

several days later, it's just as bad to me
as poison ivy or lilac sap or sumac.

so now i know.

perhaps this will help someone else avoid
a similar trouble someday.


songbird