Monday, August 31, 2009

To New York and Back


I just got back from a lovely trip to NY State to see my sister, video my dad's hometown - Saratoga Springs, NY, since he can't get there anymore, and to dig around (literally) Oak Hill, NY, home of my DeWitt ancestors.


I will have pictures and video to put up but they're still sitting on my computer waiting to be processed. I have to piece the videos together to make them coherent (and edit them, too).


One thing I brought back from New York State that I didn't intend to is......some sort of poison oak or sumac - I think sumac. What is so funny is that I didn't get it digging around Oak Hill's cemetary - the cemetary was mowed and it was mostly grass anyway.


I think I got this rashy stuff from the plants around my sister's little house. There are garden flowers, hostas, petunias, lovely plants. But lately there are a few unknowns that have popped up and my sister pointed them out to me with the caveat that she is going to take them out, but hasn't gotten a chance yet.


As I was getting into her car one afternoon, I noticed some quick movement in front of the vehicle - something very small and fast. My sister said it must be a chipmunk because they have holes in the gardened areas around the edge of the house. Like the nutcase that I am, I started looking for the chipmunk hole and was moving the plants aside - including what I think is poison sumac (it sure looks like the pictures I looked up last night on Google). I never found the chipmunk or his hole, but I sure did get a nice case of poison something on the left side of my face and neck. I'm left handed, so I must have touched the left side of my face with my palm. I don't have any poison sumac-y bumps on my palm, but I do on the back of my left hand.


I had forgotten the joys of summer in upstate New York - the thick bushes, the huge trees, the sheer green-ness of everything. I used to get poison ivy on a regular basis as a child, and back then, there was something called, "Zemo" for itching - it was fabulous, but, unfortunately, it is no longer made. I'd slather it all over the left side of my face and neck, but I'm using Cortisone cream instead.


Of course, today was the first day back at work - and I have to explain to everyone why part of my face looks like chicken pox.......I guess I'm just a kid at heart.

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