The devil in disguise

in the form of poison ivy. If you're allergic to this stuff ( like I am) it can make life miserable for quite awhile. . perhaps like your worst case of chicken pox! Where you touch it, the skin erupts in blisters which become unbearingly itchy. It becomes systemic and can spread all over and once you've contacted it more than once, it spreads more viciously every time. My worst attack was when I cleaned out a tangled mess of wild rose in winter not realizing there was a mass of ivy growing with it and it's probably even more toxic with no leaves! My arms swelled up to twice the size and I had blisters head to toe. But even worse ..a long time ago a friend was working as a 'flag lady' on a rural road job and went for a pee in the bushes (long before the days of Workers rights and portapotties) and yeah, you guessed it, reached for a convenient leaf! She ended up in hospital for a week!