Burn, baby...

This, dear readers, is an image of my legs taken last night, upon my arrival home and dash for aloe vera. Please note the offending, angry red blotch of color visible on the back of my left leg (that, due to the screwy nature of camera phones, looks like my right leg. I assure you that it is in fact the left). Please also note that the back of my right leg is perfectly fine.

The first burn of the season, which came as a result of standing in mid-afternoon sunshine for two hours in fair Grand Isle*. I knew that I would be out of doors for a significant chunk of Friday's afternoon, so I thought I'd be wise and help keep myself cool by wearing a skirt. I remained mostly in the shade and felt no hint of what I would discover about an hour and a half after returning to my computer.

How one manages to sunburn only one of one's legs while standing around will be a mystery for the ages.

Of course, with any sunburn - particularly the first of the summer - one never realizes that one has taken on characteristics of a lobster until after the fact. It never hurts at the time and, in fact, never even pains the burnee until one happens to see it. I think it's a reflex thing more than anything else - when you see that you've turned a lovely shade of red, your mind instinctually thinks "This should hurt!" and sends dispatches to the offended nerve endings.

So as I sat in my chair yesterday, I happened to turn and look down at the ground, catching a glimpse of my leg as I did so. All of a sudden?

"OW!"

A colleague looked up in surprise. "What are you doing over there?"

"Dude, I got sunburned!"

"You're just realizing this now?"

"Yes! And it's only the back of one leg!"

Those I work with have grown accustomed to the fact that I manage to create misadventures into which I fall, so the random statement was received with a chuckle and amused nod of the head.

I started to count down the minutes until I could start my date with aloe.

*Fair is a very appropriate word for this section of Vermont to which I'd never before traveled. Also applicable: glorious, gorgeous, quaint, beautiful and visit-worthy. I'm already planning a venture over to the Islands during a day off so I can try doing the setting justice with photography. Really quite lovely.