I was listening to a gardening program on the radio one morning before going out to do some yardwork. The speaker warned to be very careful around bougainvillea bushes and to avoid being scratched or cut by their thorns, as these can be harmful and poisonous.
It so happened that one of my chores that morning was to trim my own bougainvillea bush, which had grown quite large. If you’re not familiar with this type of bush, the thorns, especially on larger branches, are big and sharp. As I reached to cut off a large, high branch, it fell on my foot. One of the thorns penetrated my shoe and went sharply into my toe.
I wanted to finish the trimming, so I didn’t stop to check my hurting toe. Later, when I went into the house and removed my shoe, my sock was bloody and there was a large cut in my toe where the thorn had penetrated. I was feeling a bit overloaded with other problems at the time, and was probably influenced by the warning on that radio program, so I sighed, “Not another problem!”
