after the storm

after the storm
Welcome autumn!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

I never thought it would happen...

{WARNING: turn away now if you are squeamish about spiders}
My daughter has been interested in all kinds of bugs (okay, insects and spiders, excuse me, archanids - see, I have been listening!) for years. She has a degree in biology and her favorite classes were entomology. She rescues every bug ever seen in the house, sometimes upending furniture to find them and then stepping outside during a thunderstorm to let them free. We all tease her a bit but this week, I am joining her ranks. I am obsessed about the behavior of our resident spider, (I want to insert the name, Charlotte, here but I will try to refrain). She lives outside (thank goodness!) and I am finding myself checking her every morning to see how she is doing. She is there, kindly allowing me to photograph her, from all angles. She never complains about the posing and allows me to find just the right light to bring out her good side. This morning I was able to watch her take care of breakfast, a bumble bee who left the security of his favorite lavender salvia and flew inadvertently, I am sure, into her territory, an amazing web. She is fascinating.























and even spiders can make a little magic:


I am so behind at visiting many of you. Life has been a bit crazy lately but I look forward to "seeing" you soon. I do appreciate your comments so much.

6 comments:

Johanna Gehrlein said...

Oh my God, Barbara, this is a very special post! Charlotte is a beauty. Do you hear me laughing? I will tell you, why! My kids were very afraid about spiders. And in the fall season the spiders often came through the opened windows and sometimes I discover them only at the moment when they made a huge web on a nook at the ceiling. When my kids then cried: "Oh, there's a spider", I answered often: "Oh, this is just Frieda" because thats the name of all our house spiders for the time of their short presence. I bring them out without killing them. So it is funny to hear, that your spider is called Charlotte.
Charlotte wears a fine jacket. And she kills a lot of the little animals which would like to enter your house. Wish you a nice day!
Greetings, Johanna

a quiet life said...

its a perfect halloweeny post... not squeamish about spiders, but i am about them dining... vegetarian at heart!

wonderful shots~

Anonymous said...

Fabulous shots, of course, but I am very squeamish about spiders. We rarely see anything that big here (thank goodness), but years ago we went on vacation in SC and the spiders in the trees were huge. And, I must admit, beautiful--as is Charlotte here. I couldn't stop looking at them but I shuddered every time.

stamphappy2001 said...

Wow, these photos are amazing. I had been shooting a spider at the beginning of Picture Fall but they never turned out quite as nice as these. Wonderful job.
stamphappy2001

Sketchy said...

I am really trying to view these photos with the eye towards the incredible beauty of nature...but that third one... a little creepy!

Jenny @ Simcoe Street said...

Oh my gosh, these photographs are amazing!!!!

Loving your blog

Thanks for your sweet comment on mine, too

I'll be back soon!

Jenny
www.simcoestreet.blogspot.com