my office mate
Spiders are amazing creatures aren't they? So patient. For three days I watched her out the studio window as I sat mesmerized by my glowing computer screen. Occasionally gazing out to clear my head, I'd admire her calmness. She'd endlessly wait for a snack to become entangled in her web. Twice I saw her pounce, wrap and return to her post. She was beautiful, huge and dark. All spiders are female to me- I have Charlotte to thank for that.
Finally, I went out Wednesday evening to take her photograph. When I returned yet again to the computer yesterday with a migraine that wouldn't quit, she was gone. And I was sad. And my head hurt. I hope she went to find a more lucrative location, but I fear she became a snack for a bird herself. Her web was awfully exposed, stretching precariously between the low branches of two trees.
I also found this abandoned web on our front porch Wednesday. I struggled to get a nice shot of it, and in the end I had to wait too. The setting sun was all it took.
Thank you, by the way, for your wonderful messages of late. I'm so very busy working on a website and painting murals right now; I'm desperately behind on answering emails and comments. But I do thank you. You make this all worthwhile.
Have a wonderful weekend! May we all find a little time to relax.
Comments
i hope you are feeling better now, alicia. have a great weekend!
Posted by: erin | September 14, 2007 07:09 AM
yes, I hope you're feeling better too; I don't know how you can function with a migraine?! Your photos are lovely, maybe your office mate will return? Have a restful weekend.
Posted by: hrsj | September 14, 2007 08:13 AM
Oh gosh, being a migraine sufferer from the age of thirteen I feel so bad for you. Doesn't it feel like a lost day?
I see the Arachnid mania is happening over at your house too! They are everywhere. We had one who had cleverly constructed her web under our porch light, so whenever the moths would fly in for a bit they were captured! Smart spider.
Posted by: Rachel | September 14, 2007 08:33 AM
I think I said what I want to say now about the spider already on the flickr photos. In my getting out of town furor, all I can muster is that it's so bittersweet.
Here's to feeling less busy!!
Posted by: Grace | September 14, 2007 09:21 AM
I had a spider that lived in my bathroom window when I lived in India. I spoke to it every morning and once had to intervene so that a hungry gecko didn't make my friend it's breakfast. :)
Posted by: laeroport | September 14, 2007 10:03 AM
That web photo is beautiful. Have a wonderful weekend.
Posted by: Mama Urchin | September 14, 2007 01:16 PM
Alicia, Penny sent me to your blog. It is a thing of beauty.
Bravo.
I'm going to post a link to it on my half-assed blog, which I only update every couple of weeks and which has no focus of any kind.
By the way, I think I saw you taking photos on Gillham Rd. around 11:00 today, when I left the office on an errand. You go! The photos here are amazing.
Posted by: Jim | September 14, 2007 01:20 PM
Beautiful web.
Posted by: Felicia | September 14, 2007 02:53 PM
hope you're feeling better this evening, alicia. i watch a spider all summer long, just inside our bathroom window. it's fascinating watching their lifecycle--even better when it is behind a glass window!
that second picture is beautiful, by the way.
happy weekend. xo.
Posted by: molly | September 14, 2007 08:02 PM
hope your head is feeling a bit better. nothing like a migrane to knock you on your butt. keep your head up my dear friend!
Posted by: heidi | September 14, 2007 09:36 PM
wait.....isnt that a black widow?
Posted by: christie | September 14, 2007 11:58 PM
There's nothing more poignant than an empty web. Beautiful photos.
I left you a little tag, but it sounds like you may be a touch too busy for it at the moment.
Posted by: Ali | September 15, 2007 05:15 PM
Very cool photos!!!!
Posted by: JoAnna | September 20, 2007 11:16 AM