This morning the land was covered in shrouds of fog and mist. The air was so heavy with dew it was like swimming on land. Big rolls of fog swirled through the orchard. As I walked Shadow down Hixburg Road, the dawn’s rays touched the fields. Suddenly, hundreds of tiny spider webs clinging to the weeds in the cattle fields and in the lane that cuts through the woods burst into diamond brilliance. I just stood, marveling at the beauty.
I have a love-hate relationship with spiders dating back to childhood. I was afraid of them as a child. As an adult, having been bitten numerous times, I’m leery of them simply because I’m allergic to them – painful bites, with the last one in November sending me to bed for a day until the poisons worked their way out of their system. No, spiders and I do not get along.
Yet they are one of the most beautiful of God’s creation, architects of webs of intricate design that boggle the imagination. And as a gardener, I know they eat many of the scourges that plague my garden and steal from the crops.
So I leave the spiders outside alone and thank them for their sentry duty.
Inside the house, it’s another matter altogether.
Jeanne-You write so well. I could see everything so clearly. Thanks for putting such beauty into words. Annette