It's early November here and we continue to be blessed with beautiful weather. The cool mornings frequently bring a heavy dew that coats everything that spent the night outside. This is one of my favorite times of the year as I get to see what the spiders have been doing. From the story of Arachne to watching them weave for extended periods, spiders have fascinated me for a long time. I don't welcome them into my home, but I'm always glad to see their presence outside.
Their industry and engineering feats are nothing short of amazing. The next time you're hiking a trail in the woods and get a face full of web, think about all the work that went into stringing those strands from one tree to another. On second thought, you may not be in a reflective mood at that moment. Still, if you can throw the covers off early enough on a cool Autumn morning and head for the woods or an open field of grasses, you are in for a treat. Starting at ground level and working your way up, you will see all kinds of webs on display. Some are testaments to symmetry and order while others, like the photo above, appear to be the result of an explosion in a thread factory.
I liked this shot because of the contrasts: the hardness and implied permanence of the fence and the softness and temporary nature of the web, the orderliness of the fence versus the randomness of the web strands, the large drops of dew on the fence against the tiny drops clinging to the webs, and the sharpness of the barbs versus the sticky nature of the web.
I don't know if spiders get depressed by the short life span of their creations, but they keep creating until their time on earth is finished. A good approach to living in my opinion.
