They came as an invading horde of tiny eight-legged aliens, gliding silently across the sky on gossamer wings.
It’s not science fiction, but a fanciful scene from Charlotte’s Webb. And of course the aliens were really harmless baby spiders, heeding Nature’s call to spread themselves far and wide to assure the survival of spiderdom (or at least their species). Some types of spiders do this by ejecting long strands of gossamer spider thread, the same stuff they use to build webs. But when used for flight, it comes as a long string that is pulled by the breezes. No telling how high some of these little buggers get, but some have been known to travel literally thousands of miles on their little "hang lines."
A few days ago when looking for Venus in the daytime, I lay down in the middle of a field (well, actually it’s a large dry "containment" pond to catch overflow during flash floods — but we like to think of it as a field or park). Looking high overhead, I quickly came upon the Moon, my first target. But then while scanning for Venus, I saw a long thread drift by — one of the spider babies leaving home. Just one. I’ve seen them many times before, but never as many as depicted in Charlotte’s Web. It’s good to know that they are out there, even if I saw only one.
I didn’t have a camera with me and I lost sight of the arachnid paratrooper too quickly to get a shot anyway. So I borrowed an image of the sky and faked what I saw. I have to admit, it does look pretty much like what I saw.
If you haven’t yet seen Charlotte’s Web, I heartily endorse it for all ages. Of course, animals can’t really talk, and pigs certainly can’t fly… but spiders can.
Background sky image courtesy of freestockphotos.com
What a beautiful post, Larry!
I really enjoyed it.
Deborah
wow. That is an incredible thing to have witnessed.
The native americans say that the spider is the totem animal of the written language! When you see one, it is to remind you that “creativity is always available when spider comes into your life”.
“Spider in Native American myth wrote the alphabet and taught the people to use words and writing. Spider can help you with your prose and poems creating new ways of expressing yourself. So save an eight-legged friend today and let Spider create something wonderful in your life.”
http://www.ravenmedium.com/TotemAnimals.htm
Your writing took me to that dry containment pond to share your vision of the spider. There is nothing nicer than taking a moment to look at nature. Oh, if only more people would take the time to look around.
Thank you for sharing.
You know, I try every day to notice something. Here where I live, in Southeast Denver, we have lots of wildlife — from songbirds and and kingfishers and red-winged blackbirds and herons and crows to Northern Harrier Hawks and Great Horned Owls; to foxes and raccoons and muskrat (and occasionally coyotes); to crayfish (I call them crawdads) and minnows in the two streams nearby. If you open your eyes, it isn’t too hard. But unfortunately in this age, with cell phones and cable TV and computer games, it is all too easy to ignore Nature. Funny, but the very media that helps us share (the Internet), also provides such enticing attention traps for so many!
i could not agree more with your last statement. what seems popular seems important,yet the really important things in life are the things right in front of you. living our society is a conundrum. but there isnt a better one in the world.