Our Spiderwick Chronicles

 

 

Copyright by Becky Bristow Voyles aka ~theRAV~


Last year about this time, I took the first photo of this spider with my new digital camera and I was so proud of myself. It was across from our driveway in the middle of an unkept lot of the yellow house which is still for sale this year. The spider just happened to be located on it's web. We'd seen it as we were pulling in the drive. I had to kneel down slightly in order to see it against the yellow wall paneling of the house, making it appear even bigger as if it were actually on the wall when it was not. Otherwise, it would have blended in with the overgrowth. Almost a year later, either the same spider or it's offspring has spun another golden web. The web actually looked golden today in the sunlight after the rain from the tail end of Hurricane Fay. I know I took another photo of the latest spider, but I couldn't find it when I uploaded. Oh, well it was not as good as this first one, but it looked to be the same type of spider.

When we got back from lunch at a new nearby country cooking place called Ed's, I was changing clothes when Don asked me if I wanted a close-up of another spider. How far would I go for a once in a lifetime photo? Well, let's just say I had on one of Don's shirts, my undearwear and I slipped on my favorite clogs to go out on our still wet deck, camera in hand. It's not like there is Grand Central Station traffic around our semi sort of cul-de-sac. Even if a car drove by, they would have thought they'd seen a ghost with my white legs which got bitten by skeeters!

It was not easy getting this last shot. Spiders tend to blend too well with the woods as their backgrounds. You have to look for a lighter color background in order for them to show up. After several attempts, I got two and this was THE best one. Don even tried to take it since he was taller than me, but his did not turn out so they were deleted. Don didn't like it at first seeing it on the camera screen because he noticed the rafters badly needed a paint job. I told him we could say it was some old shack. LOL Our love shack.

After the evening service at church, we went to Walmart where I could hardly wait to print out the pics I took over the weekend. This one turned out so awesome with all the colors on the spider. Don really liked it then and he is not one to say much so I know it is a great photo. I can't wait to email this colorful guy to our friends and family. If any of you know what kind of spider this is, please tell me.