September 4: Spider embrace

I'm at the farm, where we have an attic fan and the windows and doors open and cool air, but not mosquitoes, flowing through the screens. Last night was even more delicious than the day. In the morning, I took the dogs for their walk through the woods and I was a little surprised to see the clearings, which were low and brown two weeks ago, full of tall green weeds and saplings and revived flowers. The sun coming through the trees is always so pretty.



On one of the woodland sunflowers was a small brown butterfly. I stepped slowly closer to see if I could get a picture of it with the little camera I had in my pocket, and it didn't move. I thought I was awfully lucky to have found a sluggish butterfly, so I got closer and closer, until I saw, with a start, the eight green legs of the butterfly's killer, locked in the death embrace.

The embrace, linked for the squeamish