Beaded Webs

This morning the clouds fell down. This was of great amusement to A as we drove to school. Not so much to mommy, since not everyone drives intelligently when visibility ends just beyond the nose of you car. We went the "back way", past the cow pastures and cotton fields, where spiders have spun their webs in the most amazing places. There were big ones in the trees, and small ones in the openings of the fences.

You don't realize just how many spiders live in your yard until the fog rolls in. And they look like they would be easy to photograph, but they aren't. But wouldn't it be lovely if it were beaded? I assume that if you are reading this, you are a beader. Why hasn't one of us beaded a spider web?

And do you think the spinners know how wonderfully beautiful their webs are, sparkling in the sun as it burns off the fog? This is Matilda. You'll have to click on the image to see her better. She is about four inches in diameter from the tip of her longest top let to the tip of her bottom-most leg, plus she hangs upside down. Matilda has the best spot in the yard. Her web is on the edge of the pool, connected to the volley ball net support. She has taken care of pounds of mosquitoes, pesky wasps and yellow jackets, plus a few unfortunate dragonflies (sorry Cat). What you cannot see are all the tiny baby Matildas in her web. We have watched her grow from the size of a quarter. Now I know some of you are afraid of these ladies, but we don't kill spiders unless they are harmful. Matilda performs a service, so she gets to stay. She would also be lovely, immortalized in beads --- a bit scary, but lovely. She's black and gold, with that tiny bit of funky yellow-green. She'd be great all beaded. But alas, I do not have time to bead her or her web. Why don't one of you bead her?