So, how is everyone in the spider realm? Just fine, thanks!
Mostly, anyway. Someone vacuumed Legs up a few days ago, and she hasn't reappeared. Dead or moved to a less hazardous corner? I don't know, but I suspect the former. I have been looking for her. Milady also seems to have disappeared, but not to worry. There are
plenty of widows in the garden!
Speckles stills spins her web, and Peekaboo and her kind are busy all over the yard. I'm getting quite fond of the Funnel Spiders, actually. They're so blessedly easy to spot, and they build such impressive webs.
Now, on to the cast:
On first spotting the messy web, we thought there might be another widow lurking between the lime tree and the wall. They (widows) do like the rims of pots. Turns out, though, that this is an entirely different lady. Like Legs, Penelope is a Cellar Spider, aka a Daddy Long Legs Spider, aka a Pholcidae. They
eat widows. Go Penelope!
I love the little pattern there on her back, such a delicate little etching.
Ozymandias here is one of the Funnel Web Spiders aka a Grass Spider (who doesn't live in grass), from the Family Agelenidae, Genus Agelenopsis (thanks,
bugguide!). She's got a massive web. It covers the space between several of the leaves and is far, far larger than you'd think a lady her size could manage.
I'm working on learning to spot spiders resting during the day. I'm not terribly good at it yet, but it's fun to try. Here's Speckles, resting in her homemade hammock at the edge of her web.
I think I mentioned we have no shortage of Black Widows? Here's Francoise, settled in comfortably on the statue of Saint Francis in our yard.
Objectively considered, she's beautiful.
I'm not sure I'm objective.
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