CONSIDER THE GOLDEN ORB WEAVER
by Julie Lavender
Heading out for my morning walk with a lengthy Christmas
to-do list on my mind, I notice something glistening in the sun just above
eye-level in the trees next to my house. It’s the web of a golden orb weaver
shimmering like some of the glittery ornaments on my Christmas tree.
I’m not particularly fond of spiders
and haven’t been since a nightmare when I was about ten-years-old. I still
cringe when I see one, and the thought of one landing on me, like it did in my
nightmare, makes me do a very unattractive dance, somewhat like the Marv
Merchants character on the Christmas favorite, Home Alone, during the tarantula scene.
Yet, with the golden orb weaver and
many other creepy crawly critters, I have learned to appreciate their beauty
after marrying my biologist husband, David.
Eight-legged beauty
An arachnid, not an insect (because
of her eight legs and two body parts instead
