Charlotte

I had a visitor yesterday.

Ordinarily she would be an unwelcome one but this time she didn't bother me at all since she never came in. I didn't even know she was there until I opened the curtains and looked outside. I don't know much about spiders, so I can't say for sure if my visitor was a she or a he but but my daughter said we should call her Charlotte and I don't think she'd mind.

When I opened the curtain I saw the spider web covering most of the bottom half of the glass door. The photographer in me couldn't resist grabbing my camera and taking some pictures. Moving furniture around to minimize reflections, crouching and then lying down on the floor to find the best angles (because a good photographer will do whatever it takes to get the shot) I took a dozen or so photos. My subject didn't seem at all self-conscious.

Sometimes nature amazes me.



So delicate

So intricate



Functional

Beautiful



Just a spider doing what spiders do. Nothing special.



Is this web a trap...

...or is it a home?

The answer is


Yes.



This morning I opened the curtain, thinking I would take more pictures in the morning light.

The web was gone.

Without a trace.

It must have taken a great deal of Charlotte's time and energy to construct something so large and so detailed. I wonder where it went. But school and jobs and appointments won't wait for me to spin any more webs in my mind and it's time to face the day .


I'm glad I took those pictures when I had the chance. Now I have evidence that it did, indeed, exist.

What if I hadn't taken the pictures... or even taken the time to notice Charlotte?


What is

valuable

beautiful

useful...?



Is something more precious because it lasts a long time or

is it more precious because it is so fleeting?



The answer is


Yes