A Room With A View

So here we go – the temps are dropping, and mums are in the patio pots. Sure signs of Fall. Trouble is, I’m a summer girl. I like long, warm days drenched in sunshine – even if the days get a little on the steamy side. I’d much rather be hot than cold. Summer and I get along just fine, but my relationship with fall is uncomfortable. Of course I can appreciate the spectacular color of changing leaves (we’ll leave dealing with the leaves for another time). But fall comes with angst. You never know how long it will last. You never quite know when that brisk autumn air with turn into a cold, howling wind. In the blink of an eye, fall will up and disappear leaving us to face – Old Man Winter.

I’m always sad to see summer winding down. The days get shorter. Flowers get leggy, and around here, it becomes spider season. Truly, everything is so spidery right now, I’m almost a prisoner in my own home. On my patio are two “tools” that have become vital elements to any venture into the out-of-doors – a broom and a large, sturdy stick. The level of spidery-ness has risen so high, that I must walk with one of these items in front of me even to step into my patio or porch.

It seems every shrub, rose and bush is home to some sort of webmaster, either spreading out and covering the bush with a fine white-ish blanket, or there is a zig-zag of fine, iridescent lines streaming from one object to another, creating a trap that can only be seen when the light catches it just right. Hence, the stick, of course.

Last year I had the unfortunate incident of having one of the nasty beasts actually fall down upon me when I apparently disturbed it by opening my patio door. The road to recovery has been a long one!

At this very moment, I can see three of the icky critters hanging from eaves, trees branches, bushes, etc. from windows in my house. Normally, I enjoy the view out my windows. Our main living spaces feature large windows with views of nature, lots of trees and flowers. It’s generally quite lovely. But this is not. The visual above is documentation of this unpleasant eyesore. Who would want to walk into that?! This creepy crawler scared the bejeezus out of me a few weeks ago when I was doing some weeding. I can hardly stand to look at the photo long enough to post it! She has since made her home dangling in our window. Ugghhh. It still spooks me occasionally, though I’ve sort of gotten used to it. At least I know where she is! She is the same type as the spider in the children’s book Miss Spider’s Tea Party, which actually is a delightful story. But I’m reminded of one of my favorite lines from the book delivered by a suspicious group of moths: “We would be fools to take our tea with anyone so spider-y.” Yeah, same. My days of sitting on the patio with an iced tea in hand are suspended.

I’m stuck inside with my view – though this is not the view I had in mind!