Ode to a Spider

I read Charlotte’s Web in grade school. You probably did too, or a teacher read it to you. Pig meets spider, pig and spider become friends, spider saves pig’s life, spider dies, pig takes care of spider babies. The End.

I’m not much of a spider person. Don’t love them, don’t hate them. I know they’re an important part of the ecosystem, and whenever possible, I ignore them. They do their job, and I do mine.

Once in a while, a unique one catches my curiosity. That happened a few weeks ago on my morning dog walk. At the end of my block, an open stretch of land slopes down to a large pond. At the corner, my dog dove into the brush after some smell or other. Above her, I noticed a big spider web woven in the tall weeds.

Right in the middle of the web was one of the biggest, most colorful spiders I had ever seen. No idea ones like this existed here! According to a few arachnid sites online, the spider I found was a black-and-yellow garden spider, AKA a writing spider or corn spider. Cool!

Every morning I let Angel have a few extra sniffs around the pond while I check out how that writing spider is doing. Most days, hanging on for dear life in the wind!

The weather changed over the weekend. Humidity dropped, mornings are cooler, UV maxes at 5. Fall is coming.

I hadn’t seen the spider for a few days, but the web, and half-eaten meal, remained. So I did a little more research. Here’s what I learned:

These spiders only live one season and then die at the first hard frost! Their eggs survive the winter and hatch in springtime.

So maybe she’s already gone.

(written in memory of one of my favorite authors, Annie Dillard. 4/30/1945 - 09/15/2026)