Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Gossamer Ships in Morning Mist

I stepped outside this morning to let the chickens explode from the coop. Then I strolled to the garden to see if anything at all was happening there ... well, anything except the small cantaloupe Ned picked this morning and ate half of for breakfast. Quite a damp, misty morning.
The ground was covered with tiny pocket spiders' webs.
The tall grass in the pasture was even more sparkling with larger webs.


(It wasn't really that big; I was very close.)
But the tiny pocket webs hanging suspended in the short grass -- 
I found myself dazzled by their shapes.
They look like sailing ships on their way somewhere through a grassy sea.
Masts erect, sails spread, bowsprit forward! 
Do you see it?
A craftsman could work days to replicate such a beauty,
but a simple spider makes that in the dark, in hours.
This one's a thicker vessel with multiple masts,
slowly forging its way through heavy seas.
The spider, I suppose, is the captain.
Elsewhere in the garden there is beauty.
This is just a weed climbing and blooming among the dead cucumber vines.
A gourd blossom sparkles in dewy sunlight.
The gourd itself hides among the vines and weeds.
This is what made me go back to the house to retrieve my camera: 
late tomato blossoms, detailed in dew like rime frost.
If I hadn't run, I might have missed it
 if the sun had run faster and dried the pasture,
the webs and the ships and the waves and the rime.
Beauty is fleeting like a smile.

8 comments:

  1. Those pocket spider webs are so cool. I've seen them around too but never knew the name of them.

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  2. What you think is weed among your dead cucumber vines looks like a milk weed plant to me. If you start to see caterpillars on it you will know for sure. But do check around to see before you mow this down or pull it up, if you haven't done so already.

    It is always neat to see what is going on there at your farm.

    Enjoy the rest of your week ~ FlowerLady

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  3. Wow! It's really so farm-y and nature-y! Love it!

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  4. I'm glad you took the time to document the webs and weeds (or not!) of this one morning. Tomorrow will be a new scene - these things change so fast. Happy Fall! <3

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  5. I can definitely appreciate the beauty of a spider's web. But walking into them by accident in my garden at this time of year is an experience to be avoided. Funnily enough, I don't mind spiders. It's their sticky webs on my face and in my hair that turns my stomach.

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  6. I've never seen so many spider webs all at once! They are pretty, and your description makes them even more beautiful. I was wondering about the foliage in front of the gourd. Is it dill? Or maybe asparagus ferns? Pretty photos!

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  7. The leaves on the "weed" don't look like the milkweed plants we have around here. Are there different varieties?

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  8. Such beautiful photos! The common becomes decidedly uncommon when it's decorated by the season!

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