Falling

Tis the season to be sneezing. Growing up in the west, I admired the native, rustic, bare, arid, Saharan, landscape. I have lived in several states in the United States. Currently, I find myself residing somewhere in the mid south. Among the perks I cherish about living in the mid south is the change of seasons. I know there is an actual change in weather from spring and summer to fall and winter. I can visually see and feel the evidence that the weather has changed. Summer in the mid south is beautiful. Not only is the sunshine warm and friendly (much like the people here) but the scenery is full of color, fragrances, activity and life. Living my childhood in the west has made me appreciative of desert beauty. One of my most treasured visual memories of growing up in the west is the vivid, scenic, breath taking, sunsets generously lavished in indescribable colors. There was nothing better than driving up to the mountains just to watch the sun sink into the sprawling city landscape.

One of the drawbacks to living in the mid south is the hyper activation of dormant allergies. Yes, the plant life is lovely. However, in order for me to function in a somewhat normal fashion (without sneezing constantly, watery red irritated eyes, raspy voice, lethargic, skin nicely decorated with hives) I must subject myself to ingesting antihistamines or immunology (also known as allergy shots). Another thing I have to deal with in this region of America is changing my clocks twice a year due to daylight savings time. This is one thing I did not have to contend with in the west. All in all I think these minor issues are manageable and do not detract from living here.

After driving my daughter to the doctor's office, I saw a huge yellow and black spider in a very large web among some hydrangeas. I took the time (as my impatient teenage daughter who is always on the go) to ogle with surprise (What does that huge spider eat: people?) wonderment (These creatures do not exist out west.) and a little trepidation ( I'd like to take a picture but I do not want the spider to leap on me). After approaching cautiously and waiting patiently (My daughter is very comical. She knew I wanted to take a picture of the spider so in turn she tried to scare and agitate my unusual photographic subject. She even threw flower petals into the web. She successfully caused the huge spider to move beyond the perfect amateur picture pose.) I eventually took this picture. The spider eventually moved back into position. I was most impressed by the design inside the huge web spun by the spider. There was a zigzag pattern on it. I'm sure just like my native born mid southern children, this spider and it's web is a common site to most lifelong residents in this area. However, in my case I was an explorer who just stumbled upon a wonderfully unusual maybe even rare insect.

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