Back in the summer, a writing spider took up residence in a bush in my garden, just outside my front door.  Now I’m the kind of person who runs screaming at the sight of even small spiders, and this one was big.  But William loves spiders, and so we left her alone.

One day our spider was not in her usual spot.  A quick survey of the area around her web  turned her up in a nearby bush, finishing up her egg sac.
Now I’ve read Charlotte’s Web, so I know what’s supposed to happen to a spider after she completes her Magnum Opus.  So when the spider disappeared shortly thereafter, at first I was sure she had died.   But instead the next day she turned up on the garage door.  This was not a very good place for her, since I need to be able to open that door to take out the garbage.  By now we were so attached to our spider friend that I left the garbage in the garage a whole extra week because I didn’t want to disturb her.  But that couldn’t go on forever, so the following week I enlisted William’s aid in moving the spider.
He scooped her up in a shovel and deposited her on a nearby bush, and we hoped she’d be okay.   The next day she had already started a new web, this time on the other garage door.  She spent a few weeks there, and every morning when I would return from taking William to school I would take the opportunity to photograph her and her shadow.
William had been frequently feeding the spider, which he had claimed for his own.  We think that may have been the reason for her long life.  But then came the day she was missing from this web too.  I was sure this was the end and felt silly because I was missing her.  But then a sharp-eyed friend of William’s spotted her in a new location, above the garage under the edge of the roof.
She built a beautiful web here in which to spend her final days.
Some time during her sojourn with us, Miss Spider deposited a SECOND egg sac.  So even though she finally disappeared for good a couple of weeks ago, it looks like at least some of her children will be around to entertain us next summer.