Loopy

We ate lunch in the arbor in the backyard today. It was only 50ºF, but it felt a lot warmer to me - probably because there was barely a breath of wind. It was wonderful to be out there. We don't have a lot of picnics in December. I tried to take a picture of the most magical thing about the day, but it was not something that photographs well, so I will just tell you what it was. The last couple of days there has been spider silk all over the yard - not webs, but single lines of silk from plant to plant. In areas where there are a lot of tangled vines and bushes there is a lot of it, and when the sun hits the silk, and the tiniest of breezes makes it dance, it looks like a fairy land. It's beautiful. All of the lines seem to go in approximately the same direction, but I don't know if that is true, or if it is just that the only ones visible at any given moment are the ones going in the right direction to be lit up by the sun. Still, it adds to the mystical quality of it.

In spite of the gorgeousness of the day, I didn't see a lot of bugs, but you will be amazed by what I did see:

 What is a looper caterpillar doing out and about at the end of December?

I was disappointed at finding only the caterpillar today (and seeing a few flying bugs), so I turned on the porch light in the evening. It attracted a couple of inconveniently placed moths, and this:

 Arachnid Appreciation:
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I spotted this spider walking around this afternoon. Based on the amount of spider silk coating the yard, I am guessing there are plenty of other spiders active the last few days, too.