Sunday, August 30, 2009

more signs of autumn approaching



This week the dogwoods started to turn. It's not as noticeable from the house, but when I drove into the driveway one afternoon, the slight tinge of red stood out. The changing of the leaves here is one of the things that marks the passage of time for me, in a very deep way, and seeing that first hint of color has a tremendous and positive effect on my mood.

Also this week I noted three garden or "writing" spiders around the house. Two are by my bedroom window, and one is front and center on the front porch. As much as it would terrify me to have one on my skin, I love these yellow and black beauties, who represent writing - both in the webs and in their egg-building phase which comes later in the season. Last year I was able to watch one go through its entire process - living all summer and into the fall on the porch, building two egg cases literally over one long night, and later dying and falling from her web.

Last night my son pointed out the first of the "Halloween" spiders, as we call them. This particular one has a lovely orbed web outside of our sliding glass door. When you turn on the outside light, it's illuminated perfectly, and looks almost like a Halloween decoration.

I love these spiders because they generally take their webs down each day, curl up near the side of the house, and then rebuild in the evening when the sun sets. Watching them set up for the night, in what must be something akin to whole house cleaning, makes me feel better about the cyclic nature of chores.

A sure sign of fall for me is the cleaning out of closets. It hit suddenly, yesterday afternoon, and I managed to get the front closet completely cleared out, cleaned, and organized. Winter coats are there, and all the hats/gloves/scarves. I also tend to stick things for the thrift store there, or things I might try to sell, so I ended the day listing a number of items on Craigslist.

A closet a week should put me square into autumn, and then I can stop and enjoy the color and the coolness.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Very nice post, Billie. Thoughtful, well-written. Thanks.

billie said...

Thank you, Kyle. I enjoyed your new posts/poems today over at Metaphor!

Grey Horse Matters said...

Great post. The spiders are very intriguing with their habits and must be fascinating to observe.

I'm with you and am glad to see autumn is not too far off. Is it universal that with the start of autumn we begin cleaning out closets? I just started that today too!

billie said...

Arlene, I don't know what drives me to clear things out as fall approaches - many folks down here do it in the spring, but I've always tended to do it as summer ends.

For me, it probably has roots in "school starting" - which always meant shopping for school clothing, school supplies (my favorite), and books, and somehow the whole idea of a new school year has morphed into clearing things out.

Even thinking about it makes me want to go buy some new pens and notebooks and folders. And a new wool skirt, a sweater, and some boots. LOL.

Peggy Payne said...

Billie, I love the early morning September webs that are wet with dew. They're like big delicate silver flowers that I see as I drive out every morning. Until I lived in the country, I didn't know that there was a web season.

billie said...

The dewy webs are indeed lovely, Peggy - I like your description of them too. It's perfect.

Matthew said...

You are so wonderfully organized and organizing. . . I do appreciate it very much even though I know my own "black hole" tendencies are a heavy burden to one of your disposition!

billie said...

LOL - "one of your disposition" - now what is the translation of THAT?

a. control freak

b. OCD

c. both a and b

Anonymous said...

d. Someone who appreciates a clean house!