Unlikely Friends..

       This summer I have spent time with some unlikely friends. They're not my typical kind of people but I have decided to give them a try. I'm attempting to see their side of things and trying not to judge them.
         I would love for you to meet Ophelia. If you come to my backyard, you can see her anytime of day. Her house is located between one of the rosebushes and a giant sedum bush. She is a beautiful yellow and black orb spider. She started out as this tiny little thing and her web was only about four inches across. She has grown to be huge and her web is bigger than a dinner plate. Everyday she catches a bug and wraps it up so nicely and then sucks the blood out of it. She and I have had great conversations and I do my best to keep the kittens from wrestling around her web and tearing it up. When I mow the grass in the back yard, I have to do it so that the grass blows away from the pond. Imagine my horror when I was mowing along the other day and all of a sudden I looked up to see I was blowing grass all over Ophelia. I had forgotten all about her! There she was, holding on for dear life to her web, trying not to get blown into the next county. I stopped the mower to check on her. She was a bit rattled to say the least. Her beautiful web was in shreds. Pieces of grass were hanging from what was left. I felt terrible and I kept apologizing. She ignored me as usual. I kept checking on her the rest of the afternoon and she was still there. I completely expected the next day to find that she had packed up and left me but no, there she was the next morning. Her web was like brand new, sparkling with dew drops. Even her back was covered in tiny drops. I'm not sure if it was dew drops or sweat because the poor girl had obviously worked all night long fixing what I had destroyed. I guess she has forgiven me and decided to stick around. I'm glad and I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the summer with her. I need to figure out a new direction to mow however....
          One of my other friends lives in my pallet flower garden beside the garage. I named him Moses. He started out as a tiny little brown twig. He is a praying mantis. I didn't know that they start out brown but he did. He has grown into a magnificent dark green specimen. He hides down in the wax begonias during the morning because the sun shines on this wall and gets quite warm. But as soon as the sun rises up high enough that the garage shades the pallet garden, you can see Moses moving around among the flowers. He especially doesn't like it when I water. I have to be very careful not to get water on his back because he hates it. I have to wait for him to move so that each
plant gets watered. We have a system, he and I, and it works. If I'm very careful not to get him wet, he will perch up on top, with his hands clasped in prayer. I think he's praying for me and I'm glad because I always need prayer.
            And then there's King Saul, the dragonfly who reigns over the pond and Ezmarelda, the frog. I could go on and on but you just need to come visit with them sometime. They have a lot to say, if you listen.