Long Legged | Huge Hairy

Sitting alone in crepuscular silence, a little after midnight, I was typing on my Mac when suddenly a huge, hairy, stripy-legged spider rappelled straight down from the ceiling, landing smack in the middle of the keyboard!

Wow... what a surprise!

Immediately it started racing around, across the screen, over the back and then across the screen again, round and around, sometimes over the keyboard and others over the display. I watched its antics, knowing that these spiders, like Ridgebacks, have their crazy run-amock moments and that it is best to leave them to it.

Eventually, it stopped somewhere out of direct eyesight from where I sat. Getting up and walking around the desk slowly, I saw it had come to rest on the back of the MacBook Air.

That was not where it remained though; the games had already began...

 

 

Let me know if you'd  like to know more about the games...
in the form of text and photos ~ there's a bit more to it  (~;

☥

Taking off | over Tidy Toytown

Wet Dawg | Clean Puppeh

 

Solstice Prayer Mate | My Little Mantis

I spotted this delicate little visitor in the kitchen and watched it make its way along the floor at quite a speed before swooping down to pick it up. It is only about 3cm long, in another photo you can see how large Marduk's hair is by comparison.

S/he was very interactive and curious, tapping on the olloclip lens with a raptorial foreleg as I moved in close to get into focus and jumping up onto my hand at another point. I watched for a while, seeing it carefully clean its face with comically curious little motions; if I'd been able to maintain focus with the olloclip I'd have videod it. It travelled the length of my arm and made its way onto my back, which it explored fully, giving me feedback of its location with little tickles!

Feeling grateful for the Mantis' message on this day, I set him/her among the plants outside by my bedroom and thanked it for this and for coming in to play.

Snaking stream | Straightish Roads

Flying o'er France | Sunkissed Coastline

Geese on Tilled Ground | rays reach prickly little lingams

Hens on Track | beyond the windy road

Red | Reptile

My new friend of the day, who has chosen to share space and stillness with me (=

A bird in the hand... | ...is worth taking the time

I was walking up the steps towards Main Street, having parked the car by Ragged Staff gates yesterday morning, when I saw a little birdie perched on the top one. It looked at me as I stopped and stared back into its bright black eyes. We regarded each other for several moments until I remembered I needed to be somewhere and moved. The fledgling fluttered and jumped around a few times, ending up under a bench.

I approached and wavered, not happy to leave it there but not sure of the alternative; I was late.

Seeing some gardeners working in the adjacent flower beds I approached and asked them to keep an eye on the little one. The younger chap stared back at me with wide eyes, no doubt wondering what I was on; finally he asked me where it was. I doubled back and showed him where the bird was hiding and the young man dived in to grab it. It was too young to fly but led the chap a merry chase as it fluttered just beyond his reach every time he swooped in to catch it. Down the stairs they danced, the man jumped and crouched, jumped and crouched as the bird fluttered a feather's breadth ahead of him. Finally, he managed to catch the fledgling, holding it gently in his strong hand.

"Ah, he has a new papi!" I laughed.

"Leave him in the flower bed over there," the older gardener said as we returned, "The mother will find it and come to feed it." There were low-growing bushes and plants there and it seemed a much better place for the fledgling shelter. I hope he was right; there was no sign of it as I walked past again a few hours later.