Web Work at Millbrook Marsh

We had strong thunderstorms on Wednesday evening, with thunder and lightning and downpours. We really needed the rain. When I woke up Thursday morning, there was 100% humidity; you could practically wring water out of the air. As I drove to work, I saw mist rising from every hill and valley.

The morning light lit up spider webs galore in a nearby hollow; hundreds, no, thousands, of fresh webs dripping with raindrops and dew. A shadow passed above me - I looked up to see a hawk sit on a wire, stretch its wings wide to dry them in the morning sun.

What a wonderful start to the day: misty magic! And I knew just one place I wanted to go to experience it . . . Millbrook Marsh. When I got there, the wooden walkway was a bit slippery from the wetness; watch your step! I heard people ahead of me on the path, and they stopped just in front of me along one of my favorite bends in the creek to set up a photo shoot.

That surprised me. Word must be getting out! Two women - they had gear and everything - plus a teenage female subject. I walked around them to go further down the creek to where the mist lives. I carefully stepped onto a wet rock closer to the creek to get a better view. The mist was doing its thing, swirling, playing with the light; oh my, have I seen some wonderful mist shows along these waters.

But the other story of the day was the webs, of course, and there were plenty of those as well, strewn with jewels along the path. This photo documents a particularly lovely set of them. You can see the larger main web in the center, and to the middle left, a much smaller web. Behind the webs, the mist is rising, and a bit of autumn color is starting to show in the leaves on the trees.

For the soundtrack, I wanted a song about spiders or webs, and here's a good one: David Bowie, with Glass Spider.