Charlotte's web

 

We've had a spider web on our kitchen window all summer. It's really beautiful when the morning sun hits it just right. Every month or so, after I clean the outside window, Charlotte has to rebuild from scratch, but it only takes her one sleepless night. 

There's no good reason to wipe out her little kingdom. Maybe she captures the fruit flies that drive us crazy in the summer. When not patrolling the web, she lives up in that window corner tending her egg sacks. Charlotte is just a common outdoor orb-weaver spider-- nothing like those alarming huge black ones that turn up in the basement in the fall. I'm not so benevolent with those.

This morning I feel well enough again to be on my feet at the Cafe for a few hours. There was a study recently that suggested people who have the bad reactions to vaccines build a stronger immune response than the lucky people who don't feel a thing. Wouldn't it be great if there really was a pay-off for feeling like crap?