1. A Spider
There was a spider on the leaf. A tiny green one with huge green claw-like front legs. It sat motionless on a leaf as we watched. It sat motionless even as we approached. I pointed at it, but it did not move until I crossed some threshold just millimeters away from that tiny thing. With my finger descending out of the sky above its head with only a short air gap between us, the spider decided that it had had enough, and it dashed to the other side of the leaf.
2. A Bee
There was a honey bee flying among the blossoms. They were long, orange-red, trumpet-shaped blossoms, and there were many of them around the spot where I stood watching. The bee would land on one flower and crawl to the open bell on the end, often causing the trumpet to flip one way or the other, yet the bee would hang on during that flip and peer into the blossom’s end. And after only a moment, it would fly directly to the next nearby blossom.
3. Another Bee
There was a bigger bee guarding that plant. It was a solitary bee that I know from the yard. It’s a territorial thing, sometimes chasing off Guinness when he barks at it, sometimes chasing off other bugs that come to close. But the honey bees didn’t bother it. It flew from blossom to blossom, hovering in the air beside each one much in the way of a Humming Bird.
4. Wanting More
Although the heat had been brutal for several months, there has always been something blooming out here, and there are many places for spiders and bees and beetles and flee-flies to call home. Sometimes in the slanting light of late day, if we are sitting in just the right place at just the right time, we can see silken threads blowing in the breeze or gnatty things buzzing above the bushes. And there are sometimes spiderwebs in the branches. And the Solitary Bees do sometimes climb into and out of the solitary bee hotel. But there should be more of them about. More silken threads. More beetles in the leaves. More bees on the flowers. Even though this is a good home for those who come, there are just not enough of them about.