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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

A Very Interesting Garden Spider!

For the past several weeks I have been watching a spider that has spun a web on the outside of one of my windows.  I might not have noticed this spider if it had been on any other window, but this is a window I love to look out of.  And, once I noticed it, I made sure I watched it as much as I could.  Most of the time, it didn't even seem to move.  So, I started taking photos of it.  Then it began moving -- and one day it wasn't at this window any more, but I did spy it, with a new web, down next to the garage.  This spider is called a black and yellow argiope - a garden spider that is also called the writing spider.  What makes this so interesting to me is the web that it spins.  The web has the most amazing zigzag pattern!



I discovered that although these spiders look scary, they are harmless to humans - they like to eat insects!



Wednesday, October 10, 2012

More Boats!

Here are a few more boat photos from my time in France this past summer.  I am always fascinated by the boats which are tied up along the Seine.  I'm thinking about the ones that seem to be like house boats with the most interesting items on them.  Of course, I love to see the beautiful flowers and bushes in pots, but this is the first time I remember seeing a car on one of the boats!



In Cassis, I saw these unusual boats, that I had seen only one other time in the south of France.  These are used in water jousting tournaments held throughout the summer in many cities along the coast.  The jousters are dressed in white and take turns being the one at the top of the board that hangs over the water.  With a shield in one hand and a wooden lance in the other, the jouster on one boat tries to send the jouster on the other boat into the water - all this with loud music and lots of cheering going on!



Here are a few shots of more typical looking boats in Cassis.  The photo with the vignetting was taken with my Kenko 180° fish eye auxiliary lens, which is a lot of fun to use!