Another look at spiders

By Virginia FinnPrint Story | Email Story
“Spin your web, little friend, And make yerself a home.” — Amanda Marshall (age 16) Keizer, Ore. Since Halloween’s being celebrated next week, this seems an appropriate time to ruminate about spiders. I know a lot of people think they’re creepy, but I think they’re kind of cute. Although after growing up with Miss Muffett — that dainty, curly-headed girl who ran screaming from her tuffet when a spider “sat down beside her” — it’s a wonder anyone feels kindly about them. I’m glad I didn’t know she was a real 16th--century girl whose father, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Muffett, encouraged a variety of spiders to bite her in order to gauge her reaction, or I might have shared her panic. Luckily, I also grew up with Itsy Bitsy Spider, who persistently climbed the drainpipe after a shower washed him down. Then there was the Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly — as well as a spider “that wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.” I think it was when we were living in a Connecticut farmhouse that I first began to pay attention to spiders. (We’ve always lived in old houses with more than their share of resident spiders.) Dusting or vacuuming our long, narrow window ledges, I’d watch these little specks, hardly bigger than a pencil dot, running like crazy for the crevices. I even found myself rooting that they’d make it to safety before the cleaner’s suction caught up with them. I don’t think it hurt them because every Thursday or Friday they were still there. For, though I was fascinated by these busy creatures, I wasn’t ready to abandon my weekly cleaning. Once while living in Lee and working at Hancock Shaker Village, I had my own personal spider. Getting into my Subaru one morning, ready for the daily commute, I spotted a slender chain growing from my rear view mirror. At the bottom was a tiny spider busy at work. As I drove to the western edge of Pittsfield, he swung lazily from side to side until finally (maybe from motion sickness) he climbed up and rested on the mirror. At the end of the day, he was still there, waiting to greet me. For weeks, we traveled together until finally one day — with frost whitening the grass, a cold wind picking up — my spider was nowhere to be found. For several days afterwards, I must admit, I felt something magical was lost from my life. In Nova Scotia, a number of different species of spiders also calls our 200-year-old summer house home. Though I periodically sweep them out of the way, they continue to fascinate us with their tenacity, their intricate window-ledge webs, more efficient than any fly swatter for trapping wandering insects. This past summer my husband discovered a large, very fancy web built from the corner of our gray-shingled house to the clothesline. It persevered, stretching and wavering, through torrential rainstorms, high winds, bouncing clothes on the line, even the remnants of a hurricane. We were indeed sad when we had to destroy it ourselves as we took down the line for winter. To be honest, I don’t know where my fascination for spiders came from. Certainly not from my mother; she was a cleaning fanatic. No spiders or insects of any kind lived under our roof (although we didn’t live in old houses, either). Still, children have a natural affection for creeping creatures. Take the success of Walt Disney’s “It’s a Bug’s World,” and all the spin-offs from that. One of our nephew’s favorite books is the copy of Audubon’s “Field Guide to North American Insects & Spiders” which we gave him (probably much to my sister-in-law’s horror). Though he was too young to read it, he enjoyed the pictures. Now he’s a teen-ager, but he still refers to it when he sees an unusual spider. Checking the Internet, I came across a spider Web site developed and updated by l0-year-olds in Australia. It’s an ambitious ongoing project of Rochedale State School during the second tern of every school year. Researched and written by the kids, it contains interesting facts, games, photos, plus e-mails contributed by reader correspondents from all over the world. Maybe we could learn a lesson from these children. After all, spiders are everywhere — on the inside and outside of buildings, under rocks, among grasses and plants, tree branches and caves. In North America, there are 3,000 different species, so we might as well learn to live with them. They also enjoy an important niche in our environment. They feed on disease-bearing insects. They’re beneficial to plants and flowers, and their intricate, silken webs have been the inspiration for countless designs. So I continue to admire the diligence and persistence of spiders, and I hope that maybe, just maybe, one of these days when the weather turns warm, I’ll find another friend to travel with.
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Friends of Great Barrington Libraries Holiday Book Sale

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Friends of Great Barrington Libraries invite the community to shop their annual Holiday Good-as-New Book Sale, happening now through the end of the year at the Mason Library, 231 Main Street. 
 
With hundreds of curated gently used books to choose from—fiction, nonfiction, children's favorites, gift-quality selections, cookbooks, and more—it's the perfect local stop for holiday gifting.
 
This year's sale is an addition to the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce's Holiday Stroll on this Saturday, Dec. 13, 3–8 PM. Visitors can swing by the Mason Library for early parking, browse the sale until 3:00 PM, then meet Pete the Cat on the front lawn before heading downtown for the Stroll's shopping, music, and festive eats.
 
Can't make the Holiday Stroll? The book sale is open during regular Mason Library hours throughout December.
 
Proceeds support free library programming and events for all ages.
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