Sparkling Webs

There is something soothing about September. After the build-up of spring and the crescendo of summer, things are slowly starting to wind down. The ouch is gone out of the sun but it is still warm enough to be outside, sometimes even in shorts and a t-shirt. The evenings are noticeably shorter but there is still enough light to walk the dog after dinner. By 9 pm it is fully dark, perfect for settling down with a good book or a movie without the guilty feeling that you should be doing something more “constructive”.

Even noise levels begin to dwindle. The tractors that had been busy in the fields now have their summer crops harvested and winter crops planted. Kids are only out playing on the road for a few hours between the end of school and dinner time. Birdsong is diminishing as many birds head south for the winter. The gatherings and migrations are a joy to watch, but slowly, slowly, they disappear.

But I think it is the light that is my favourite thing about September. The colder mornings leave a slight mist over the landscape and the sun, lower in the sky now than it was during summer, seems to shine through at just the right angle to make everything sparkle. Even mundane or creepy things like cobwebs shimmer like dazzling dreamcatchers dancing in the gentle breeze. From a distance, they look like a tangle of string in the hedgerows and ditches, but get up close and their true beauty becomes apparent. How wonderful for the spiders, to have homes like these.

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