Really needs viewing large if you're willing.
I've been dying to get blackberries into my project and here they are! Actually I think I need to get up early on a good dewy morning and find some (in our garden if Nigel hadn't pruned the brambles so efficiently :0( ). The other very noticeable thing about September in East Anglia is spiders. Maybe we had a load when I lived up North but I don't remember them being so rampant. The first couple of weeks in Cambridge I had a spider about 2.5 - 3 inches across in my bed. I could actually hear it running across the floor and couldn't go to bed until Nigel found it for me - he thought I was being a drama queen until he saw it! Shortly afterwards I was talking to one of the lecturers in the lab late one evening and he kept looking behind me. Eventually he asked if I was scared of spiders - I'm not normally but I shot away from that bench and sure enough - enormous. Funnily enough after that first year I haven't encountered many of those huge harvest spiders and it's been 25 years now. But there is one currently lurking in my downstairs loo - I don't know why I bother with cats, dog and boys because none of them have dealt with it. If somebody catches it I'll photograph it from the safety of a closed vessel. Meanwhile this is a much more modest example outside - where it should be.
Three good things:
1. First apple crumble of the season
2. Adam's work experience session, which we were all worried about because the man who's supervising him came over as really rather scary on electronic devices and phone, was absolutely brilliant. Giving him some proper projects to try and loads of feedback. Phew!
3. Having a son who's a lot braver than his mother.
Agree with you wholeheartedly about spiders!! It's the biggies with fat legs that I can't deal with. So frustrating when the cat would just sit there and look at it, rather than being the vicious killer we thought he was.
Lovely shot - your focus is ace and I like the colours
I love blackberries! It's funny about the spiders, since I started this project I can barely find one to photograph or even find a web! Since this season was so dry I think all the spiders crumpled up into dust over here.
I would have died if I could actually 'hear' a spider in my house. Eeek!
Found some blackberries in my garden yesterday. Thats how well cared for its been this year. Like your focus here. Just charging my battery ready for the trip.
Love your narrative here Judith & i think you speak for many of us although I don't actually mind spiders & have no problem getting rid of them. all the big ones here seem to end up in the bath for some strange reason.
Love the blackberries under the web though gives them a mysterious look! I used to blackberry a lot with the kids as we had lots of hedges to plunder & nothing so nice as blackberry & apple pie. Good for Adam that will have given him a good idea of working in a work environment. I expect that was a long day for you !!!
This is a nice shot. Agree about the East Anglian spider invasion. Every autumn we have visits from harvest (house) spiders - they always run across the sitting room floor at the same time every night and I like them. There were 2 in the bath the other night and I always make sure there is a towel draped in so that they can climb out. i am going to make blackberry vodka this year - have a recipe from The Field which works well and is dead easy - just blackberries, sugar and vodka - and wait til Christmas!!
We've had tons of these spiders round this year. They are everywhere in my garden. Great focus on the spider and the web with the lovely colours of the blackberries in the background xx
@fueast Hurrah! Forecast a bit overcast for Weds but we'll manage. @sparkle was all over PP after her visit so no pressure - mind you I wasn't impressed with her coming and taking better photos than me all over my patch ;0)
We have loads of tiny spiders and webs too in Hampshire but haven't succeeded in 'shooting' one as the camera focuses on what's behind them. Today we have a web 2 feet wide across the steps leading down to the stream but you would not want to see my efforts at getting a pic!
Well done!
Another reason for you to come to Oregon...not not huge spiders, I haven't seen any of them, but blackberries. We have Himalayan blackberries that are yummy and so abundant we have to cut it back like an invasive species.
loved your narrative judith and this is a cool little spider pic.....you might need to invest in a macro lens for you DSLR , that's the drawback of our DSLR's you need a decent set of glass to accompany them !!! Little hint too ...dewy blackberries ....you can spray them with a little water from a 'mist spray' container ! (not that I've done that I may add)
This is a nice shot, we have a few big webs with the creepy spiders but I forgot to go out, I got the shivers when you said you could 'hear' him running Agggggh!!! and your number 3 made me smile.....
@judithg@judithg I wondered (your typo!) if this was something to do with 'retentive' for a bit (apologies). I did try manual but no luck. For fun I used 'pets and kids' and got a ghostly white apparition in the centre of the pic. (I did get a spider once but he was absolutely huge.) I think I have to admit the limits of my camera!
Nicely done. Yes spiders seem to signify September - and blackberries too. I actually picked some yesterday from the wild ones on the allotment. I didn't really need any as I still have them in the freezer from previous years but I just can't resisit!
Lovely shot - your focus is ace and I like the colours
I would have died if I could actually 'hear' a spider in my house. Eeek!
Love the blackberries under the web though gives them a mysterious look! I used to blackberry a lot with the kids as we had lots of hedges to plunder & nothing so nice as blackberry & apple pie. Good for Adam that will have given him a good idea of working in a work environment. I expect that was a long day for you !!!
I'm fine with spiders... until they move.
Well done!