The bathroom this morning was like a scene from Mission Impossible, the space between the door and the shower criss-crossed with a network of spider lines. Not webs as such, you understand… they were the travelling lines of invaders. I approached cautiously, picking my way between the sticky silk. Sure enough there was a huge house spider in the tub. Nay, not one, but two… monsters that would have once upon a time had my sons shouting for help.
House spiders or not, they weren’t staying there. For their own safety, and my comfort, they had to be moved. There may be occasions when sharing a shower can be interesting, but this was definitely not one of them. Blasts of icy air came in through the open window as they were carefully ejected and I retreated to the meagre spray of warmth to prepare for a long day… only to find another of the little sods lurking in the towel.
It is always the way in autumn. The spiders take up residence, the slugs come in through the back door given half a chance… with great agility given the height of the threshold… the butterflies seek warmth to overwinter. Last year my bedroom window embrasure played host to a number of them. The garden, wild as it is at present, shelters dozens of small sparrows, much to Ani’s chagrin, and still buzzes with bees. Sometimes it feels as if the outside is creeping in, ready to engulf what I think of as normality. Sometimes I feel that wouldn’t be so bad, especially if it had fewer legs.
Ani alerts me, however, to all invaders, chasing the flies and small moths, defending me against stray mozzies … she has a thing about protecting her air space. If it flies, she goes into overdrive. Except the red kites. She pretends to ignore those. Hot air balloons and helicopters, though… she’ll defend against those without a qualm. Spiders intrigue her… she like to play and is confused by their insistence on running under furniture or coming to a permanent standstill under a silken paw. Slugs, of course are different… not good for dogs and it is a battle to see who gets there first, she or I. They will always remind me of Breakfast in Slug Town now, of course.
Hedgehogs she cannot understand. She has her own and knows what her hedgehog is… a soft furry thing that squeaks when squeezed and can be carried in her mouth. Last night’s live one in the garden was a bit of an eye opener for her. She was going loopy trying to tell me there was a ‘something’ in the bushes… getting her nose a little close to the curled up ball surprised her. Hopefully she won’t be doing that again!
Driving to my son’s the heron was again waiting for me. I has been there for a while now, changing its spot every day or two and now seems to watch to check if I have seen it. That probably sounds silly, but I make eye contact with a heron every day and to me that is both strange and wonderful. On arrival the garden is teeming with sparrows and starlings who do no more than retreat to the fence, waiting for me to refill the bird feeders. The robin perches close while I feed the fish and the bee nesting in the channel of a deckboard behind the handrail peeps out. More spiders have their zip-wires across the back garden and a kite wheels overhead.
My return to my own door is greeted by a cloud of butterflies, sulphur yellow, red and white and another huge spider in the meter cupboard. The valerian looks messy now but still harbours so many creatures I am reluctant to cut it back again, and clouds of seeds fly up as I pass, following me in. It really does feel like something from Robert Holdstock’s ‘Mythago Wood’, where the forest and its creatures take back the house. Would I mind? No, I’m not sure I would.
Apart from the snail trails on the carpet.
But the bathroom is still out of bounds.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
I could do without the spiders (yes, yes, they are very very good to have around, but not in the house! lol) but the rest of the photos are gorgeous! Thank you for sharing!
LikeLike
I don’t mind them… desensitised by having arachnophobic sons, I suppose! But not in the bathroom please!
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL!
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
You removed the spiders yourself? 😮
All those little creepers can stay outside. Ick. The spiders, especially. However, when they cross my threshold, I have a cat protector who destroys unwanted guests.
LikeLike
Have to… there’s only me and the dog these days. She’ll deal with them given half a chance, but I still have to clean them up afterwards, and I’d rather they survived intact 🙂
LikeLike
~(~_*)~~ More power to you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re braver than I. I have an instant panic reaction to bugs in general and spiders in particular. And this is the time of year when they — and the mice and the rats and the chipmunks — all try to find a warm spot, while we try very hard to stop the hordes, with mixed results. It’s still warm here. Humid, too… but the edges of the leavers are turning and there are patches of bright yellow mixed with the green. Denial only takes one so far. After that, the seasons will change, like it or not.
LikeLike
I had no choice but to swallow the panic and pretend when the boys were young, so these days I cope 🙂 After the burrowing escapee maggots from my younger son’s fishing days I can handle a fair bit 🙂
LikeLike
I love that you make daily eye contact with a resident heron. I would too, if given the opportunity 🙂
LikeLike
He’s just there at the roadside every morning,Alethea 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
OMG that is too creepy! I love the hedgehogs and butterflies and birds and … anything but spiders and spiderwebs. I would have screamed, foregone the shower, and then had to walk down to the leasing office to get someone else to take the webs out of my space. Fortunately my apartment is relatively bug free, except for the occasional fruit flies and mosquitos. This is probably silly to say but you’re incredibly courageous for touching spiderwebs and getting spiders out of your house. 🙂 Go you!
LikeLike
The joys of having raised arachnophobic sons 🙂 You soon learn!
LikeLike
Beautiful hearing about the nature in and around your home. There is so much to be noticed around us all, if we’re got our eyes open to it.
LikeLike
Absolutely… these little things may be small, but they are still wild creatures we can meet every day.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on theowlladyblog.
LikeLike
Nature really is invading the home just now. Spiders I will tolerate but the flies in the window frames? Yeuch! Lovely post …
LikeLike
Butterflies yes… flies, no… Nor, for that matter will Ani. Which makes life and the survival of curtains an interesting proposition 🙂
LikeLike
Lovely post, Sue. I love nature in all its glory, but prefer it stay where it belongs. We have been visited by so many huge spiders lately, there must be a convention going on somewhere…
LikeLike
You’ve got to hand it to them, persistent little things… and not so little!
LikeLike
We have spiders galore– all over the house. It was a barn so… But I find some beautiful mystery on the grass that the spiders have webs all across all the lawns once the grass stops growing. A bit of the mystical perhaps though I can’t tease out what it is.
LikeLike
I know what you mean, Ellen… there really is something magical in them… lke fairy sheets hung out, not to dry but to capture the dew.
LikeLike
A beautiful image!
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
Beautiful nature-beautiful captures of nature.
LikeLike
Thank you, Elena.
LikeLike
The one autumn invader you didn’t mention, and that I dread, is the mouse. The cat has already caught a couple, however, I wish they would simply stay outside, but it so much more cozy in here.
LikeLike
Oh dear, Ani would have a field day chasing a mouse if it attempted to invade…doesn’t bear thinking about, especially as I keep the door open for her most of the time…:)
LikeLike