First garden spider

Still struggling with macro on both the Ixus and the SX40. Today the Ixus did better (definitely need to sign up for that tuition).

I used to be very scared of spiders but after a close encounter with a tarantula in the Dominican Republic I now think of the spiders I encounter these days as rather harmless and vulnerable. I might revise that view when the late September rain starts and the male spiders start scurrying into the house hunting out the hiding females, little knowing that they may well be devoured before, after or during mating.