TINY TUESDAY

When I looked out of our bedroom window first thing this morning, I could see it was very “froggy” as our children used to say.  Mr. HCB was standing looking out of the window and his comment was that it was a typical November morning.

After having my first cup of coffee, I decided to go out into the garden to look for spider webs, because they always seem really beautiful when it is foggy.  I found several and particularly liked this one of spider webs on our Acer, which is looking beautiful this Autumn.  

I then began to think why we call some spider webs and some cobwebs and found out the following, which is quite interesting:

"Spider web" is typically used to refer to a web that is apparently still in use (i.e. clean), whereas "cobweb" refers to abandoned (i.e. dusty) webs.

Spider webs are called cobwebs because the old English word for spider was coppe. Turns out that cobwebs are only produced by Theridiidae (cobweb spiders) and Linyphiidae (money spiders) - all others should be just known as spider webs.

I found several more so put several in as an extra collage, and to think that if I hadn’t actually wandered around the garden, I wouldn’t have seen them, because you do need to get up quite close to see the intricacy of these beautiful gifts of nature.

I do know that we have several “cobwebs” in our house and I doubt we are the only ones who find them at this time of year!  I remember that my Mother was  obsessive about getting rid of cobwebs in her flat, probably because she hated spiders, but I have found that even if you get rid of the cobwebs, there always seem to be more spiders ready and willing to make more, especially in the corners of rooms.

Mr. HCB suggested we went out for a coffee, which we did, and we are now back home in the warm - because it feels quite “raw” outside today.  I must say that we were both glad to have our heated seats in the car this morning!  

“Is there anything in the universe 
     more beautiful and protective 
          than the simple complexity 
               of a spider's web?”
E. B. White