I've had several requests to go back and take that picture I promised of the humongous spider I see while I'm walking/running/heaving myself through this heat. This morning I managed it. She (as I have come to think of her) wasn't at the best angle and I am by no means National Geographic quality in my photo taking. But I think you get a feeling for how stupendous she is. Her mint green colour and gold iridescence don't come across, which is too bad, because that's what makes her look like a Dr. Seuss character. The picture doesn't really show scale but take my word when I tell you she is about 5-6 inches across, from leg to leg, on her MASSIVE web. I was thoroughly creeped out as I had to actually step off the path and put myself near the primordial mess of jungle that is just off every sidewalk in our neighbourhood.
My fear off stepping off the sidewalk made me think of a book I'm reading right now that is describing, in great detail, the plight of the Jamaican and Chinese workers that came here to dig the canal a hundred years ago. It describes them as having to bed down on the jungle floor and live through the rains and humidity 24/7 without adequate food and housing. They did this for 2o cents a day. The mind boggles. Anyway, I think of them as I realize how ridiculously cushy my life is and what they must have coped with. And anything you're using today, anything made in China, most likely came through the canal that they dug, in many cases, by hand.
Which brings me back to my spider and how not really all that brave I was to take the picture. But I am glad she's out there and I'm not.
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