Shelter for eight-leggers closed for holiday

Spider webs strung throughout the pot of aloe.

We don't squish spiders at our house. And unless they appear to be especially, freakishly, shockingly large or dangerous or creepy ... we don't even hustle them out to the back yard.

Since we live in The Country you're more likely around our house to run into something with a multitude of legs than you are a human being.

As often as we remember to do so we give a warning to our house guests who might have a spider phobia. After all, we have cobwebs in every corner of every room. Along the door frames and strung from leaf and stem and vase.

Usually I don't remove those, either. Perhaps it's awful for our family and friends. Perhaps everyone we know thinks I'm a terrible housekeeper. Perhaps a trip to our house strikes terror into the hearts of our visitors.

One would think I'd be ashamed of this since I am not, in fact, a terrible housekeeper. As it is I'm an inconsistent house keeper since I'm also an artist and have a job, but generally the house is reasonably well kept.

Still the webs, spiders and related dustiness remain because I don't see the point in killing them. They don't hurt anything. They're often very interesting to look at and on a sunny morning the cobwebs are quite beautiful.

Nothing though is designed to remain forever and on Thanksgiving we always host an open house. For this event I do a deep clean: Scrub the walls, wipe the window sills, shine the windows and remove the cob webs.

So, goodbye spiders, for a few weeks.

I'm sure your lovely homes strung hither and yon will be in place again before the next solstice.