24 of 24 - The Spider
The Spider and the Abyss I am enjoying my retirement and have more time now to look around me. One morning I stepped out into the garden and stood close to a spider’s web. On the fence is a jasmine, about six horizontal feet from the nearest twig of the crab apple tree that stands in the middle of the garden. Suspended five foot in the air between these two points was a spider’s web, sporting the familiar circular net at its centre, complete with an attentive spider. What was most remarkable were the anchor silks. One silk thread led from the jasmine to a twig in the apple tree, slightly higher than the central net. Midway along its length, a second thread branched off—forming another edge of the web’s frame and extending back across to the jasmine. A third anchor silk descended to a lower twig on the jasmine, completing the triangle. The structure was astonishing—not just in its geometry, but in its execution. How did the spider, so small and seemingly unequipped for surve...