Friday 9 January 2009

photo a day - NOT for arachnaphobics....& book club

JANUARY PHOTO A DAY

late afternoon, i was outside contemplating what to take for today's photo when i noticed there was a large mound of soil in my chilli plant pot. i picked up the plant's name card and started moving the soil back into place. it was all sticky and seemed to clump together.....next thing i knew, this huntsman spider surfaced from under the mound. well i'm about 95% sure it's a huntsman spider......there seems to be several varieties.

click pics to enlarge....if you dare

i was taken by surprise and, though very much alive, it was quite lethargic.

i left it alone as i don't like killing spiders unless they are the dangerous kind. huntsman spiders are pretty harmless and i would never kill one intentionally. i wondered if it might have shed its skin and was laying low under the soil while in a vulnerable state.....anyway, when i checked back later, it was gone, possibly back under the soil but i certainly didn't want to disturb it again.

the huntsman spider wasn't the only spider i came across today. this one was on the leaf of my frangipani tree. note the heart shape of the abdomen. it skin appears hard almost like armour. i don't know the name of this one.

click pic to enlarge


with the bushland right behind our back fence, we tend to get quite a few varieties of spiders and insects. redback spiders are my biggest concern and i will kill them because they are venomous. they belong to the same family as the american black widow spider. the redback spider has always been known to stay hidden under chairs, holes in walls etc. but, in the past five years or so, their habits have changed and they are getting more daring, now showing up in the open under house eaves and even inside homes. we have actually had them dropping down through the exhaust fans in the bathroom ceilings.

i will try not to have such a scary pic for you tomorrow.


Creative Every Day - i made a start on covering the journals today. i just need to decorate them now.

oh, and i'm almost finished the second book, new moon, in the twilight series. i only started it yesterday afternoon so not bad going.

BLOG BOOK CLUB - 12 SECRETS OF HIGHLY CREATIVE WOMEN

today marked the start of our next blog book club on the book - 12 secrets of highly creative women by gail mcmeekin. click on the picture link to find out more. we will be reading and discussing this book at the pace of one chapter per week over a twelve week period. i will be discussing chapter one over the coming days so, stay tuned....

20 comments:

  1. Oh gee that is a scary living there as it is here. I don't like spiders so I didn't double click. :) Good thing you aren't as scared as I am since you have to live with them so to speak. Great job on second Twilight series.

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  2. I have to admit, spiders are one of my least favorite creatures. But your photos of these are really very nice. I would not be comfortable having one in my house, however.

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  3. I don't mind spiders outside, but if they come into my house..well, one of us must die and it's not going to be me-LOL! Great photo, Serena.

    I hope you enjuly your new book and challenge!

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  4. OOH scary spiders! If they are outdoors and not venomous, yes leave them alone...big ones scare me indoors though.

    I read the first chapter last night and will also blog about it in a day or so! :)

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  5. EEEwwww!!! I can watch spiders on a nature show on TV but I don't like meeting up with them in the real world. We do have a few smaller varieties that are harmless and don't bother me as much (black and white jumping house spiders and daddy long legs), but yours both make me shudder! Different parts of the world, eh? You get used to your own creepy crawlers, I guess.

    Have fun with the new book! Can hardly wait to hear what it is all about.

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  6. I like the second and especially third picture. If not to zoom. last spider looks like a piece of jewel dropped on the leaf the way the color rel=flect on its back. Nice one.

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  7. Wow, great photos. The only spider I will terminate is when I find a black window!

    Will be looking forward to reading you, as you do the project.

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  8. i await your point ...the spider Yikes

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  9. *runs away* :-o

    I'm fine with big spiders, its the small ones I can't see that kinda make me squirm. Give me a scorpion or a giant snake any day of the week, but little spiders ugh :p

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  10. Lovely photos... icky subject. BUT, beautifully done. They could be in a nature magazine! :)

    Will you be showing us your journal pages? :)

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  11. Serena...I have to share this with you...as soon as it arrives in the mail, I'm going through the Soul Coaching program! I'm ready now. It's showing up in full force and I am so excited.

    I also wanted to tell you that only in January you can get 29 free soul coaching podcasts from Denise's site where she does the program in a podcast a day. They are free, if you are interested. She mentioned it on her radio program this past Tuesday.

    HUGS!!!

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  12. While I respect spiders I am not afraid of them. They are such interesting creatures, and I love your photos.

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  13. Wonderful shots of the spiders and although I find them creepy I would never kill one unless it was on me, we need them to keep those other nasty insects inline!!

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  14. I know nothing about spiders the only one here I've heard of three poisons ones and they're Brown recluse, Hobo, Black Widow.

    Spiders to have their place in nature.
    Coffee is on/

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  15. Fantastic spider shots. It isn't really the large ones that are a concern here, it's the small Black Widows and Brown Recluse that are dangerous.

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  16. Those are interesting looking spiders...it's hard to get an idea of how big they are but they look Big in these photographs. I'm not afraid of spiders at all but I was bitten by a black widow about 5 years ago and it was the most painful experience of my life! It lasted about 3 weeks before it completely left my body so it was quite the experience. Even with that, I'd still rather meet a spider than a snake. I would imagine you get a few of those around where you live too!

    I love the laundry shot...it's almost an instalation art piece!

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  17. Oh my, I would have jumped 10 feet if I had stumbled upon the spider in my pot plant. Those spiders are never small.

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  18. OK...that big brown spider is totally freaking me out!!

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  19. Wow those are so beautiful!! The big brown one especially! Great pictures!

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  20. is that spider a white tail? and do you get funnel webs up there? they are just awful.

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