Web Shining in the Morning Sun

It is one of the best times of year for misty mornings and dew-covered spider webs. Conditions on this morning were clear out in the country where we live, but misty as all get-out in town. I encountered the mist on my drive to work, and I was like a kid in a candy store. Where to go, what to see, first?

I have been spending as much time as I can at the Arboretum, enjoying its summer delights. I could envision the mist swirling about the gardens, and so that is exactly where I headed.

But I wanted webs before anything else, so I walked down to the marshy area with the long golden grasses near the wooden walkway I enjoy photographing so much. The mist was moving through the air like a thing alive, and as I suspected, I found many - maybe hundreds of them - spider webs glistening atop the tall grasses.

The sun was just beginning to make its way through the fog, and everything looked mysterious and amazing: my same world as always, but beautifully changed.

The spider did its part: it wove a web that was a masterpiece to behold. The mist did its part: it bedecked the web with jewels. I did my part: I showed up with my camera at just the right moment, and with eyes ready to see. And then the sun showed up and it did the final, perfect thing: it lit that web up with sparkle and shine.

The soundtrack: Bob Seger, Till It Shines.