This morning I rose early. I drove to Bonham State Park, in Fannin County, Texas, just south of the Oklahoma border.

Unlike some parts of north central Texas, Bonham State Park features a deep woodland of pines and cedars.

I plunged into the trail a bit after 7 a.m. I found huge, lovely webs constructed by the orbweaver spider. The orbweaver in these parts is non-venomous, but huge.
Its instinct is flight rather than fight.

I made it my business to try to avoid the webs each time I could,
as I did not want to disturb either the ornate works nor the spider’s hunt. The spiders,for their part, moved quickly aside when they spotted me.

Sometimes a spider would hover in mid-air, attached to a single thread, moving through space, as here:

http://www.flickr.com/photo...

I felt a sense of comfort that a fine September morning was full of wild spiders, and intricate webs.