Gorgeous Daddy Long Leg Spider

The only kind of spider around here that gives me the creeps is this one! The reason they freak me out is that when they are disturbed, they bounce on their web and vibrate in place. As a child, these spiders made me scream my head off! When they are frightened, they run away and their legs are really scary looking as they run. As I grew up, my fear subsided, especially when I found out that spiders are much more afraid of us than we are of them.

After I got a camera, I was surprised that spiders began to really fascinate me. Once I understood that spiders weren't "out to get me", I would approach them slowly with my camera and suddenly I was taking good pictures of them and discovered how beautiful they could be.

Today I was watching my porch spider, Roscoe, as she worked on her web, and I happened to look up into the upper part of the alcove. I knew there were some daddy long legs up there, but this one got my attention--look at the beautiful pattern on its abdomen!!! SO BEAUTIFUL! I have certainly come a long way from the little girl who used to yell her head off if I ever saw one of these spiders bounce or run around! :D