In my national park travels I journeyed most recently to a somewhat smaller one (about 40 square miles) this time out, the Congaree in South Carolina. I arrived pretty early and one of the first things to catch my eye as I was poking around the visit center was the spider that the park may as well be renamed as given how many of them I saw that day. The park ranger I asked informed me about the sticky webs of the Trichonephila clavipes, who is quite familiar to Southerners and not especially liked by them because of their webs and their size, they can grow up to 4 inches in total length with legs included and are the largest non-tarantula-like spiders in the south. I made a mental note to be on the lookout. While spiders are fun to look at it and I love them dearly, like many people, I have reservations about being all up in their business.
Turns out I didn’t have to remind myself as I walked, for their webs surrounded me on both sides of the path I trod, glistening in the morning light and inviting me to walk right into them!
I finally got the picture above when there was a web near enough to the boardwalk trail I was traveling on that allowed me to get close enough to it, though I did wonder if this particular type of spider was known to jump – thankfully it remained still and waiting as I fiddled with my phone turned camera equivalent, attempting to capture all the feels I was having while spending time with this beautiful relative.
It may be time to take an iPhone photography class – that could be fun?! Or maybe it’s time to just get a real camera. I know a photographer that offers such a class with whatever equipment students bring that will take a picture and have been in touch with her about it even…but the other 3,267 fun things vying for my attention haven’t allowed for me to commit to this particular educational pursuit.
And so we arrive, at the very real quandary that many of us are faced with each day: When there are so many fun things to experience, how do we choose which one to do? It’s easy to love what’s fun, but maybe not so much the choosing part. I know I struggle with this more often than I’d like and that’s why it’s today’s objective, for me and you. Perhaps you’ve got your fun game pretty well sorted out, if so, awesome. Go get to it.
If not, and you’re reading this and feeling torn about the amount of fun options in your day that you want to choose from then I’ll invite you to consider these points: Is the fun something you’ll be doing alone or with others? In or out of doors? Free or paid? Out of your options, are there ones that are time sensitive or really weather dependent? Most importantly, is there one thing that is coming from you rather than from others that if you listen intently to is the one thing you’d most like to be enjoying?
I know you’ll figure it out – and have fun!
TimeSpaceOne 