BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG WINDOW

I never really thought much about why spiders spin their webs where they do, beyond basic practicalities like: hey this is a nice spot, out of the rain, excellent view, decent commute, cheap rent, convenient, great for the kids, whatever, but the other morning while looking out the big kitchen window I began to wonder: why has that big, obviously well-to-do, well-fed garden spider put her web almost flat against the glass?

The web had been there awhile, the large landlady had several large pantries dangling here and there in her much repaired - therefore very busy - web, even another mid-sized garden spider that had tried to horn in nearby was now toast, and her web had been incorporated into the green lady’s growing real estate holdings.

But the web was not out there in the prey-bearing breeze, covering a goodly span from tree to bush to tree, as is the usual preference among local garden spiders. Finishing my breakfast, I put that thought and the accompanying wonderstuff in a trunk up in the attic and went about taking day-to-day care of my own web.

Last night I turned on the light over the kitchen sink and saw that the green lady in fact had her own Spider Ginza out there, with mobs of insects attracted by the night life implied by our kitchen luminance... Bright lights, big window.

Still, there's no way the empress of spider realty could have built her web in anticipation that the light would go on for some time every night, attracting more customers than she could handle, unless she knows all about the habits of houses, but spiders don't live that long. Or do they camp out at various places, even in the dark, to count wing traffic and check the location potential before they build their webs? They clearly do have some intuition regarding the old entrepreneurial saw "Location, location, location..." But our kitchen window Ginza is prime realty. Smart lady.