A neighbor brought me a gift today.  And then nature gave me another.

My neighbor brought huge locally grown tomatoes and an elderly cauliflower.  Knowing that I couldn't eat all those tomatoes before they spoiled and seeing that the cauliflower needed help immediately, I decided that baked tomatoes stuffed with cauliflower would be just the thing for supper.  When I discovered that there were no bread crumbs in the freezer, I decided to add rice to the creamed cauliflower stuffing.  While the cauliflower, rice, and white sauce were cooking, I thought about the inner workings of the tomatoes--I had planned to freeze them for later use but if I made soup while I was cooking everying else, I could use up all the leftover veggies in the fridge and I could add some of the rice to the soup, too.  Not only would I have a tasty supper but I'd have several meals ready for the freezer.  Win/win! 

While I was standing at the stove thinking about what kitchen adventure I could get up to next, I noticed the light coming in through the west-facing window by the dining table.  So beautiful!  And there was something shiny, too.  So shiny!  I took the pots off the heat, and went to look more closely.  

There on a low-hanging bough of the crybaby tree that grows at the side of the house, a spider had made the most wonderful half-circle web--it was perfectly formed with the geometric accuracy that only a miracle of nature can create.  The light from the setting sun seemed to turn the delicate threads to gold.  It was a light show that lasted only a minute or two before the sun dipped below the tops of the pines.  The web was now hard to detect in the shadows.

Thank you, little spider.  Your artwork was literally the highlight of my afternoon.