Two Nature Miracles

So, I was out on our deck waiting for the charcoal to be ready in our chimney (yes, Beloved, we still have a Weber grill and still use charcoal) when two remarkable miracles of nature happened.

First, on the south end of our deck. I saw a spider, seemingly hanging in mid-air. But then I realized the spider had spun a web, vertical to the earth and sky. But as closely as I looked and peered, I couldn't see the strand of web that held the web vertical. It could have been to a Rodademdrum tree a yard or more away. Beyond that, it must have been attached to a fir tree 8 feet away or a Red Maple even further away.

I knew I could find out by moving my hand above the web--but that would have destroyed the whole thing.

Seemingly , to me, the web simply hung, unsupported in the air. Amazing.

Then a few moments later, walking back to the north side of our deck, I heard something whiz by my head. I thought it must be a bumble bee--but when I turned, I realized it was a ruby-throated humming bird that hung, suspended in space like the spider's web, about two feet from me. The wings were a blur, but I saw it's tiny body and face clearly, and the legs/feet tucked tightly  against it's body. I could have reached out and touched it (not really, it would have easily escaped my grasp). It hovered for a moment and fed for a moment off a red flower on a vine Bern has on our deck. Then it looked at me again and off it went to the north and disappeared.

I'd never been that close to a hummingbird before. It was magic, transforming, amazing.

All that on a cool (for August) afternoon on a deck in Cheshire.

How much more could you ask for or stand without breaking into song and leaping into dance?

Thinking back, I should have found both song and dance. Instead, my heat almost broke from joy!