Will you step into my parlor?

Female goldenrod spider (Misumena vatia)

Lovely things, these middling pages in August with their cooler mornings, their high, clear light and wispy gossamer clouds from here to there.

A few cicadas are singing in the garden as I write this, but there are not as many minstrels as there were a week ago, and the realization is bittersweet. Sometimes, Beau and I encounter living cicadas on our morning walks, and we move them carefully off sidewalks and roads to the safety of nearby grassy verges.

When we come across the mortal husks of cicadas who have expired, we gather them up gently and lay them to rest in a quiet corner of the garden. It is something we do every year, saying "thank you" as we tuck the dear little beings into the good dark earth with an old teaspoon.

August brings fogs and splendid morning dews, and a little after sunrise, the garden is lavishly strewn with dewdrops. From a distance, the blooms twinkle like constellations, and they make a fine leitmotif for these late summer days. At the moment, several antique roses are tenanted by canny goldenrod spiders who conceal themselves among the petals and pounce on unwary beetles, wasps and flies. The spider girls can have all the Japanese beetles they want.