22 October—I don’t remember exactly when Angela came to live at The Hovel, but it was a long time ago, must have been at least three decades. She was extremely good-looking. One early summer day she just showed up with no fanfare, no warning. But since she camped outside and didn’t ask for anything, she was no trouble at all, what you could call the perfect guest.

Angela stayed around for about three weeks. I saw her every day, of course, but she preferred to keep to herself. And our conversations were really monologues. I did all the talking (as usual). I expect that I bored her. But she was polite enough not to show it by asking me to shut up or simply walking away. As I said, Angela was the perfect guest.

Then, again with no notice, Angela just disappeared. She was camped out at her favorite spot in the morning but there was no sign of her at dusk. Truth be told, I was rather ticked off that she just left. And I kind of missed her.

Angela’s full name was Angela Argiope. That’s what I called her, anyway. She was an Argiope auriantia, also known as a yellow garden spider, black and yellow garden spider, golden garden spider, writing spider, zigzag spider, zipper spider, black and yellow argiope, corn spider, Steeler spider, or McKinley spider. That’s a lot of names for one spider.

The Latin name of the species means “gilded silverface.” You can see why from my picture of Angela, which she willingly posed for on a Janet Blair rhododendron leaf. Unlike children and cats, she was a very cooperative subject.

Although yellow argiopes are supposed to be pretty common around here, Angela was the first of her species I had seen. And it’s only recently that I saw her somewhat more corpulent cousin Adriana, who had made a home on another rhododendron.

Angela seems to have kept her figure by not eating, as I never saw any prey in her web. But neither did I see any prey in Adriana’s web. Go figure. And, given the time of year—early summer—it’s not likely either girl was pregnant. Male yellow argiopes, aren’t particularly handsome, by the way, but females have been known to eat them after intercourse anyway . . .