Every year we seem to have one enormous "Banana Spider", Argiope aurantia, as I grew up calling them. Apparently that particular spider goes by many other names as well, like McKinley Spider, Golden Spider, Corn Spider and Writing Spider. It's odd that we always seem to have only one, since their lifespan is usually a year and we have had one for the seven years that we've been in Austin. We always call her Charlotte, of Charlotte Web fame and also the name of my Mother. Usually she is difficult to photograph because of where her web is built, but she was on our stucco wall in our Moon Garden, so I got as close as I dared and took a photo that I used in this piece below. Apparently, despite the size of these spiders, the bite is no worse than a common bee sting as long as you are not allergic to them, so that is why we leave her be every year. Maybe future works will feature her as well.
