Living in Aurora, Town of Aurora, Ontario » Spider

Georgian Bay Landscapes In Aurora, Skylight Gallery Looking Good

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 03:38:55 +0000

Already August. Spiders are getting bigger. Be on the lookout. This is probably not so trivial phenomena I happened to notice that my collection of spider photos is always richer in the fall. My collection of Skylight Gallery displays is also growing.

Half Size Spider in Aurora

I happened to snap photo of this young fella. I know what you are thinking – the spider already looks big to you on the photo but in real life it is half size of what we will see later in the fall.

I hate spiders near me and to my luck this one happened to almost land on me while I was getting inside the car. He was already wrapping the giant insect with his web. That assured me that he wasn’t after me. Opening the door interrupted his fight and both creatures of nature went separate ways when I shook them off my seat.

Georgian Bay Landscapes, Skylight Gallery, Town Hall

July was one hot hot hot month. Last week on Monday we were not in the mood to stay outside neither stay at home. We ended up driving to a few cool places, one of them was Skylight Gallery at the Aurora Town Hall.

You may also recall last week’s wicked thunderstorms we had over night. I thought I was dreaming, yet later someone confirmed that they experienced the same. It was a real shock-wave that rattled our windows and shook a bed I was sleeping in.

Georgian Bay Landscapes, Skylight Gallery, Town Hall

Note the comment about spiders has nothing to do with the Skylight Gallery, however, for some reason the paintings reminded me approaching fall and the spiders.

It is almost August and what you see here is July’s showcase – the Georgian Bay Landscapes & Beyond at the Skylight Gallery by acrylic artist Diane Soward. I really enjoyed these vivid landscapes, it felt as we were looking outside the window and seeing the Georgina Bay.

Georgian Bay Landscapes, Skylight Gallery, Town Hall

I was glad to see that the backdrop panels were finally replaced to something more presentable.

Nature’s Snugly, Ugly & The Ant That Sucked Life Out Of Him

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Sun, 27 May 2012 03:37:06 +0000

The Nokiidaa Trail link boardwalk section of the St. John’s sideroad is now fully adapted – one visit is not enough to discover this short and popular trail on the boardwalk. It is also hard to believe that just last year in March the boardwalk was still under construction. The adaptation process went very well for everyone.

Hello There! Lady Wood Duck With Brood

The population of the lady Wood duck is booming and the ducklings look so snugly and adorable. As a matter of fact this one looking in my direction is reminding me Mumble from the Happy Feet movie.

Hello There Again!

The Lady Bugs found are the real ones, not the Asian one which were released few years ago to get the aphids under control. I still remember when they used to crawl into our house, or seeing a cloud of them flying on our backyard. They were biting as well and had this orange juice coming out of them – yikes.

Beautiful Lady Bug

Who likes spiders? Not me, but they are nice little creatures great to photograph. This one is less than 10 mm in length, including the limbs. Not very big, but good light does help to get nice sharp image, okay, and a good macro lens as well. If you like spiders no worries many many different species crawl everywhere.

Ouch A Spider

I don’t know what kind of insect on the photo below that is but I had to do lot of body bending around to get him to look at my camera.

Used To Be Beautiful

The sad part is that the red ant was sucking life out of him. I didn’t notice at first, but I did notice that he didn’t look too good. For some reason an ant was attached to him and probably trying to kill him, while he was crawling around and anticipating that it will eventually get lost.

Ant Sucking Life Out Of Him

But what I did not notice was that little creature on the stone when I was processing my images. I could be wrong but I think I photographed a tick (bottom left corner photo below), that means I was so close.

Perhaps not all ticks cause Lyme disease. Perhaps the one bit me many moons ago was not the blacklegged tick. I was five or six years old when I was bitten and my mom took out fat tick from my wrist. I did not get any reaction and lost some blood thrown away with the dead tick.

Only forty five minute spent on the boardwalk today yet so much we discovered and only partial journey shared. I will share more stay tuned.

Presumably A Tic

‘Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known’. ~ Carl Sagan

Black Widow Spider Found In A Bag Full Of Grapes, And Free To Good Home, Dahhh

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:45:03 +0000

Few nights ago I was watching the CP24 news about the Black Widow spider that was found in a bag of grapes. This is not a first time I heard that. So they talked about this and that about the spider.

Fall Spiders, Tim Taylor Trail

In the concluding remark of this breaking news it was implied by the news anchor that the owner is looking to find a good home.

What the Wack! A home for the Black Widow spider! Give me a break. Just put them to rest as stated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency: ‘If a spider falls into the sink it is recommended that the spider be killed rather than captured.‘

I don’t care what kind of spider it is, I don’t like spiders. I like photographing them though. This Black-and-yellow argiope (Argiope aurantia) I found right across the Case Woodlot on Henderson Drive sometimes in August. That was a good size spider too. This alerts me also may be I should be more careful going into the high grass area, something I often do.

Black-and-yellow argiope, Case Woodlot, Aurora

When they are small like this one on the rusty bridge railing, they don’t bother me as much. It is the web. Few times I got my self tangled in the spider web, and it creeps me out. Have I ever been bitten? I think so. Once in the neck when we hiked in Cape Breton about 5 years ago. I got small reaction but nothing serious.

Jumping Spider, Nokiidaa Trail Link, Connecting Bridge

And this little creature below I shook off Matthew’s jacket on the Nokiidaa Trail link boardwalk back in November. Not sure what it is but hopefully was harmless.

Spider, Nokiidaa Trail Link, Boardwalk, Aurora

So winter is coming. Days are colder and getting shorter and that means less time outside for us with camera. I took lot of images this spring, summer and fall so I am sure there will be plenty stuff for me to write about living in Aurora.