First thing this morning, as I was preparing my breakfast, I looked around the room, visually seeking a familiar form, but nothing caught my gaze: our house guest, Ari the Spider, was nowhere to be seen.

Imagine my amused surprise, then, when Tigger emerged and said “Oh, look!”

Ari reappears
Photo by Tigger

I looked and on the wall, virtually above my head, was Ari! Where she had been and how she had reappeared so suddenly seemed mysterious.

Our rooms have high ceilings and there’s not much light at the top so that photographing a small creature in the shadows presents difficulties. It seemed only reasonable to use flash as we did on a previous occasion. However, both then and this time, Ari’s reaction suggests that the flash incommodes her. We will therefore refrain from using it in future.

Ari is still here – for now

Our method of choice now is to use the torch app on our phones to provide enough illumination for the photo. That’s how I took the photo above. The light is far less intense than that of the flash and Ari doesn’t seem to mind it.

In the time interval between the two photos, we had been out to do our shopping and so I was a little surprised on our return to find Ari much where we had left her. However, she did start to move and in a generally downwards direction. By the time I had written this, she had disappeared again.

This, then, provides a clue to where she spends her periods of invisibility: behind the books on the bookshelves! I could, of course, move the books and take a look but I really don’t want to disturb her if she believes she has found a safe place to wait out the winter. I am happy to see her when she puts in an appearance and to leave her in peace in between.

Note: In my original post I said I would always include the word “spider” in the title of posts about Ari so that arachnophobes can skip them if they wish.