this new beginning has spiders

i recently moved to a new flat in a different neighborhood in sydney.   so far, i love it!  the neighborhood is called chippendale and the locals call it "chippo."

art on my street!

i also bought a bike so i've been riding around, exploring all the interesting parts of this section of town.

its springtime and the jacarandas are blooming.

my new place has a back patio and garden area which really has me excited.   i've always maintained indoor gardens and this is the first time i've had an outdoor space that i can cultivate.  i bought a new native plant to celebrate the fresh start.

cant remember its name, but i love my new plant!

it's difficult maintaining delicate plants with my consistent travel schedule and lack of dedicated watering assistant, but this time i'm committed to making it work!   i want to grow fresh tomatoes and herbs and dark leafy greens in my living space!

so last weekend i spent a lot of time cleaning up the garden and repotting old plants.  this is garden version0.2.

so much potential in my new outdoor space.

one plant i repotted is the jade hanging up on the fence in the photo above.  as i struggled to remove the jade and clean it up before adding fresh soil, a large brown spider walked across the stones in front of me.  i yelped a little when i saw it (i'll be honest) and sprang backwards for a moment to let it disappear.

i got back to work on the plant and then the spider walked back across the path in the other direction.   persistent not-so-little guy.  i shuddered again and waited for it to disappear from my view.  i managed to finish the job of repotting the plant.

then, i watched the spider immediately crawl back up into the jade plant and "hide" under a leaf for a few minutes.

"hell no, i wont go!" yelled the spider.

finally, it curled up around a stem, and stayed in that position, hugging the plant home that it finally had back, for the next three hours!

"home sweet home"

it was so cute (once i got over the "holy crap that's a pretty big spider that wont go away" jitters)!

i looked it up and its a non-aggressive orb-weaving spider.  i like my new garden friend.


WARNING: the website i found about common australian spiders is probably the most evil website i have ever found in all of cyberspace.  check it out, if you dare!

ps.  i forgot to take a photo of garden version 0.3.  i'll leve you in anticipation of v1.0!