Cleopatra's Necklace

Mornings have been almost chilly, and days hot and summery and filled with sunshine. No rain, and once again it is needed. Look what I found this morning as I walked in the cool garden and out into the field.

This spider is making sure anything flying in the vicinity of the hop-hornbeam tree gets nabbed. No halfway effort here, this is a work of art and a guarantee of breakfast.

It looks like a finely wrought silver breastplate necklace, something an Egyptian queen would wear.

I was checking out this little sapling, looking for hops. It's an Ostrya virginiana, and the fruiting clusters look like dangling hops, hence the name hop-hornbeam.

My small tree is young, so I haven't seen any flowers or papery hop-like fruits yet. But even better, it is decorated in impressive regal bling. I thought I heard trumpets.