words change everything

I don't spend a lot of time on Twitter, but for about a year now it has been a very useful source of up-to-date information, and has provided a few good laughs as well.

Every now and then, a tweet really makes me think, or see something in a new way. I love that.


Today this popped up:

The tarantula is usually an elusive spider, but the males wander the foothills in the fall looking for mates.... http://t.co/XbTaM9iQ7A
— Sequoia & Kings Park (@SequoiaKingsNPS) October 17, 2013

Not the kind of image that usually comes to mind when I think of tarantulas.

Wandering the foothills in the fall, looking for mates.

I think it's the "wander the foothills" phrase. Those low, gentle hills, rising toward the mountains. From a tarantula-viewpoint, the foothills themselves must loom as high as mountains.

The rustle of drying underbrush and the clear golden autumn air.

I can see it, I can feel it.

I can relate.

Well done, National Park Service tweet-composer. You have changed my view of tarantulas. And in a good way.

Thank you! @QuinnPiper

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