The perfect goodbye present

Yesterday, I surveyed my garden in Washington for the last time before I depart for several months on a series of trips.  Although the snow was gone, it was still cold and there were hardly any more signs of spring than there had been a month ago.  As I looked over the wintry vegetation, I felt sorry that I was going to miss all of the spring -- and especially the progress of the new generation of crab spiders.  Then, just as I was nearing the end of my circuit around the garden, I saw a cluster of snowdrops (Galanthus sp.) poking up between the cotoneaster branches.

The first flowers to bloom in the garden: snowdrops (Galanthus sp.).

So, I had stayed long enough to see the first flowers of the year after all!  However, these flowers were merely the pretty packaging of my real present.  When I knelt down to photograph the fourth and last of the flowers, I saw that it was occupied by something with long, spindly legs.

Something is inside the flower!

I recognized the legs at once as belonging to a crab spider, yet I could not quite believe my luck.  Since my camera did not fit underneath the flower, I cautiously rotated the flower up.  Meanwhile, the spider emerged from its hiding spot and sat photogenically on the outside of the flower.

A very small crab spider on a snowdrop flower.

Though I am still sorry not to be able to chronicle the development of this crab spider and the rest of the garden population, I now feel like I am leaving the garden on a high note -- and, as I travel, there will be other gardens with new encounters to be had!