The first time I ever saw a black widow was up on the bluffs above Rincon. There was a pretty big swell running and I—surfed out from an earlier session—decided to trespass up the hill to get a better view. The cliff is terraced here, presumably to help prevent landslides. I hopped a fence and ran out along the lowest terrace:

I was hoping I’d snap a classic shot of the point. Like the one on the poster:

But I’d greedily stayed in the water for as long as it had been glassy. The wind got on it and chopping things up a bit. Add to that the fact that I’m a pretty amateur photog and this was the result:

Anyway… I got bored with the view and noticed this big black spider crawling on a pair of abandoned shorts. I took some pictures and then wondered to myself, “That couldn’t be a black widow, could it? Nah…” So I got a stick and flipped the shorts a little. I saw the hourglass, shrieked out loud, and literally ran away back down the bluff.

The second time I saw a black widow was at Anicia’s mom’s house. It had spun a web on the steps leading up to the back door. I frantically told Anicia’s mom. She didn’t seem to care.