With an energy surprising for such a senior, Will took my arm as he led me to
the frames where he sought out a friendly
contributor. Having selected a particular web, he
scurried into the back room where he busied himself mixing a glue 
of his own mixture. This
he put in a power sprayer which appeared to have seen many
sprayings in its lifetime. Next he selected a fine piece of
pine, cut and polished with a dark mahogany stain. He sprayed the
glue onto the board. All this he brought out along with a can of
white spray paint. He stood in
front of the delicate web, coaxing its maker out of the line of
fire. 
With the spider safely behind the frame, Will dusted the web with the white spray
paint. From my distance is was a marvelous sight to behold. Where
there was nothing, slowly like a picture developing right before
my eyes, the web appeared. This accomplished, Will carefully
placed the freshly glued side of the pine board behind the web
frame and with a steady hand passed the wood through the frame
collecting the web in the pass. "There,",
he 
exclaimed. "Nature's graceful artist".
He held the piece in his hand, and
although he admitted to having done this some twelve thousand
times before, I could see the pride and pure satisfaction he felt
in his accomplishment. "It gets several more coats of finish
and sanded smooth.", he continued, adding "Nothing worse in a woman's
world then something that will gather dust, so the surface has to
be smooth". We wandered back to the old barn which served as
office and showroom where we talked about his
wife and it was obvious that the 
fire had not gone out. "She
is a wonderful artist you know", he said. "She adds
flowers to some of the boards which really makes it a work of
art. We
talked about the spiders, kids that visited and the shows he had
appeared on, and there were plenty of them such as The Today Show
and You asked for it. In addition to the spider-web plaques, Will
also produces some very nice lap desks and other small
woodworking items which he offers for sale. All in all, a very
interesting afternoon.
*** THE END ***
