Turtlehead With Spider

A friend told me that there were some Cardinal Flowers in bloom on the Stone Valley Trails which are just at the bottom of the hill from our new house. I've been so  busy with the move, painting, sorting, moving, throwing out, etc. that I hadn't been down to the trails since moving. Yesterday in the evening I rectified that with a short hike. I did find some Cardinal Flowers but I also found several Turtlehead plants including this one with a spider lurking on the underside of one of the leaves. While I was setting up to photograph another a bee landed on it but just then a breeze came up and set the plant swaying from side to side. By the time it stopped the bee had gone. Rotten luck. I like getting photos of flowers while bees are gathering nectar. On the Turtleheads though you'd have to catch the bee when it first lands. They go right down inside the bloom and out of sight to get the nectar.

Canon 7D processed mainly in Lightroom 4 with some additional sharpening in Photoshop CS 5.