Sometimes Mondays

. . . look pretty bleak.  

Sad and discouraging, even.  
Sometimes Mondays . . . (borrowing the words from The Carpenters) always get me down.  
And especially after a weekend . . . after a week . . . like we've just had.

But, then.

But, then.  I walk into my living room and see this outside my window.

It is my larch tree.  Glowing!  Exuding magic and stunning color.  Right there in my garden.

This incredible tree - a larch - is a conifer.  But it is a deciduous conifer.  Which means it will lose all of its needles once this stunning, golden display of today is finished.  It will look absolutely dead all winter long.  But in the spring?  Lovely, soft green needles will sprout from its branches once again.

This incredible tree is reminding me that the garden . . . is a place for hope.

And I really need that reminder today.

It seems that Sometimes Mondays . . . are really about finding hope.  
Keep looking, my friends.

“If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.”
                   --- Martin Luther King Jr.

 

 

Comments

[Karen morrison]

Good morning from across the lake!
We were up north last week and while there we admired all the tamarack trees. Beautiful dressed in gold, temporarily, as is your larch. So, when I read your post I had to look up the larch. Just what I thought, the same thing. Yours is a beauty. And may it give us hope. While we were up north, the television stayed off. The news does not fit in our happy place.
Wishing you peace

[Bonny]

That gorgeous larch is indeed a sign of hope, and I see two other signs of hope - your amaryllis. Hold on to hope wherever we can find it.

[Vera]

Lovely. Thank you.

[Annette]

Trees, they always give me comfort.
They always are there for everyone, if one only looks. . .

[Kat]

That larch is beautiful and yes glowing! Almost like the sea of candles at the many vigils held in my city this weekend. Thank you for sharing that gorgeous picture, and for reminding me that hope survives.

[Carole]

Maybe hope isn't just the thing with feathers (to borrow from Emily Dickinson) but also the thing with leaves and pine needles and such. These are scary times and we have to hold on to hope wherever we can find it.

[Patty]

I'm guessing that beautiful tree did give you a distraction from the bad and hope. Honestly I wish I knew what we could do!

[margene]

I have long wished for a larch to remind me of the beauty of life, but I understand they don't grow will in our heat. Your tree gives me hope and I would love to see it's soft green needles in the spring.

[Debbie]

Your Larch is beautiful! I live near the campus of EIU and there are rows of larch trees along the main road through campus and several trees along the walking trails throughout campus. Right now they are a blazing golden-yellow and are so incredibly lovely. Nature is a wonderful balm for our wounded world.

[Cheryl S.]

Stunning! Sending you hugs and hope.

[Dee]

Your larch is absolutely stunning. Along with hope, I think the tree reminds us to enjoy TODAY because in a moment everything can change.

[Vicki]

There are so many tamaracks in northern Wisconsin -- it's one of my favorite things about visiting in the fall. They do truly glow, and are so pretty.

[Helen]

Plants are hope. I just finished putting in some more daffodils and tulips for spring and a few violas for between now and also then. :) Love your larch.

[Mary]

If we lose hope, they win. not gonna happen as long as I draw breath. have heard very mixed reactions to Anne Lamott's latest (Almost Everything - notes on hope), but my small group is starting it this week. we chose the title a few weeks back ... and I can't help but think the timing must be providential. I'm sure we're glean at least a few nuggets of wisdom - and hope! - from her words.

[kim in oregon]

Sometimes hope is all we have, so let's all hang on.

[Bridget]

It's beautiful, but every time I hear Larch, it makes me think of Monty Python ... :-)