Sounds mundane doesn’t it?  Monday is the first day of the “work week.” Taken literally the “work week” is a hallmark of middle class.  If one is not fortunate to have sufficient shelter, food, and good health — there is no respite from work.  That has always been the case.  Also, if one is raising young children, everyday is a work day.  We work to live. 

Reason advises to accept this state of affairs, to learn to find pleasure in ones work.  The difficulty of that varies with circumstances.  One learns to work well, to spend oneself with creative purpose.  What can I bring into the world today, — an insightful conversation, an unanticipated view, a discovery about myself, a more efficient use of a tool, just imagine… 

These photos were taken yesterday at the Braeburn Preserve that adjoins our backyard.  A creek which receives the runoff from the surrounding neighborhoods, runs into the woods, forming a marsh.  A variety of plants and wild animals are home in the marsh. This past spring in the mating season we encountered a big  snapping turtle that seemed far from its habitat resting in the grass of the outfield of the baseball diamond next to the marsh.  Two of us were able to safely convey the heavy, muscular animal to the creek.  I read that these animals can live 100 years.

Other old lifeforms are found in the marsh.  A few old cottonwood trees remain, and some have been felled by past storms.  They tower perhaps fifty feet skyward.  The trunk of some of these old trees would take the arms of two or three adults to circumference.  I look up at the old trees still standing noticing that only the clouds are higher.  These trees, how old?  I do not know.  The bark of these trees is deeply ridged as the skin of an old marsh creature.  I am sure they were present before any of the homes in the nearby developments.

What about a energy-filled tune to greet the morning?  This one seems perfect: Manic Monday performed by The Bangles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxhhguGo2pA

Manic Monday

By The Bangles

Six o’clock already
I was just in the middle of a dream
I was kissin’ Valentino
By a crystal blue Italian stream
But I can’t be late
‘Cause then I guess I just won’t get paid
These are the days
When you wish your bed was already made

It’s just another manic Monday
I wish it was Sunday
‘Cause that’s my fun day
My “I don’t have to run” day
It’s just another manic Monday

Have to catch an early train
Got to be to work by nine
And if I had an airplane
I still couldn’t make it on time
‘Cause it takes me so long just to figure out
What I’m gonna wear
Blame it on the train
But the boss is already there

It’s just another manic Monday
Wish it was Sunday
‘Cause that’s my fun day
My “I don’t have to run” day
It’s just another manic Monday

All of my nights
Why did my lover have to pick last night
To get down?
(Last night, last night)
Doesn’t it matter
That I have to feed the both of us
Employment’s down
He tells me in his bedroom voice
“C’mon honey, let’s go make some noise”
Time it goes so fast
(When you’re having fun)

It’s just another manic Monday
I wish it was Sunday
‘Cause that’s my fun day
“I don’t have to run” day

It’s just another manic Monday
I wish it was Sunday
‘Cause that’s my fun day
It’s just a manic Monday

Lyrics by Prince 1986