Persistence

 

3/18/22 Capitol Hill neighborhood

After an errand on Capitol Hill, I cruised around the neighborhood hoping to do some petal peeping. The neighborhood is known for its huge, old trees – most of the oldest in Seattle grow there. Although I spotted bits of pink, I didn’t find many blossoming trees ready for sketching – most were still premature.

What I did find, though, was this huge maple on the end of a dead-end street. Pruned long ago in this outrageous, unnatural manner to accommodate utility wires, the tree was growing lots and lots of slender branches pointing straight up toward the sky. At first it looked winter-bare, but I could see that all those tiny branches were covered with reddish seed pods which appear before leaves.

When current events fill me with despair, seeing a tree like this gives me hope – its tenacity and persistence in living and growing, despite what has been done to it.