and on Saturday I repotted the tree into a nice little John Pitt pot that I bought from Willowbog Bonsai earlier in the month. Unusual that it’s glazed but I think it works well with a shohin tree. I might have to make a few adjustments as the tree was a tight fit and I couldn’t pot it exactly at the styled angle, it was going to look unbalanced in the pot with the tree positioned too far to the right and the movement all going to the right. By tilting the tree I was able to show a better nebari and show a better balance to the composition.
I had planned to travel by boat with a few others and then realised that I had booked leave from work on the wrong weekend!! I was unable to add extra days around the actual weekend for travelling and have now opted to fly over to cut down on travel time. A big thank you to Peter Snart for assisting me with my travel alterations!!
So this means that I will be catching up with some old friends and meeting some new ones. I’m really looking forward to it, it’s shaping up to be an excellent exhibition. I have one tree for entry in the Deciduous Chuhin Class. I was able to sent it over with Peter last weekend, a bit hard to carry on the plane!
I’m looking forward to having a catch up with Peter Warren and John Armitage. I will also have the pleasure of meeting Valentin Brose for the first time. The programme for the weekend looks action packed as well.
These are Scots Pine, Sylvestris and were collected from a bog and are typical of that shape. Looking forward to a little styling and pruning at the weekend 🙂
Most of you will have heard of the craze that is sweeping the world via Facebook.
NekNomination – which is known by various monikers and spellings in different regions – is a game in which a person is filmed downing their drink in one go, before nominating others to do the same on camera. Frequently, they nominate friends in other countries, which is how the fad has spread so quickly around the world.
This craze has resulted in many deaths two of which have been here in the UK and Ireland.
I teach young people about drugs and alcohol and how to stay safe, so as you would expect, this particular craze grabbed my attention. As I researched it further I came across some who were making a stand to turn a negative into a positive. This video shows one should person.
People like this are doing their bit via twitter #changeonething #onlygoodthings to turn a bad thing into something good.
Well this got me thinking! What about starting a ‘Bonsai NekNomination’? I’ll start…
Our club got a new member at the weekend. Drew is 16 years old and just starting bonsai. When many teenagers are more interested on xbox or alcohol, here is a young man who is doing something much more positive in his life.
To encourage him I gave him a Taxus Baccatta, Yew, as his first tree. This was repotted and pruned at our club workshop on Sunday where Peter Snart of Willowbog Bonsai gave him a pot for the tree. This was my ‘Bonsai NekNomination’. This is Drew’s day in pictures.
Well done Drew, not easy to be thrown in at the deep end with a bunch of strangers, but you took it in your stride. Lets keep it going 🙂
So this is my challenge to you blog readers. Whether you are into bonsai, photography or whatever other reason you visited this page. I ‘Bonsai Nek Nominate’ you to #change one thing. Think about what you could do to encourage someone to take the first step in your field, club, hobby, whatever it may be. Of course I’d love to hear about any Bonsai related ones here and I’d I’d be happy to blog it. Over to you……
Bonsai Eejit 