Bonsai aren't pets. Plants reciprocate no warm and fuzzy
feelings like a dog will (or a cat -- sometimes -- while you are
petting it. There's absolutely no point in getting emotionally
involved with a tree in a pot. There are always more where that
one came from.

Enjoy them, by all means, but as "things" not as "family."

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden



Good thought, Marty. I agree. I have also noticed that my
colleagues who trade and
sell bonsai tend to have the best bonsai. They invest a lot of
energy and time into
the tree but don't feel compelled to hang on to them like I do.
Their collections
usually look better than mine, and they learn more. There's a
lesson in there, if
I'd only use it. ;-)
Alan Walker, Lake Charles, LA, USA
http://LCBSBonsai.org http://bonsai-bci.com
=================================
Marty Haber wrote:
Lisa,
I appreciate your feelings, but would offer some consolation.
To me,
bonsai is a process: not an end in itself. The pleasure of
working with
trees, increasing their beauty as you work, is the real reward
in bonsai.
It's the process, not the result that counts. If you think of
it in these
terms, you will never look back with regret upon the hours,
months and years
spent with bonsai.
Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lisa Kanis"
A friend of mine took up bonsai as a pastime after she
had to leave work,
when her first baby was born. That was a long time ago. She is
now a grandmother,
five times over. In the intervening years she created a
magnificent bonsai collection. Two years ago, however, she told
me that
she could no longer keep up with the intensive maintenance her
trees . . .

SNIP

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