Adam:
As a 74 year old curmudgeon, I think you have the good
conscience to
understand the priorities in your life. The raising of your
family
should always come first, and the time for a hobby should be
one of the
last elemnets in your priority list.

I haven't hit the 70s yet, but I have to disagree just a bit with
our favorite septuagenarian (had to look THAT up!) here.

While family does come first, having a hobby -- especially a
hobby with growing things -- is often the only thing that can
keep you sane in this ugly-minded world we live in these days.
"Even" collecting stamps or matchbook covers is better for your
head than watching that little square box in your living room --
especially when mindless drivel like the Simpsons, or Survivor
and its ilk are on -- but a creating hobby, like bonsai, just
helps to keep your mind at rest.


I spent 30 some years working 80 hours a week including 18
years
commuting 65 miles one way, so I am thoroughly versed on time
management.

Now, I would NEVER have done that. Forty, sometimes 50, hours
was more than an ample amount of MY time to give to an employer
every week. The rest was rest and family time. And, for the
last 15-20 years of my working life, for bonsai.

Nina had the right idea. Bonsai doesn't need to take every
moment of your day -- though, in time it can, at least in the
spring. And you don't need a huge number of trees -- if you get
some that are interesting.

_I_ would be bored silly, too if all I had were figs and
scheffalera to work on; those are (IMHO) the two most boring
bonsai species to have for people who do not live in south
Florida, Hawaii, Indonesia or other hotspots where they can be
outside all year long.

And, the world does NOT end when a tree (or trees) die(s).

So, Adam, You might want to rethink dropping out of the world of
bonsai . . . but put it somewhere in your life where you don't
invest so much of yourself into it for now; it's not healthy to
obsess over losing a few trees.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Only where
people have learned to appreciate and cherish the landscape and
its living cover will they treat it with the care and respect it
should have - Paul Bigelow Sears.

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