Greetings to all IBCers.

Some of you old timers may remember me, I am returning
after a brief absence of four months.

My wife and I had a wonderful stay in Japan, only to be
cut short by her illness. We are back home and she is slowly
on the mend.

During our travels we met with several IBCers: Had lunch in
Tokyo with Bill Valavanis, Sean Smith, and John Romano, and
spent three days in Shanghai attending a stone convention
with Alan Walker and his lovely wife.

We have learned a lot, acquired priceless memories and a few
stones. Now that our long planned vacation is over, we are broke
and have to face the reality of living on a fixed income as a pensioners.

Hope to learn some more from you IBC folks.

Greetings and best wishes to all.

Peter Aradi
Tulsa, Oklahoma

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Greetings to all IBCers.

Some of you old timers may remember me, I am returning
after a brief absence of four months.

My wife and I had a wonderful stay in Japan, only to be
cut short by her illness. We are back home and she is slowly
on the mend.

During our travels we met with several IBCers: Had lunch in
Tokyo with Bill Valavanis, Sean Smith, and John Romano, and
spent three days in Shanghai attending a stone convention
with Alan Walker and his lovely wife.

We have learned a lot, acquired priceless memories and a few
stones. Now that our long planned vacation is over, we are
broke
and have to face the reality of living on a fixed income as a
pensioners.

Hope to learn some more from you IBC folks.

Greetings and best wishes to all.

Welcome back, Peter. Hope the recovery proceeds well.

How about a more detailed report?

I know all about that fixed income thingy.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - This economy
is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. - Gaylord
Nelson, 1995

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Peter Aradi wrote:

Greetings to all IBCers.

Some of you old timers may remember me, I am returning
after a brief absence of four months.

snip
Hope to learn some more from you IBC folks.

Greetings and best wishes to all.

Peter Aradi
Tulsa, Oklahoma

Welcome back Peter! Most of us are still here. Please please post pictures on the
gallery.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a

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Welcome back Peter. Glad your wife is improving.
With your time in Japan you need to educate us with your new found
knowledge.
Jerry Meislik
Whitefish Montana USA
Zone 4-5
http://www.bonsaihunk.8m.com/
Greetings to all IBCers.

Some of you old timers may remember me, I am returning
after a brief absence of four months.

My wife and I had a wonderful stay in Japan, only to be
cut short by her illness. We are back home and she is slowly
on the mend.

During our travels we met with several IBCers: Had lunch in
Tokyo with Bill Valavanis, Sean Smith, and John Romano, and
spent three days in Shanghai attending a stone convention
with Alan Walker and his lovely wife.

We have learned a lot, acquired priceless memories and a few
stones. Now that our long planned vacation is over, we are broke
and have to face the reality of living on a fixed income as a pensioners.

Hope to learn some more from you IBC folks.

Greetings and best wishes to all.

Peter Aradi
Tulsa, Oklahoma


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With your time in Japan you need to educate us with your new found
knowledge.
Jerry Meislik
Whitefish Montana USA

Jerry:

I have spent much of the last forty years learning and experiencing
Japanese culture, so I did not feel overwhelmed. However, I am
fairly new to bonsai and suiseki with just a little over a decade of
experience.

During my stay I was fortunate to attend several major exhibits of
both bonsai and suiseki, join the activities of one of Japan's best
bonsai clubs, and even work a few hours as an apprentice at a bonsai
nursery. We also had the privilege of discussing bonsai and suiseki
with leading figures in China and Japan.

My biased opinions are based on the above experiences and mostly
very personal.

Bonsai:
There is no short cut to experience and to be competent one must spend
several years, perhaps a minimum of five, "doing bonsai" as the main
activity of each day. One must experience several annual growth cycles
to learn how each action or inaction effects the plants.
Bonsai require talent, or at least a fair amount of artistic aptitude as
well
as manual dexterity. Unfortunately I have little artistic ability and my
meager manual skills deteriorated completely due to arthritis. Consequently
I have to carefully adjust what I like, my artistic expectations, and my own
very limited capabilities. Many in China and Japan has financial resources
to make up for lack of talent or time; my station in life, that of a retired
person living on a fixed pension does not permit me to do that. And the
majority of our life savings were spent on this trip, an experience that was
worth every penny.
We found that both in China and Japan the vast majority of good bonsai
was created and are maintained by professionals for their clients. Amateurs,
having a go at it by themselves, are not better than our American
enthusiasts.
They have one large advantage, however, there is abundant and reasonable
priced raw material and potensai.
Bonsai also requires great patience, something that the modern generation
lacking. There is a trend in Japan toward "mini-bonsai," a sort of instant
gratification that I do not like. I believe that it is a business decision
by the
bonsai nurseries since after the busted bubble economy they had to find a
market, one that is more affordable to the masses.
We also found that bonsai in the Northern parts of China, Beijing, Shanghai
and Suzhou, was more like Japanese bonsai than Southern Chinese penjing.

Suiseki.
Once again we found that stone appreciation is a hobby for the wealthy
elite.
Good stones are expensive and practically impossible to find at their native
locations as professional "stone farmers" have harvested and continually
harvesting the areas. A stone farmer who finds a single good stone can
make more money than a agricultural farmer does in a year.
The differences between Chinese and Japanese stone aesthetics are
great and can't be summarized in a few lines. I hope to write about it at a
future time.

Homeland Security.
I brought back several stones, two fragile gongshi, Chinese scholar's
stones.
Bought are authenticated lingbi. We packed then among our clothes and they
survived
Chinese and Japanese inspections, and U.S. customs. After customs we had to
recheck our luggage in Chicago where Homeland Security luggage inspectors
tore into our twice checked luggage. After taking everything apart they
throw
the items backs into the bags at random. Our pleadings were ignored and we
were told to stay away from our luggage and that we couldn't touch them.
When
we arrived home we found that one of our beloved Chinese stones was broken
and in three pieces! And we also found that the inspectors left their tools
in
our luggage! We consulted an attorney, our younger son, who informed us that
the only thing we can do is to take a deep breath and exhale slowly. An
expensive
lesson. I should have learned from Lynn Boyd and hand carried them. They
would
probably stopped me at the gate and declared them as weapons.

All and all the trip was a great experience, the adventure of a life time.
Now I
am back home retired and broke. Still doing bonsai and suiseki at my limited
level, not expecting to leave a legacy to the National Arboretum, but
enjoying
every minute of it.

Cheers.

Peter Aradi
Tulsa, Oklahoma

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Hi Peter.

Thanks for sharing. Foremost among your bonsai legacies is your knowledge &
deep interest in Asian culture. Don't ever discount its importance or be
too discouraged over a broken stone.

Hey, Lynn repaired her stone & the result was still a fine piece of art.
Many enthusiasts drop or otherwise mar a treasured stone, occasionally.
I've 'repaired' a few... :-). The only loss was one of material value.
Life goes on ... :-)

Please tell the VSL folks about Lingbi stones and having them authenticated.
I've not heard of that before but it sounds vaguely like the process used by
the Sri Lankan government to certify gemstones. Is the authentication by
the government (of China)?

RE' carrying stones, I once hauled a viewing stone resembling Dan Barton's
dog "Goshin" across England. Stopping in a train terminal I had to use 'the
facilities' and left the large stone under my seat at the station. Upon
returning, police had vacated a large area and were awaiting a bomb squad to
survey my closed backpack. I think I'd have preferred a quiet breakage than
the damning stares from those constables. I guess I was lucky to not be
arrested for disurbing the peace!

Welcome back, Peter. Can't wait to hear more!!!

Best wishes,
Chris

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Aradi"
Subject: [IBC] Hello! Again.
My biased opinions are based on the above experiences and mostly
very personal.
Bonsai:
There is no short cut to experience and to be competent one must spend
several years, perhaps a minimum of five, "doing bonsai" as the main
activity of each day.

What, you mean you can't buy a "bonsai" at a H&G show and then start
selling/teaching 3 months later? C'mon Peter!


Kidding aside, I'd love to hear some storys about your "pottery" experiences
in Kyoto, Mashiko, etc. If I even go again, Kyoto area potteries will
definitely be on my tour.

Homeland Security.
I brought back several stones, two fragile gongshi, Chinese scholar's
stones.
Bought are authenticated lingbi. We packed then among our clothes and they
survived
Chinese and Japanese inspections, and U.S. customs. After customs we had
to
recheck our luggage in Chicago where Homeland Security luggage inspectors
tore into our twice checked luggage. After taking everything apart they
throw
the items backs into the bags at random. Our pleadings were ignored and we
were told to stay away from our luggage and that we couldn't touch them.
When
we arrived home we found that one of our beloved Chinese stones was broken
and in three pieces! And we also found that the inspectors left their
tools
Peter Aradi
Tulsa, Oklahoma

What a shame. When are we, as Americans, going to stop putting up with our
customs and related personnel treating us like this. It ( more and more)
burns my butt when I see/hear about a Government Employee acting thusly. A
little ( just a smidge even) of power, and a gun ,and watch out!! A few
years ago, after a two P.I.A. experiences with local and Niagara Falls
customs people within a short time , I started calling....got as high as a
local customs boss. He said now you could file complaints to go to district
offices and they'd be looked into and reported back. HE took the info FOR ME
to file. You guessed it....I NEVER heard from anyone again.
Two years ago I got another taste of it at San Francisco airport. I watched
20ish customs agents doing nothing after my 747 group was passed through.
They were standing around waiting for another plane. It took about 45
minutes of talking with the supervisor about getting trees(3) inspected. So
long that everyone else got inspected! when they were all done there STILL
wasn't enough time to get trees inspected and I had to send them along to
Ag. 3 miles away. I did get them later, but never thought I would at the
time! As I went through the checkout ( alone) 2 agents never even opened my
bags!!!! and one said to the other..."Isn't it about time for lunch?"
but, they were all REALLYYYYYYY busy!
Regards,
Dale Cochoy

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From Peter Aradi:
snipped-

Bonsai require talent, or at least a fair amount of artistic
aptitude as well
as manual dexterity. Unfortunately I have little artistic
ability and my
meager manual skills deteriorated completely due to
arthritis. Consequently
I have to carefully adjust what I like, my artistic
expectations, and my own
very limited capabilities. Many in China and Japan has
financial resources
to make up for lack of talent or time; my station in life,
that of a retired
person living on a fixed pension does not permit me to do
that. And the
majority of our life savings were spent on this trip, an
experience that was
worth every penny.

---------------------------------------

More than welcome back, Peter.
Though I may hang on to your every word, these above strike
personally in most of us. I certainly agree with the
expenditure - the costly trip for experiences, the richness of
valuable memories.
I smile at the "artistic aptitude" somewhat. Over two
decades of teaching I discovered that people who say that of
themselves and whom I used to think could paint better with
the brush between their teeth developed procedures that suited
them and could "wow" others with their originality - we all
respond to "differences" as provocative or evocative. How
about the clumsiness of early Van Gogh's and others? I can
sympathize deeply though with the arthritic problems, and
that problem just emphasizes your love of the art when it
withstands that pain. I see that in some friends and in my
own family.
Chris was right about my stone. The cost was in the
hundreds, the repair cost only an epoxy glue and some hours
at a table with all the pieces spread out like a puzzle. Now
the repair is not recognizable to most people, but would be
discovered, of course, by someone with a close look and
knowledge. By that time they have already responded to the
stone. When you love something enough to repair and still
enjoy it I discovered it was somewhat enriched and treated
with tenderness, but I am accustomed to putting the financial
value of art aside of other responses. We will never trust a
stone again to be out of our hands on a trip, eh?
Please, as you think, give us more of your opinions or
thoughts - they hit on some comparisons that give general
understandings good for us.
Lynn

Lynn Boyd, Oregon, USA

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Peter,
Thanks for sharing your views. We await more thoughts on your trip and
photos?
Jerry Meislik
Whitefish Montana USA
Zone 4-5
http://www.bonsaihunk.8m.com/
Bonsai:
There is no short cut to experience and to be competent one must spend
several years, perhaps a minimum of five, "doing bonsai" as the main
activity of each day. One must experience several annual growth cycles
to learn how each action or inaction effects the plants.
Bonsai require talent, or at least a fair amount of artistic aptitude as
well
as manual dexterity. Unfortunately I have little artistic ability and my
meager manual skills deteriorated completely due to arthritis. Consequently
I have to carefully adjust what I like, my artistic expectations, and my
own
very limited capabilities. Many in China and Japan has financial resources
to make up for lack of talent or time; my station in life, that of a
retired
person living on a fixed pension does not permit me to do that. And the
majority of our life savings were spent on this trip, an experience that
was
worth every penny.
We found that both in China and Japan the vast majority of good bonsai
was created and are maintained by professionals for their clients.
Amateurs,
having a go at it by themselves, are not better than our American
enthusiasts.
They have one large advantage, however, there is abundant and reasonable
priced raw material and potensai.
Bonsai also requires great patience, something that the modern generation
lacking. There is a trend in Japan toward "mini-bonsai," a sort of instant
gratification that I do not like. I believe that it is a business decision
by the
bonsai nurseries since after the busted bubble economy they had to find a
market, one that is more affordable to the masses.
We also found that bonsai in the Northern parts of China, Beijing, Shanghai
and Suzhou, was more like Japanese bonsai than Southern Chinese penjing.

Suiseki.
Once again we found that stone appreciation is a hobby for the wealthy
elite.
Good stones are expensive and practically impossible to find at their
native
locations as professional "stone farmers" have harvested and continually
harvesting the areas. A stone farmer who finds a single good stone can
make more money than a agricultural farmer does in a year.
The differences between Chinese and Japanese stone aesthetics are
great and can't be summarized in a few lines. I hope to write about it at a
future time.

Homeland Security.
I brought back several stones, two fragile gongshi, Chinese scholar's
stones.
Bought are authenticated lingbi. We packed then among our clothes and they
survived
Chinese and Japanese inspections, and U.S. customs. After customs we had to
recheck our luggage in Chicago where Homeland Security luggage inspectors
tore into our twice checked luggage. After taking everything apart they
throw
the items backs into the bags at random. Our pleadings were ignored and we
were told to stay away from our luggage and that we couldn't touch them.
When
we arrived home we found that one of our beloved Chinese stones was broken
and in three pieces! And we also found that the inspectors left their tools
in
our luggage! We consulted an attorney, our younger son, who informed us
that
the only thing we can do is to take a deep breath and exhale slowly. An
expensive
lesson. I should have learned from Lynn Boyd and hand carried them. They
would
probably stopped me at the gate and declared them as weapons.

All and all the trip was a great experience, the adventure of a life time.
Now I
am back home retired and broke. Still doing bonsai and suiseki at my
limited
level, not expecting to leave a legacy to the National Arboretum, but
enjoying
every minute of it.

Cheers.

Peter Aradi
Tulsa, Oklahoma

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