The November 2005 is my last column for the Ann Arbor Bonsai Society's newsletter. It has been an interesting, challenging, and educationally fun experience for me to be your editor. I have chosen to concentrate my bonsai efforts and membership with just one club and there is one much closer to my home.
I have tried for the last three months to locate someone willing to assume the duties of editor. There are now two whom will join their talents to bring you your newsletter. There is no meeting during the month of December and I have instructed Jarrett, the webmaster, to remove my name and contact information from the website as of the November 2005 online issue of the newsletter.
I see this year as a running clock. Spring was the beginning with the longer hours of sunlight. Summer was the growing days. Autumn was and is the transformation of fall colors and changes as the daylight hours are less. Soon, will come the dormant winter season. Quiet time.
Thinking of trees only, and not the frantic pace of approaching holiday time, this is the time of year when the ways of nature become a guide as to what must be done. Preserving the health of a tree during this dormant period of cold or, cooler weather is what matters most. Deciduous trees will have transformed from the beautiful fall colors, to mire silhouettes. Evergreen trees appear dull, inactive and unchanging.
The activities in which we become involved usually come from our own experience, from what we have read, and from the teachings of our sensei. It is a period of transformation in the mind's eye. This is a chance to study each tree without concern for constantly changing growth. Time to devote to design and plans for the beginning of next year. The clock runs on.
It was a rough winter for me in 2004-05. My bonsai collection is ruined, a dozen or more decent trees whittled down to two or three, badly damaged by the harsh winter and a never-ending fight with fungus and spider mites. Years and months of time invested in pruning, wiring and potting, all gone.
For a while, all I could do was look out across the shattered remnants of my bonsai collection and think, "Why bother? I am clearly not cut out for this. I either don't understand how to tend to my plants, or don't have and can't find the right combination of time, microclimate, and bonsai soil mix to enjoy the benefits of my labors."
On the other hand, I want to plunge right back in. I want to rebuild my collection better than before. But how?
I really don't have the luxury of taking a bonsai trip to China or Japan . I have to make this collection work from right here at home. If I cannot find the material that I want in the U.S. then I really don't want it.
After some thought, I am going to try to do more work on the deciduous side, a few maples. Maybe create a forest or something on or over a rock.
It's rough, looking at what happened to my trees over the winter. It came at a time when being able to care for, and work on them was a real challenge. My back surgery in the summer left me unable to properly protect my collection from the drying westerly winds of winter. There were promises of help that never showed, but people get busy and forget. Being the stubborn character that I am I don't normally ask twice.
Why am I pursuing this bonsai thing? Why don't I just give up and give in? There were times that I wanted other trees to give up and then I would no longer need to bother. They continued to hang in there, why I don't know. During the same time period I was diagnosed with lymphoma. The big ‘C' word, cancer. Somehow, like those stubborn trees, that yet one day maybe bonsai, I could not think of giving up.
To keep myself going I started a new bonsai project in August. I dug a pit and made a new cold frame for winter storage. Winter was months away but I had a need to plan for the future.
After many tests and a couple of biopsy, the truth was reveled. My doctor exclaimed, It's not cancer! It is sarcoidosis. (I won't go into all of the details but it is treatable).
Maybe my penjing and bonsai have a chance as well. They like me refused to give up – did not give in, but like me, they will survive.
Thank you the members of AABS for allowing me to be your newsletter editor. Thanks to my family and my sensei, Preeya, and my bonsai buddy Robert along with many others too numerous to mention they deserve very special thanks.
Good luck to the new newsletter staff.
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Includes predictions for all or portions of Illinois (Aurora, Chicago, Naperville, Peoria, Rockford), Indiana (Fort Wayne, Gary, Hammond, Indianapolis, South Bend), Michigan (Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Sterling Heights, Warren), New York (Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Tonawanda), Ohio (Akron, Cleveland, Dayton, Parma, Toledo), Pennsylvania (Erie, Hermitage, Meadville, Sharon, Warren), Wisconsin (Kenosha, Madison, Milwaukee, Racine, Waukesha).
The season's wintry weather will be short but powerful. After a relatively mild November, December and January will be exceptionally cold, with frequent snowfalls, heavy in the east. Then, winter will break and February will be unusually mild. Temperatures in March will be a bit below normal, on average. Snowfall will be above normal in the east and below normal in most other parts of the region. The coldest periods will be in mid-December and from mid- through late January. The heaviest widespread snowfall will occur in late January, with other major snowfalls in early, mid-, and late December; in mid-January; and in early March.
April and May will be cool, on average, with above-normal precipitation and snowfall several times in the first half of April.
The summer season will be cooler than normal, with near-normal rainfall. June will be particularly cool, but hot weather will dominate from late August into early September. The hottest periods will occur in mid-July and late August.
Temperatures in September and October will average two degrees above normal, with near- or slightly above-normal rainfall.
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