Mr. Al, [aka. bonsaial, bonsaial1, Smoke, and bonsaiTALK Bully]
I just wanted to take time to wish you a very happy 50th birthday, and thank you for your great contribution to this forum...I couldn't begin to list all the many things that you have done to help make this among the best bonsai forums on the WWW [World Wide Web], but would like to mention a couple that have been very important to me...I hope others will also add to these thoughts...
You have certainly set the pace for 'how-to' articles [stands, stones, moss, scrolls, display, styling, gardens, and on and on]...These articles have been quoted, copied, and ripped off, but above all have created a high standard which should be a goal for all who submit articles...
Your pictorials of visits to nurseries and bonsai shows and exhibitions have given myself and many others the opportunity to visit and see in picture form many places that we otherwise would never have the opportunity to experience...
Your consistent insistence on striving to create the best bonsai possible and guidelines on how to achieve this is certainly to be commended...
Your efforts to establish forum features such as 'Ask the Master' and 'bonsaiTalk contest' are things we should all feel indebted to you for...
Happy Birthday and hopefully this is only the start of the next half century...
Regards
Behr
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As the Master departed the workshop,
he could have sworn he heard some
one saying rather loudly...
"I thought he would never leave"
San Antonio Bonsai Society, Inc.