Postcard From New England

K.A. Rutledge

Hey all,

I'm writing from snowy Bellingham, Mass. where the temps are about 30 degrees cooler than I was enjoying just a few days ago at home in Texas (one day got down to 0F!). Friday before last, Kenji Miyata and New England Bonsai Gardens owner Hitoshi Kanegae stopped by my house in Texas on their way back from California with a huge truck loaded top to bottom with bonsai. After a bit of a visit, they asked if I could come back with them to Mass. to work on the trees for a couple of weeks. This was all a bit sudden, but next thing I knew I was on the truck. ;-) 3 days later (no sleep for 72 hours!), we arrived and went to work unloading the truck. It took 6 of us 3 hours. Ugh! -)

Anyway, since then I've been repotting and styling bonsai 8 - 9 hours a day and loving every minute. It is wonderful here at N.E. Bonsai Gardens and getting to work next to my sensei and with the cool staff here has been a joy. I'm here until the 20th and I'm sure that that'll be too soon. Kenji and Kanegae-san have been forcing me to brush up on my Japanese, too; all day long is a lesson even when there is no actual instruction being given. ;-)

I've been trying to check in with the list a bit, but no time to participate so far. I've enjoyed the threads on bonsai art - just happy that it's getting talked about more.

Best of luck to everyone with their spring bonsai activities and I hope to have time to drop in here again soon. Take care!

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
zone 8, Texas (Bellingham, MA)

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