10/8/2005 I'm beginning to understand why land in Florida is so cheap. Apart from hurricane problems, there is the ever-present and always-oppresive humidity. I had a lengthy discussion about this with various members of Dory's immediate family and friends while we were at Disney World for her sister's wedding. Apart from her grandmother, who lives there, everyone was in agreement that 100 percent humidity days along with weather in the 80's is not so agreeable. Worse still, is when your hotel room air conditioner doesn't even come close to removing any of the moisture so that you stick to everything you touch inside your room and out. Bryce and I went on a boat ride from the hotel to a shopping area; by the time we arrived I was so steamed that I decided it would be best to just head back. I found that as long as it was cloudy that I could tolerate the humidity, but the minute the sun came out it was like a super sauna.

Despite my general dislike for tropical weather I was surprised to find interesting things to examine even in the artificially fabricated world of Disney. What I found is that you can apply as much spit and polish to a swamp as you like, but the swamp will keep coming back. During our boat ride I admired many of the Bald Cypress trees, none of them are particularly large or fantastic, but the covering of spanish moss along with other epiphytes and mosses makes them look quite old and interesting. There were also oaks of a variety that I didn't recognize and pines. Most remarkable though, is Kudzu. For those of you who don't know much about invasive plants and the tropics Kudzu might be something that you have only seen but not recognized. I don't know the actual name, but it is a vine that can climb up and cover over the tallest trees, eventually collapsing them and taking over the forest as a whole. It turns into an unending carpet of green with bumps under it that were formerly trees. I imagine that some trees are strong enough to hold up to it, and it will be those trees that manage to reproduce, therefore increasing the strength of future generations and re-establishing the balance...or maybe it will wipe out every tree in the tropics eventually, who knows.

Despite a rehearsal dinner marred by a paleolithic restaurant manager who thought that a reservation for 7pm meant that seating us at various tables by 8pm was ok, the wedding on the whole was quite nice. In fact if you subtract out the heat and humidity it would have been downright pleasant. I was going to take quite a few photos, but I neglected to charge the battery in my camera, so I got about a half dozen shots before it died completely.

A couple weeks ago I lucked into acquiring what I now consider to be the rising star in my bonsai collection. Bonsai is all about creating the illusion of age, but even better than creating that illusion from scratch is starting with something that has real age and working to further the appearance. An 85-year old man who lives in San Francsico called me to say that he had a tree that his grandmother bought in the 1915 Pan Exposition. Upon hearing this I was quite excited as trees of that era are rare and hard to come by. At present I know of only three that are in private collections in San Francisco...of which I now own one. There are more, and older trees, at the Collection North which is a non-profit that has benefited from donations from hundreds of people.

The tree that I acquired is most likely about 120 years old. Unfortunately, the man who had it didn't know how to take care of it. To rehabilitate it, it will take me the better part of ten years and the help of various people who know much more about bonsai than I do. I took it to a workshop, before we left for the wedding, to start the process by removing it from the pot, trimming some of the roots, and repotting it in a larger growing container until it is healthier. Many people don't understand the difference between healthy plants and weak ones, but with an experienced eye I can see from the condition of the leaves and the size of the buds that a tree needs help and food. I was dreaming last night of how I could acquire another tree of this age which is owned by a man living on twin peaks. I have written about it before, it is a pine that sweeps sideways with a canopy that is about four feet across. I am beginning to acquire the collecting bug.

9/11/2005
8/26/2005
8/9/2005
8/1/2005
7/20/2005
7/5/2005
6/17/2005
5/27/2005
5/1/2005
4/15/2005
4/5/2005
3/24/2005
3/13/2005
2/5/2005
12/28/2004
11/29/2004
11/3/2004
10/2/2004
9/10/2004
8/23/2004
8/8/2004
7/21/2004
7/2/2004
6/8/2004
5/4/2004
4/20/2004
3/28/2004
3/10/2004
2/10/2004
1/15/2004


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