A change is gonna come...

It has been, and still is a busy run in to the end of the year, the promised time at home seems a long distant dream, although next week...next week...

Although I often complain that my schedule is too hectic, it is self inflicted and to be honest the last few weeks have been very interesting and I have come to a few realisations about myself, bonsai and in particular the importance of respect for the natural world which we as bonsai artist profess to worship. I have also had some wonderful moments of never to be repeated bliss.

I just wrote an hours worth of polemic about the ethics of collecting, but then I realised that I am simply going to alienate myself further from the bonsai community...so I will concentrate on the blissfull moments.

Walking down from a windy, rain drenched mountain side in the south of France, having seen the full effects of the dark side of human nature, I climb miserably into the van...the clouds part, the rain stops and the wind dies down...through the radio comes a message from a higher power...

 

Awesome.

It was important for me to see trees in their native habitat and it has confirmed a few things that bother me about modern bonsai...one is that there is no lime sulphur in nature, the other is that most people seem intent on destroying any natural character that collected trees have by bending, carving and making pretty that which is wild, beautiful and powerful almost beyond our comprehension.

Another blissfull moment is seeing the happiness that simple pleasures can bring...like a balloon. Im not getting broody but it has been great to experience the joy of family and the power of new life, potential and the future...reminds me, need to buy seeds for the spring....

Although I didnt take any pictures up in the mountains, I can't finish the blog without posting a picture of a tree...one of my favourites from my trip...sadly it wasn't for sale, although apparently everyone turned their noses up at it when priced at €150...add another 0 and you are close to the price in my eyes.

It is a perfectly formed, incredibly old, barely needs wire to make it look good and been in a pot for 5 years collected sylvestris? I often wonder...insanus omnes furere credit ceteros...the insane man looks at the rest of the world and thinks they are crazy, and that only he is sane. This does not bode well for sales...oh well, as my father never told me, but I'm sure he should have, " 'tis better to be bankrupt and happy than morally corrupt, rich and have terrible taste in trees my son".

As it is almost Christmas, I will leave you with some cheer...and a poem I read this morning whilst waiting for yet another plane.

Life's changes are as brief as the blink of an eye

The passage of human affairs as brief as the straightening of an elbow

My emptiness is like the clouds drifting through the great void

Body and soul are depleted, with nowhere to turn

 

Which you may take as being miserable and depressing, but what it means is in the title of the blog, the exact same sentiment as Sam Cooke and the feeling I had all this week...a change is gonna come.

 

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