Mid-America Bonsai Show 2014. Part 1, Bests of Show.

     (That is not a typo: I meant to write "bests," plural.)

The "Best of Show" award at this year's Mid-America Show in Chicago went to this 'Arakawa' rough-bark Japanese maple, and I have to agree that the award was deserved. Owner and artist is Matt Berenger.

Best of Show, 'Arakawa' rough-bark Japanese maple, Acer palmatum.

Please be aware that the first two branches don't actually create a bar-branch effect; it just looks that way as a result of the camera angle. (My apologies.) You can see the excellent taper, good branching, strong and stable base, and the harmony between the tree and the accent plant. The pot's depth and color are perfect for this tree. But the feature that gives this bonsai "soul"

New Growth in the Morning Sun

     A week or so after our mother passed away, my sister Carol remarked that "Life will now find a new 'normal.'" And so it is proving. For me that includes getting back to the level of involvement in bonsai that I had before, and that was necessarily scaled back as my parents' needs increased. Not that I begrudged that: after all, how many times did they wipe my nose and kiss my skinned knees when I was a child? I Timothy 3:4 became very real to me over the last 2½ years: "...[an adult child] should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for ... [and] repaying their parents ... for this is pleasing to God." (NIV.)

This morning I went up to the deck and snapped a couple of pictures of my yaupon holly bonsai-in-training. This tree has been doing very well since the workshop with Adam Lavigne back in June. I gave it a couple of rape-seed cakes and the same amount of Fort Wayne Bonsai Club Super-Duper Handy-Dandy