Hi, everybody,
again….it’s been a while since I could get myself to sit down and write on my blog! I feel my blog should tell stories of joy…because most of the time, Bonsai brings nothing but joy! But I have been poor for a long time now, with a lot of ups and downs, so the short periods of being able to work were mostly used to maintain my Bonsai as good as possible at that time! Mind you though, my head and heart were always filled with Bonsai….but actually doing it was the hard part! Strange how those things can go in life?! It is like being Hugh Hefner… at his age… in the PlayBoy mansion… without any blue pills! I love it…but I don’t work well anymore! 😉 But I did do things (see picture above) and when I did, it was like discovering Bonsai all over again!! Simply because I still love it and creating and seeing those small trees grow into my vision is still priceless!!! I miss the travelling and my Bonsai friends though..! And I am planning and working hard towards catching up on all those things next year!!!
One of the trees that is coming along nicely is the one below! It is a Winter image picture I made last week of my (Still a bit too young looking) Ilex verticillata (winterberry.) This is an Urban Yamadori from Holland and some 60 years old by now. It is saved from the blender when a 55-year-old train station was demolished and all old trees and shrubs were destroyed! It’s a Kabudachi (multiple 5 trunks) and the height is 57cm. It is here photoshopped into its future (next year?) beautiful Isabella pot, that I so luckily bought last month at my long-awaited first visit to my dear friends Danny and Ingrid from Bonsai centre “GINKGO” (B) in 10 years! And it is in training since 2009. It needs a few more years of fine ramifications to fill it more out and then it will be ready to show! The slab is found years ago at a car boot sale and needs to be made thinner and more presentable by me in the future! I hope you like this little forest as much as I do?!
I am still working on improving this new blog design, so bear with me, please!! I will be posting more soon! And I am working as best as I can on my new website as well…so lots of stuff happening ….and that is just fine!!!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
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The Bonsai Blog of Hans van Meer 
Hi Hans,
First things first…great blog site! I have only just come across it but I’m sure I will be spending a whole lot of time here.
I’m writing to ask you about an article I saw on the Of Bonsai Magazine site from Oct 21 2007 “Mugo Pine” progression article, the tree that you entered in the Knowledge of Bonsai Progressive Styling Contest.
My problem is that I cannot see 70% of the photos that are in the article. I have tried on my mobile device and computer but all the same photos are missing. Do you have an original post of this article with all of the photos available? I would love to see them all.
I would like to begin collecting yamadori in France and the amazing trees that I have discovered reside in the same type of location: rocky cliff faces in small shallow hollows with difficult access to fine roots. I would love to find as much info as I can about collecting from such difficult locations. Hope to hear from you soon.
Kind regards,
Justin
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Hi Justin,
first of all: sorry for this very late reply from me….but lets say that life got in the way a bit in many different ways! Thanks for visiting my blog and I can promise that I will be posting as much as I can in the future! And yes I know of these missing pictures! The things is that my old website were this article could be seen is deleted by my web host before I could copy it all! More bad luck on my already not so easy time! GGRRRRR! But I do have the old text from knowledge of bonsai and I am sure that I can find the missing pictures somewhere….so give me a few days and than I will post it on to my blog or website and I will send the missing pictures to knowledge of bonsai so that they can repost them! I will inform you on this blog when this is don OK?!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
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Hey Hans,
Good to see you are still up and about. I was worried for a while. Do show us your new website soon too. With lots of pictures I hope?
See you at Noelanders?
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Hi Jelle!
Thanks for your comment and I am still here and now hopefully to stay! 🙂 Website is slow work because I lost most pictures from the old one when it was deleted by mistake! So I am hard at work going trough a few thousand pictures to retrieve them and connect them with the right text! SIGH!!! It is better for the next couple of months to see my work on this blog until my website is filled with all the stuff that used to be on it!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
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Hi Hans. How’s it? Your trees are nice. I have missed your blog. Is it your health that’s been poor, or your pockets? I ask because I have been having health issues for about a year now and have had a hard time engaging in bonsai. I have many trees and have kept them alive/healthy, but have not been able to “go deep”. I am now convinced I have lyme disease, but the problem is there is an acknowledged 35% false negative rate of testing. That’s one in three people being told they don’t have it that actually do have it. I have read that it wide spread in england/europe also. I know you haven’t said even if it’s your health but I feel the need to tell any possible victims of this monster to get tested and then even twice. It’s not only sore joints,tiredness,etc., it also effects the mind. That is my worst symptom. If this isn’t a possibility for you, please disregard. If it is, then I wish you all the luck in recovery and with your fine bonsai. And may your rings be tight and your soil be healthy!
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Hi Bonsai Mohegan!
First of all: thank you for your honest reply and warning! I applaud you for it!! Yes those little monsters can cause a lot of trouble for humans and animals alike! They are tacking over Holland as well and are causing a lot of trouble through out the land! I have been bitten many times my self, especially when I was collecting abroad in dense forests! I once (many years ago) accidentally had rubbed one off after a shower. I did not noticed this until I got a circular thick swelling on my left chest close to my armpit! I went to the doctor, who told me it was a tick bite. I got antibiotic medicines and was tested for lime! But I was luckily not infected!But I am always on the look out for the presence of this little monsters after a walk in the forest or day at the beach!!! My health problems are not from yesterday and have been progressive for some two decades now! I have had two failed lower back operations from which I never recovered completely and I have two progressing upper back hernias that are bending my upper body slowly for wards.This phenomena creates a lot of discomforts that has kept me from doing much Bonsai the last couple of years! To make things even worse,I was diagnosed a year ago with diabetics and have to follow a strict diet with no carbohydrates and shit! This and other things that life trows at us has made me very depressed and other shit….and that is still a ongoing fight and struggle! But I am not some one who gives up easily and I am still training, making plans and doing Bonsai as much as I can!!! 😉 And lost 27 kilo’s to boost! 🙂 And still willing to conquer this wonderful world and meet it’s wonderful people!
I wish for you better health and the strength to work your little trees and live life to the fullest my friend! And thanks again for this warning!
Cheers,
Hans van Meer.
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