Our last class will be this coming Monday, which is when we will finally get a tour of the hospital and I would assume the birth suites. Another two weeks and Alison will officially stop work and begin her stint as a stay at home mum. We are absolutely flabbergasted at how the months have flown by.
Alison's bonsai class from her birthday was the other calendar event we had to look forward to this month. We drove all the way out to Morayfield on Saturday morning, which took a heck of a lot longer than we expected, to join a class of six other aspiring students to learn about keeping little trees. The theory section in the morning was pretty interesting though I obviously wasn't paying attention based on my incompetence when we got our hands on the trees later on. Everyone in the class chose from a selection of Junipers to work with and our first task was to wire up the branches.
I can see how it would be pretty relaxing as a hobby if you could take your time but I think we all felt a little pressured to keep up with the class. My wire work was far from acceptable judging by the disapproving looks I got from the teacher. Those silly little branches were fiddly and the leaves were spiky so I when I say that the exercise was slow and painful I mean that quite literally.
After wiring up the trees we cut off the roots and repotted the tree in a container of our choosing. Trust me to pick the biggest tree so the instructor had to go get me the next size up. A little bit of styling, some trimming of the lower leaves (to create the illusion of age and nature), application of some moss and pebbles and we have what could be considered a bonsai. It'll need some work but I'm quite happy with the results. All of us were encouraged to attempt an Informal Upright style which is the most common traditional technique. If I'm feeling adventurous in years to come I'd love to try and repot this with the visible roots (nebari) over a rock. I've always thought those were the nicest looking.
Alison's tree was a different shape obviously, and it had a root which stuck up out of the soil which the instructor thought would work well as a Jin. Apparently this is when you peel the bark off the tree to create a dead wood effect and is another technique employed to imply age of the tree. It's a little hard to make out but you can see the yellowish root sticking out near the base of the trunk. Not sure if we will do it but the instructor encouraged us to apply some preserver to turn that a nice silvery colour.
The important thing is we both had fun and came back with two new plants to decorate the outside area. Haven't purchased any proper equipment as yet so we'll make do with kitchen scissors and chopsticks to maintain the things. Hopefully we'll keep them alive.