November 2015 Newsletter
Our October meeting was a busy night with our workshop. Members brought in their own trees to work on. We would like to remind our new members of our mentoring program, should you want help. Please ask. Also, we have our library with both bonsai books and DVDs. See Larry Kimmelman at our next meeting to take advantage of them.
The Golden State Bonsai Federation Convention in Riverside proved to be a fun weekend for all. There were many beautiful bonsai trees in the exhibition. There was also a suiseki exhibition and there were many beautiful viewing stones.
I attended two critiques of the exhibition by two different headliners and learned that there are different ways to set up a tree for exhibition—you can listen to two different people and get two different opinions about how to do it. This confirms to me that the tree is yours and you design it to your satisfaction. It was very helpful to get advice on how to set up a display.
There was a special tribute to the late Harry Hirao. Also, a tribute was given to Ben Oki for his services to the GSBF Collection and the Huntington Gardens.
Our November meeting will be a workshop and also is election night for our 2016 officers. Larry Kimmelman is chair of the nomination committee. Please contact him if you would like to run for one of these offices (see box, this page). We will also be appointing our committees—all assistance is appreciated. Our up-coming Holiday Potluck dinner will be Thursday, December 17th. Our potluck dinner is held in place of our normal meeting. Guy Evans will play the piano and entertain us with seasonal music.
In addition to our dinner we will have an auction and raffle. This is our annual fund raising event for the club, so please come prepared with your checkbook or cash. We need member donations to the raffle, so please check your collection to see what you can contribute.
Don’t forget the Bonsai-A-Thon is coming up at the Huntington Gardens in February 2015 (see page 10 for details). There will be a large vendor section should you need tools, pots, or material.
