2013 A Great Year in Pictures

Well this year like any year had its ups and downs. But this was a great year where the ups surpassed the downs. There were new people brought in to the world and many left. There were many smiles and laughs, even though sometimes accompanied by tears. My family this year not only increased in numbers but changed for the foreseeable future.

Early on in the year my Wife and I discovered we were expecting our first child for October. That 9 months couldn’t have went fast enough (although my wife might disagree there 🙂 ) Within the 9 months we had many great days and nights awaiting the arrival of our son. 

Here he is at 3 months

In April Brad our family Dog at home died at the age of 15.

Within the 9 months waiting for the baby I tried to keep myself occupied with bonsai and photography. With the photography I went out many times with a friends of mine Dave Linehan and Stephen Hackett. Dave Showing us the ropes :). 

Blue Bells at Ballyannan Woods.

Blackrock Castle

Carol and the Bump, Ballycotton

There are loads of photos from this year but probably already uploaded. But when the summer came so did the good weather. And my Pool 🙂

During the Year I was trying to establish contacts in Cork and the surrounding areas. I had many contacts with people up the country but not so many in Cork. Of course Ian http://bonsaieejit.com/ in the North was more than encouraging in the area of spreading the love of Bonsai in the south :). He helped very much with putting me in contact with more people around the country and laid the foundation for a club to be built on. 

Early on in the Year I met with Piotr http://twinsratbonsai.wordpress.com/ and we discussed how we could reach out to the people of munster who love bonsai to form a club.We took the summer planning and discussing Bonsai. Piotr set up a blog and then I followed suit. Hoping to get more people involved. And slowly but surely we did. We gathered a lot of interest and made new friends. And since we had a number of people from munster who were interested, and we formed the Munster Bonsai Club.

In September we had our first meeting.

And on the third friday of every month the club has met. Now since then i was not able to go as our little man came in to the world on the 4th of October. And that was the focus of my attention for the last 3 months.

It was the most amazing Experience of my life. Watching Noah come in to this world. What a gift. After he was born it was discovered he had pneumonia. We had to stay in the Neonatal Unit for a week. It was some experience. I must say the nurses and doctors that work there really have a calling. During our stay which was quite emotional at the start turned out to be a great experience as we met many wonderful parents and Noah made some new friends.

The Day he was Born

In the Neonatal

And Noah now.

Now since the Birth of Noah, he has kept us on our toes. But every morning waking up to see his smile is worth every scare and sleepless night.

In January Munster Bonsai Club will have its first workshop. Being headed by Ian Young and Phil Donnelly. This I cant wait for.

 

Anyway this has been an amazing year, and hopefully 2014 will be the same. I just want to wish everyone that checks and follows my blog A Very Happy New Year.

Regards Adam

Bonsai Journey Japan, Seeking Light Part 4

Well lads, the forth part of this series was uploaded today. Like the first 3 episodes this one is well worth a watch. Enjoy

One Way Bonsai Pots Can Be Made

Found this article on bonsai Empire today. Thought it was quite interesting. It almost makes me want to try and make my own pots. And as always with things like this they look simple, but in real life its always an impossibility. But none the less, with practice comes progression. So you never know, someday Lyons Bonsai Pots could be world Famous 🙂

Enjoy the link well worth a read http://www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/making-bonsai-pots

Most Expensive Bonsai Tree

Came across this on Bonsai Empire recently. Its hard to put a price on bonsai but never thought this high of price tag would be put on one. From a few euros or dollars right up to this one which made headlines in Japan. For selling for over 1.3 million dollars. Check out the link below to have a look at the million dollar tree and some more expensive trees.

http://www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/expensive-bonsai

Heres a photo I found of the tree from a different link. The tree was sold at the Asia-Pacific Bonsai and Suiseki Convention & Exhibition for 100 million Yen. That,s a lot of zero’s.

 

Making a big cut

Amazing Wisteria

I watched this video months ago. But never realised it was the same channel that i am posting all the videos from. Anyway if you haven’t seen this video yet, just watch it in its entirety. The wisteria at night shots are incredible.

Its a Plant you often see promoting bonsai on ebay and on a lot of images online. But the true beauty of this species is immense in this video. A must watch for all into flowering bonsai. And for all who have yet to see this video. Enjoy

How to Build Bonsai Benches

Saw this a few weeks ago and thought the end product looked pretty good. I dont know would I go to this amount of work, but the finished product sure does look nice. Its something i must look into for the new year, So i said i would share for the people thinking of doing the same. it was going to be Cavity blocks and decking boards up to viewing this. Will probably be the same, but something worth thinking about now.

Gingko Tree Avenue in Tokyo

Thought this was another amazing video by Discover Nippon. The colour of the leaves are amazing. It almost looks like its snowing leaves, the way they are fall from the trees. Well worth a watch. Enjoy

Munster Bonsai Club Demo/Workshop

Munster Bonsai club will be having our first demo/workshop on the 17th and 18th of January. This is a 1st of its kind in the south of Ireland for quite a long time. It will be lead by Ian Young and Phil Donnelly of the Northern Ireland Bonsai Society. It is shaping up to be a memorable two days.

If you are interested or know of someone who might be, no matter what experience don’t hesitate to ask or get in contact.

For more information check out the flyer below.

Original Nippon Bonsai Association DVD

Thought this was worth a share. Some very basic methods for bonsai, from trimming to repotting. It is all in Japanese but very easy to follow demonstrations.

I wonder will the Munster Bonsai Club make DVDs in the future when Bonsai becomes more popular in Ireland. 🙂 Enjoy