Bonsai or not

So there is a thing I would like to just talk a little about. Prices and bonsai plants.

My hubby loves doing bonsais. He has many that are older then we have been together, and some that are younger (we have been together now for 29 years).

We have very often gone to various stores and seen "bonsais" for sale. Oh some of the price tags on these precious little plants are so high that we are shocked by what a cheap one goes for.

Then we look some more and we have to laugh. It is a bonsai or is it? Most of the ones we have seen look to be very young plants. Something that the hubby would have planted from seed a year ago and called it a bonsai.

How do we know? Well, look closely. Even in miniature forms you can see the grow of a tree or plant in its bark. Young bark is very, well young looking. As you can see, I am not the bonsai person, but many times I can look and tell this is not a very old plant or tree.

So what's up with this? Sales, that's what's up. Someone comes along with an idea that they want to make money. Lots of money, but they don't want to put the work and time that actually goes in to growing a bonsai as this will take way to long.

So you stick a sapling, a little baby tree in a pot and say it's a bonsai. I don't find this very nice but it is how life works. There are so many people out to scam other people that sometimes it just makes you wish for nicer people.

So if you are not careful you could buy, for that expensive price, that little year old plant and think you have the real deal. That's ok, till someone comes along to pass on a bit of the truth to you.

This reminds me of my bonsai tree. She is about 2ft tall and somewhere around 30-35 years old. She is quite pretty most of the time, but she was given a very deep trimming this year and has yet to recover from it. Next year might be a root trimming year. I have to find out when the hubby last did that for sure.


Here is a picture of her from this last winter. She is covered in snow. So you cannot see her well, but I think you can tell she needed that heavy trim this last spring. See the one at the far back, that's the hubby's pride and joy. She too is coming back from a heavy trim. Just behind mine you can barely see the hanging rock. That has a tiny bonsai in it.

Donna

Donna didn't make it. She had her stroke on Friday morning and she passed away on Sunday.

I have been so sad all week. On Saturday a worker of Donna's told me that Donna had massive bleeding and damage to the left side of her brain. The doc was telling the family that even if she came out of it she wouldn't know anyone, she would loose all functions like talking and walking.

I went to work yesterday for the first time since Donna went to the hospital. It was so quiet with the shop next door closed. My co-workers and I were also pretty quiet. It was like the entire world had changed. I felt like I shouldn't be there. The sounds from next door have always been there, from the time I got this job. Now that shop is closed till the courts tell the family what is to be done.

Yep the world has changed a little and not for the good of it. I have lost a friend and the world has lost a very nice lady. She was so caring and loving. Her family and friends are going to miss her so much.

Some Days Just Suck

I was late leaving to work but that was Ok, my grandson came to visit and I see him less these days. You see school has started and his brother is in school (it is rare to see him while school is in session), so they are home more. Less roaming to grandmas house.

So two hours after I had planned to be there, arrival happened. Gee I wish I had been able to stay home today. It was not one of those days that goes well.

You see where I work the building is split and there are two business in the same building. That's ok the lady, Donna, who owns the other business in the building is a very nice lady. I enjoy taking a break and going next door to visit her. She has great tips to give in various areas, like how to stop leg cramps, how to make a strawberry jam that has no strawberries in it, yummy, she brings us goodies, recently it was zuchini bread. Oh that was so good.

Well, today was different. I got to work and just after walking in I got the bad news. Donna had a stoke this morning. She was working at her shop and my hubby was working in the place that we work. Suddenly he had a lady come in and say that Donna was down and an ambulance was there to get her. Shaun rushed next door and tried to talk with her. He tells me that she was not aware of anything around her.

So her little shop was closed until some family showed up with one of Donnas workers to clean up and set the alarm. My hubby had locked the shop after the ambulance took Donna to the hospital. We waited all day but heard nothing beyond the fact that Donna was in critical condition.

I have worked in the office next to Donna's business now for seven years. It will be hard to go to work if Donna doesn't come back. Shaun said she was really bad when he last saw her, and the family that showed up was really in sad shape. Not knowing is hard. Tomorrow we will try to find out how she is. In all the years I have known her, all I have ever knows is Donna. We talk and we laugh, she always has funny stories to tell, but I never knew her last name. That too makes me sad, before it didn't matter, she was my friend next door. Now I am sad to know that a piece is missing that I didn't realize would affect me this way.

A very nice lady in trouble today and there is little I can do or say to make things better. A very sad day.