Heading Out - At Least Temporarily

[grouper52]

Well.

I'm now due to head back to the P.I. for two weeks starting Monday to solidify land deals and interview architects and such. Will check in on my bougy left with my sister-in-law, and the bougy I gave to her for her own cultivation and styling: will likely take some iPhone photos to post.

All my trees are now sold or given away or absorbed into the Elandan Garden Collection, except some small ex-bonsai planted in the new half-lot we recently acquired, [that Dan Robinson has laid claim to when the weather is optimal for collecting them].

House back on the market for two days after an extended period of "staging" and other such nonsense. Great place to grow bonsai if anyone's interested. Make me an OICR ...

Gnarly Branches sales at Elandan continue apace. Still can't believe I created that! Or, that I may create a similar one in the P.I.!

Who would'a thunk it?!

Cheers, y'all.

(Interested parties, BTW, may enjoy - on the poetry thread - my old Vietnam era poem, On the Fantail - Leaving the Philippines.

G52

 

[sorce]

Safe travels + Good health!

Sorce

 

[M. Frary]

I thought you were already in the Philippines.
Haven't heard from you in a while Will.

 

[Vin]

You're a "one off" kind of person (I mean that as a complement by the way). Like Mike, I thought you were Gone, Baby Gone. Good luck again and please write another book.

 

[JudyB]

Good to hear things are going apace for you. We will be in the PNW in January, will probably try to get over to Elandan again. That was a great time.
Best!

 

[grouper52]

I thought you were already in the Philippines.
Haven't heard from you in a while Will.

 

[grouper52]

Thanks, everyone, for all your kind thoughts and well-wishes.

No, not gone yet ... house has to sell, practice has to be closed down - in that order, roughly. (groan)

Judy and Mike - it's great to see you have achieved "Imperial Masterpiece" status - whew!!!

If some little iPhone photos will suffice, I'll post some stuff when I get back.

I also thought it might be fun to publish or at least post photos of updates on Dan's trees that were in the book, and fall would be a good time to do so (because the light is best then). I may do that when I get back - many of them have matured and progressed nicely since first captured for GB. May also photograph and post some of my trees that are now under Dan's care - needless to say, as much as I liked them, he thought he could improve upon them markedly, and some of them (for better or worse?) are hardly even recognizable now ....

G52

 

[Smoke]

"are now under Dan's care - needless to say, as much as I liked them, he thought he could improve upon them markedly, and some of them (for better or worse?) are hardly even recognizable now" ....

G52

Don't tell me he got a new spark plug for the chain saw?

Cheers to you, the internet shrinks the world. I'm sure we will talk......

 

[Cadillactaste]

Mimic Mike's post...I haven't been on much either. But had thought you had gone already. Safe travels...here's to a successful trip.

 

[JudyB]

Maybe we can catch you if you're still here in Jan....

 

[M. Frary]

Judy and Mike - it's great to see you have achieved "Imperial Masterpiece" status

Judy is the Imperial Masterpiece.
I'm only just a talker.

 

[armetisius]

To heck with this. With the net there is no reason
you cannot continue to keep in touch. Would love
to see some shots of the flora of your destination.
Hey you could even be everyone's new sorce of
tropical seeds. See; I've already found you a side
line. Now you have a reason to stay in touch.

Safe journey though man. I too thought you had
already cut and run.

 

[JudyB]

Judy is the Imperial Masterpiece.
I'm only just a talker.

But you've come a ways since you got here too...

 

[Vin]

But you've come a ways since you got here too...

I think any of us that have taken this forum serious and have tried to learn from other more experienced members have come a long way. Well, at least I have anyway.

 

[grouper52]

OK - photo update, with a bit of blather first, typing this as the rains from a typhoon role in on Manila.

"Taking care of business" here in Manila is almost impossible. A relative of my wife's is driving us around getting things done here. He was a taxi driver in Manila for a few decades a few decades ago, and about as skillful in this traffic as anyone could be. Our first full day here we were able to make it to only two locations, both in Makati: a half hour visit with an architectural firm, and a brief visit with an officer of Singapore Bank, a subsidiary of the Overseas China Bank Corp - the transfer of assets gets complicated .....

The second day we also accomplished only two locations, both storage facilities within a few miles of the port. One we toured for ten minutes and found entirely acceptable, the other looked so run down and in such a questionable neighborhood that we never even stopped the car.

So, two days "getting business done" - four brief "stops," and the rest of about 18 hours total was spent in various degrees of gridlock. Great! Especially when enjoyed in a setting of combined of medical symptoms never before accumulated in such numbers and ferocity in one person in the history of foreign travel!

Today, we rested, relatively, by going to visit several bonsai establishments, especially the little hole-in-the-wall community of artists living almost commune style down a road/drainage ditch, where resides - as the head honcho among the artists there - what I consider one of the best artists I've ever met. His name is simply "Michael" as far as anybody I know can tell me. He says he studied a bit with others early on, but is mostly self-taught, and has gravitated with the tropical material here in the same artistic direction as Dan Robinson did with American material. I visited him last time I was here, and was deeply impressed, thinking I might one day like to do a book like Gnarly Branches about him and a few other artists like him when I move here. I even brought him a copy of my book today, and below one of the photos shows me presenting it to him.

He showed us around his extensive collection - in probably a very-cramped half acre - a few of which I've included in photos here. Also he just got a huge shipment of trees from the mangroves down south, and some of those are pictured. The deadwood needs new bleaching after several months of rain, so the trees are not in great form visually here, and several of his best trees - really spectacular! - are being prepared for show/competition in December and we decided not to photograph those, which he appreciated. So anyway, enjoy the photos. In two more days we go up to Baguio where we have our property, ready to build on when the stars are all properly aligned . . . .

 

[JudyB]

Woof! those are amazing trunks, hard to pick out the foliage, but so cool. You're looking pretty good too, thanks for the pics.

 

[Tieball]

Good to hear things are going apace for you. We will be in the PNW in January, will probably try to get over to Elandan again. That was a great time.
Best!

I have not been to Elandan. But I will be in the Seattle/Everett area in 2017. At the gardens.....Half-day?......Full-day?.....Just a few hours? Are the gardens mostly Pine family trees?.....Deciduous trees?

 

[JudyB]

I have not been to Elandan. But I will be in the Seattle/Everett area in 2017. At the gardens.....Half-day?......Full-day?.....Just a few hours? Are the gardens mostly Pine family trees?.....Deciduous trees?

LOL, made me laugh, as I was thinking of an answer... Half day would be good, but if Dan gets hold of you and has time, there's no telling how long... He's infectious. Lots of pines, but plenty of other things as well.
Go, go go...
Also the PNW bonsai collection...

 

[Tieball]

LOL, made me laugh, as I was thinking of an answer... Half day would be good, but if Dan gets hold of you and has time, there's no telling how long... He's infectious. Lots of pines, but plenty of other things as well.
Go, go go...
Also the PNW bonsai collection...

Thanks. I think he would be an interesting person to talk to. PNW is where?....Seattle?

 

[JudyB]

Sorry it's called the Pacific Bonsai Museum, used to be the Pacific Rim collection/wheyerhaeuser collection. A bit south of Seattle, before you get to Tacoma.
Link to their website. This is well worth a 1/2 day as well, it's pretty amazing.
http://pacificbonsaimuseum.org