Long ago, during an especially difficult time for me, I spent some time with the Trappists at the Monastery of the Holy Ghost in Conyers, GA. It turned out that the monks' solution for dealing with grief was labor. By the time that I left them, their parking lot had been thoroughly swept. Three times. I felt dramatically better, as much from the cessation of the treatment as from the treatment itself. Still, I have a strong positive feeling for these guys and would happily hop up at three in the morning to sing Matins with them again. Today I was perusing their website and suddenly find something that catches my eye. I am fascinated.

"Cistercian monks of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit have been crafting classic bonsai with an American influence for over thirty-five years. Begun in the mid-1960's by Father Paul Bourne, OCSO (May 2, 1908 - July 10, 1995), the Monastery Greenhouse became one of the first nurseries in the southeast to offer bonsai to the public. The centerpiece of the monastery's bonsai collection is a Kingsville boxwood, one of the original eight trees of this strain developed during the 1930's. During his lifetime, Brother Paul (as he liked to be called) earned the reputation of being a true American Bonsai Master. His quarter century of highly creative bonsai art made him well known nationally and internationally."

Look at that Bonsai. I think that it is beautiful. Where I live now is surrounded by veranda on the second floor. A perfect place to begin my own Bonsai.