CLUB NEWS
Thank You and Update on our April Show and Tribute
As club president and show co-chair, I would like to give a special thanks to everyone who worked so hard on our 2012 show. I think everyone will agree that all the hard work payed off. It was a lovely show. Thanks to Mark O'Brien and Lonnie McCormick who did a great job with our show lighting. If you weren't at our show last year, you would have never known that lighting was ever a concern. It was great! And well before the show date, Lonnie made PVC inserts for lowering the backdrops from a height of seven feet to six feet. Mark and Lonnie also made sure our backdrops and tablecloths got there on time too. Thanks to Dave Flynn and his crew for a great setup of the tokonoma box. Most of you probably don't know that Dave repaints the tokonoma every year just before our show so it will look its best. Sandy Planting's tree looked fabulous in this signature piece of Kusamura's annual show.

The club had many visitors who commented on how much they enjoyed our show. I would like to thank show co-chair Charlene Fischer for doing such a wonderful job with new signage both inside and outside of the Community Center. And thanks to publicity chair Mark O'Brien and all of you who  assisted Mark with the task of getting the word out about the show. And of course, Charlene did a great job with getting our tree cards created for us and contacting everyone to determine what trees they were showing. It was great to see our tree count up this year and to see the quality of the trees.

Thanks to Jerry Carpenter for handling show tree placement and Gordon Deeg for helping people with some last minute prep. And, in case you didn't know, Jerry Carpenter, Mark O'Brien, John Planting, and Sandy Planting all received Certificates of Merit for their high quality displays.

In addition to getting to display our bonsai for others to enjoy, our annual show is a wonderful time to catch up with fellow members, their families,and fellow bonsai enthusiasts from other clubs. Thanks to Helen Reist and Janet Refvem for doing such a lovely job of decorating our dining room and coordinating all the tasks involved with having a club potluck. I know everyone ate to their heart's content and enjoyed the camaraderie. Thanks to all of you who brought all the delicious food and helped Helen and Janet in this effort.

Our afternoon demonstrations were well attended on both days. It's always a treat to see a demonstration by guest speaker Tim Kong from BSSF. And our Sunday demonstration by club members Jerry Carpenter, Stephanie North, Michael Greenstein, and Lonnie McCormick was well received too. I know there was one happy 7-year old or so bonsai winner on Sunday afternoon! Along with a big thank you to all our demonstrators, I'd like to thank Donna Farmer for handling the ticket sales both afternoons.

Our annual show is also our major fund raiser for the year. Club treasurer and plant sale chair Suresh ‘Mo’ Mohan says "We had a very successful plant sale this year. We sold 125 trees and 34 pots not counting the  consignment trees. Plants for sale this year were of exceptionally high quality. Special thanks to Bill Scott and Jane Iki for their generous donations. We had an enthusiastic plant-buying crowd and several of the
bonsai buyers have expressed an interest in coming to our club meetings.

Thanks again to all those who donated, worked on and helped baby sit the trees and to everyone who assisted during the plant sales." Thanks to Mo and everyone who made our plant sale such a success. This show was special this year because we had the opportunity to pay tribute to long-term club members John and Sandy Planting. I know everyone will agree that Lynne O'Dell did a fabulous job as food organizer for the event. Thank you Lynne and all of you who assisted in setting up the food for this event. Lynne and her entourage of hostesses looked very professional as they crossed the patio lawn carrying their various trays of hors d'oeuvres high in the air. Lynne said she had a fun time and I knoweveryone thoroughly enjoyed her efforts.

As tribute organizer and host, I can honestly say that it was an honorgetting to spend some special moments with John and Sandy as they reflected back on 50 years of their life as members of Kusamura. There was certainly a twinkle in their eyes as they remembered friends and members from long ago, friends who they are still fortunate to know, and all the special memories that go with reflecting back on 50 years of time fondly spent and shared with others. I know John and Sandy would like to be included in the thank you I extend to all of you who attended and helped make this event such a success. It was nice seeing so many visiting guests including bonsai master Harry Hirao from Southern California, Jim Gremel from Occidental, ex-club member Susan Charles from New Orleans, and fellow bonsai enthusiasts from through out the Bay Area.

On Sunday morning, we had a well-coordinated photography crew. Thanks to Jerry Carpenter, Dave Curbow, Hal Jerman, David Muir and Bang Vo who worked together to get some fabulous photos of our show trees – coming soon to our website. We will enjoy their efforts for years to come.

The show is not over until we break down and leave the Community Center as we found it. Thank you to everyone who helped with this final task. After two days of show activities, everyone is tired.

Library News
The club is still looking for a new librarian or co-librarian. Refer to the August newsletter for details or contact Rita.

A catalog of the library is now available on the club website for your referral.