Thank you! Graceful is what I'm hoping for from this tree :)

I couldn't get a saw in between the new roots and old nebari since they were so close together, so I had to whittle away all of the old nebari with knob cutters. A literal pain. My hand was so sore xD

I'm not always-there on Discord like I used to be, between avoiding screens a bit more and my job which doesn't allow phone usage at all, but I do use/check it. It's one of the few places online that I don't get swallowed by The Content 😅 Happy to chat there!

I've been trying to be more intentional about my screen time, I turned off notifications for almost everything and I'm making a habit of leaving my phone in another room. But it's hard because sometimes there's legitimate info you want to find!

Yeah! I was happy to find you here (and a couple of the other socials). It feels sometimes like it's a little harder to connect online these days, with the internet at large being a slog of AI and algorithms and hot takes. So it's nice to have some corners that feel more like it used to.

And this isn't the context that I intended to bring it up in, but I have to add that your art has gotten freaking fantastic. I've been missing out.

Depression is different for everyone, but I know it can get better, there are people including myself who want you to feel better, and I think we will reach a day when collectively we are all better equipped to help each other.

I feel bad that we've fallen out of touch; I fall into the trap of thinking I'll reach out to people when work/life gets less busy, which of course it rarely does. But you are on my mind. I have a lot of positive memories from our OCBZ days and I don't think those are the last.

Sending all my love, I'm really sorry. There's no worse feeling :(

These young Dougs have had a couple rounds of root work now and are growing over felt discs. I've started delineating sacrificial leaders as well - letting leaders run long without shading the bonsai beneath.