New tea bowl

A couple of weeks ago, I got a tea bowl which was thrown by Ian Jones, its foot was carved by me and then it was fired in Ian Jones’ anagama kiln. The tea bowl is alright, but I don’t get tired of saying that it was fired for 5 days with 20 tonnes of wood!

P. S. For more information about Ian Jones's studio see my blog post about it at http://lomov.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/during-recent-trip-to-canberra-with.html

Tiny monster

Last month, I caught a 0.5 mm-long red mite on one of my fig bonsai. I assumed it is a pest and asked an expert to identify it. It turned out to be a predatory species Anystis baccarum which is actually beneficial to plants. It preys on plant eating mites. It’s amazing that just one bonsai tree can provide a whole universe for a tiny monster devouring plant pests we can’t even see. Unfortunately, the photograph of this mite mounted on a microscope slide doesn’t do it justice.