Every third Tuesday of the month, the Martha's Vineyard Bonsai Club, a group as varied and ageless as the tiny junipers, jades and jasmines in their possession, gathers.

“I guess if you’re comfortable with how the game is going to end, then you can play.” Sounds of a baseball game float through the window from the playing field on the other side of the trees. “Personally, and I don’t mean this for others, it’s like — I don’t know, but I tend to believe that this life is it. So I’m not sitting there worrying about judgments and devils and angels. No hell to pay. When it’s over, it’s over.” .