AIS CONVENTION - Day 2

Kathyguest here from sunny Michigan where the irises will be outrageous given
just one more day of sun!  Things have improved considerably just in one day
with balmy temps and dry air.  Although the weatherman predicted rain
today... and we hardy iris folks stashed raincoats and umbrellas and good
humor in our bags, we received another repreive and the weather was stunning.

My bus... the "blue bus"... took the zoo route today.  The Michigan Iris
Society has a large iris planting at the Detroit zoo - centrally located near
a fantastic fountain adorned with bears and seals.  There was pretty good
bloom in the Dykes bed there, but the other irises still needed a bit more
encouragement.  Not to worry.  We are a stalwart lot so we examined foliage
for leaf spot and other damage... noted the ratio of stalks to fans... noted
the rate of increase - then hit the reptile house where we were just in time
to see the crocodile downing a white rat breakfast (ewwwwwww).

The two other gardens we saw today were the Van Heusen garden and the
Kindermann garden.  The latter was an absolute feast of plants and irises!
 Situated on the edge of a lake with a fountain in the middle, it was
immaculate and in good bloom.  Fisher's STEFFIE was the stunner of the
garden... an MTB introduced by Terry Aitken a few years back... it was a
picture of wiry stalks and perfect bloom.  The flowers are small and white
with a violet purple fall and slight white rim.  The falls are held out to
the side and the effect is of perfection.  On the Guest wish list for sure.
 MAUI MOONLIGHT was also looking good...the usual profusion of pale lemon
flowers, ruffled and irridescent...  Hal Stahly had a seedling there too that
was JUST ready to pop - and looked like it had glorious potential, but that
will be tomorrow's tour's delight.

I should mention the buses today were interesting.  At least two of them had
rookie drivers (I mean REAL rookie... like their first time behind the
wheel)... and one trainer (fortunately, the trainer was riding with us).  Our
bus did some bucking and grinding... the other bus stalled out completely on
several occasions.  Some of the folks were not amused, but we figured we had
nowhere else to be anyway, and enjoyed the ride.  Our bus captains, John
Coble and Bob Bauer, who are responsible for seeing that we get from garden
to garden have a perfect record - we've gotten lost every single time!  On
our bus, they've been renamed "Lewis and Clark".

The WNY folks hosted a short wine break before dinner, then headed in to
judges training with Lynda Miller on MTB's.  Lots of interesting things being
done in these median classes these days - and us judges better be able to
follow them.

I should mention that we have something new added to this convention - a
silent auction to benefit AIS.  An appeal was issued for anyone who could to
donate items of interest that could be auctioned.  A silent auction, for
those who don't know, is where the items to be auctioned are displayed on
tables (or a card representing the item is displayed).  Each item has an
associated sheet where you place a bid for that item.  Then another person
may come along, see your bid and raise it.  This goes on and on and upon the
designated cutoff time, the person with the last bid is the winner.  Things
offered included many introductions... some rare and unusual species iris..
historical books and pamphlets (including the famous 'black list'), artifacts
like a fabulous crystal bottle and stopper with a silver iris on the front,
special items like the copper printing plates used in THE WORLD OF IRIS...
all kinds of things.  The proceeds are to benefit both the AIS library, and
AIS.  It was great fun and I was the sucessful bidder on two items - an
aphylla-type iris and a sino-sibe iris.  The auction raised over $3,000... in
a painless and rewarding way.  It HAS occurred to us, however, that not
everyone is able to attend conventions and that this might be tried to the
entire membership through the Bulletin... what do you think????

The final thing tonight was the "Geek Reception".  Someone approached me
today (Will Plotner, in fact) to apologize that he couldn't come to the
 meeting... and I got the distinct impression that he thought I was running
it.  I assured him that I was only an attendee.  Well, when we got to the
reception - there was a large audience and no moderator.  Bill Maryott,
therefore, went up to the podium and announced ME!  I was not amused, but
realized there was no graceful way out, so I grabbed him and Dave Silverberg
and Mike Lowe and Jim Wilson and the 5 of us held a kind of panel discussion
that seemed to go OK.  We represented the full spectrum of computer
expertise... from career computer person (Mike Lowe) to ignoramous (yours
truly)... but we were able to at least let some folks know what's going on
and what you can and can't do... and why this thing is so grand.  People are
REALLY interested and people are really nervous as well.... so when the new
people join us, let's please be kind and helpful.

And so now I need to close down and get ready for the final day.  Hope all is
well with you and yours.

Kathyguest - a Michigan Iris Fan
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