Ooooooklahoma!
From: Irisborer@aol.com
I've been home for one whole day now... and already beginning to reflect on
the convention - so I thought I'd better get back to my report before it all
fades totally away.
I've been in the habit of reporting from the convention.... and I had brought
my laptop and took a few stabs at it... but the combination of an awkward
set-up (no desk for my laptop and the only phone outlet was behind the bed so
that I had to type ... imagine.... on my lap - they shouldn't call them
laptops... they should call them "moving targets"). Couple that with a
touchy touchpad and a few sniper shots.... and I just didn't find time.
But I have TONS of notes, and I got up early today, so I'll try to catch up.
Let's see.... I think I left off at the Watson Garden on Thursday...
A beauty of an iris in this garden was Hager's CHASING RAINBOWS. This is a
confection of bubble ruffles, pink, lavender and mauve - like rainbow
sherbet. It was a tribute to this wonderful man that his iris was showing
off so well.... and that it was so poignantly named. Terry Aitken spent
considerable time getting a great shot for the Bulletin.
The Dyer Garden proved to be elusive, but we finally blundered across it.
The bus rides were a hoot.... the transportation philosophy seemed to be "if
you drive long enough, you're bound to get lucky". Now, this didn't bother
the Merry Pranksters in the least, since we enjoyed each other's company and
had nowhere else we had to be.... but not everyone is so easy going. I've
learned from various conventions that the buses are ALWAYS the wild card....
and you can't fault the convention planners at all. Lends flavor, IMHO.
Anyway.... Perry Dyer has only been in his new digs for two years. His luck
has been running from bad to worse these days..... first with a horrible car
wreck that he escaped with only scratches - only to slip and fall in his own
drive and break his wrist. And then he has this fabulous garden, with a
backdrop of the worst tornado ever! I spoke to Miss Kitty upon exiting the
bus and she said that she and Perry stood in the yard and watched the monster
in the distance as it anniliated their friends, church and community. And
although like most "Okies" she has a positive, prayerful and thankful nature,
I was horrified to hear her relate the story. Miss Kitty is just the delight
Perry says she is.
Anyway, for being a fairly new garden, this was a delight of artful beds and
very good bloom and one we visited twice. The first time there were some
tatters, the second time, it was glorious (although, just down the road, it
was a moonscape). Some notes include: MURRAH MEMORIAL by Bianco (on the
Guest gotta have list), a graceful and vigorous white TB, ruffled and pure
delight. UNCHAINED MELODY by Mahan has the delicious purple-based fans that
I'm so in love with this year. WILD WINGS (Keppel '99), is an updated
WITCH'S WAND type of flower.... violet bitone with red beards. Gawjus.
Next we visited the Parrish Garden... where the guest irises (or irises that
folks sent to convention to be evaluated) were used in large part as a
foundation planting. Here we saw a clump of SIGHS AND WHISPERS that would
take your breath away.
It's interesting to get to these different gardens because not only are we
seeing TDF irises, but we're also getting some lessons in interpretation.
These people are living with their irises, and so they are tucked into the
landscape in a reflection of the gardener. In the Parrish Garden, my notes
include that there were horses in the distance (yes... I know this is not
part of the design... but it seems to set off the gardens), and that the
gardens were studded with bird artifacts... parrots, eagles, swans and so on
and etc.
Of course you must always remember that our group has the humor level of
fifth graders, so Peter was hugely amused by a Schreiner iris called BLACK
BUTTE. Now, we know that "butte" is pronounced "bewt", but he could hardly
wait to track down Dave Schreiner and launch into praise for his butt. He
won $5 for doing it too.
Thursday night was the close of the AIS Silent Auction. The Silent Auction
has become a wonderful and fun fund-raiser and one of the high points of each
convention. Various folks donate artifacts, books, plants and so on, which
are then set up in a room (two rooms this time) with a bid paper. People
place their bids on paper.... and then someone may improve on it if they want
that particular item. When the auction closes, the highest bidder wins the
item. There were tres cool things like copper plates from the WORLD OF IRIS
printing, old papers and sets of Bulletins, books, artwork and so on. Joanne
Jones and Kathyguest were obsessing on a Japanese Iris print ... that we both
lost to someone who breezed in just before bids closed and won it (a real
pitfall in this type of venue... that can only be solved, IMHO, but not
giving a definite cutoff time, but rather a timeframe... then the actual
close can be more of a surprise... and folks like me would be less
disappointed). But it's good fun and to a good cause and we cheerfully
support it! (And if we can find a way to do it, we can be more inclusive by
posting some of the items offered on the 'net' - compliments of the
Electronic Commerce Committee).
In the meantime, some of us blew across the street for dinner. We had
spotted an Outback Steakhouse across the highway and thought that would be a
good place to eat. A strange place where the waitress climbs into the booth
with you to take your order.... Howard Hughes introduced us to a cocktail
that could fuel the space shuttle, and then we dodged traffic back to catch
an EXTRAORDINARY judges training on siberians by Carol Warner (and I aced the
test).
This was followed by judges training on Japanese Irises by Jill and Jim
Copeland, but I was feeling so cocky about the siberian one that we headed
for our normal corner in the Bombay Room where we told war stories and jokes
until it was time to crash.
As I've said so many times before.... an iris convention is about people. We
have a commonality of interest, but we're damn fine folks besides. The
pleasure in getting to these things is being able to interact with each other
and I can't remember a better time for doing this than OK. Many of us have
the advantage of getting to know each other on-line, so the akwardness is
largely behind us and it's pure pleasure. An important part of convention
planning is making sure there's someplace for folks to congregate - whether
it be seating arrangements in a large lobby or a bar. In this case, the
lobby wasn't all that big so people tended to float to the Bombay.
Time for my shower, so more later.
Kathy Guest who finds herself thinking of every broken branch and piece of
litter in East Aurora as tornado damage....
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