Wow!  The Conference is humming...  The Powhiri set the scene with a beautiful spring day welcome with awesome waiata and the gentle noise of the Avon/Town Hall fountains.  The extended morning tea brought hundreds into the exhibition area at the Convention Ctr and gave a tremendous kickstart to LIANZA 2009, and the Trade Exhibitors who were inundated.  This is a great boost and compares favourably with the slow ramping up approach we traditionally see to attendance at the Trade Stands. 

Last year NZMS gave away the "seed-card" spring flowers - a huge hit for Librarian delegates (and my kids!).  This year we heard many reports of successful spring blooms altho a couple of failures (too much water Jo suspects).

But if they were successful I have been blown away by the popularity of the "heirloom" vegetable seeds.  Yesterday we gave out zucchini seeds, with planting guidelines... today we have added rhubarb, tigerella tomatoes and radishes to the mix and we have had many enquiries as to what will be proffered tomrrow (would you believe "purple carrots" and swede!).  I never knew so many librarians were such avid gardeners (or were married to one).

Toto, our friendly gnome, has joined us this year and made many visitors welcome... as always at LIANZA we're catching up with many old and good friends...

But shortly we're off to the Conference function - the "do" at SOL square.  It's gonna be different from the usual "hooooge party" but what won't chnage is sense of drama... yes we'll be in costume again, and there is a subtle clue herein as to which characters we'll be dressedas!

Ciao!