I did the greenhouse alone today. I moved quite a bit of Mount Wood. I think one more day's worth of work will complete moving the benches out of the space. I brought the saw and cut the white vent line along the heater wall into 6 foot lengths for transport to the dump. I also unbolted the galvanized gas line for dis-assembly into scrap pipes. It was a great morning and the temperatures were right for working. At home I received the 100 audio files from the Nicholas's for the horticulture part of the Convention DVD. I also finished up the collage work. It's ready to post. Started updating the affiliates portion of the AVSA website. This is going well also. Dinner was spaghetti with chicken and curry sauce and a nice salad.

Light eating. Need to get serious about this. More greenhouse work. I did not take the trailer with me today but instead used the small cart to haul the rest of the bench legs and 2x4 spreaders. Now I only have the long 2x4s to deal with. This is on a mountainous pile of 2x4s in house 2. I estimate it will take the rest of the week to clear. Worked on a magazine index database with limited success. I can now read CSV files into the Drupal database on the usaviolet server but search is not correct and the display is pretty poor. The items are getting listed one after another instead of in a table or paragraph. Needs work. Dinner was 2 leftover ribs with a nice salad that had carrots, lettuce, jalapenos and cucumber.

After the morning CBS News program I went out to the greenhouse and finished the tale legs and the pile of 2x4's in house 3. Little by little this stuff is getting cleared out. I took some pictures today with plans to sell the greenhouse piece by piece.
Came back to the Nicholas's latest iteration of the convention DVD photos. Dinner was an excellent pizza with fresh tomatoes, basil and whole wheat flower.

More of the same. Libbie and I worked the greenhouse moving wood and taking down the last of the foam on the sidewall. We brought the tractor home where we used it to mow both the front and back lawns since they haven't been done since before we left for Toronto July 1. I tried to do a tutorial on Drupal Search but Anne called about the narrative for the DVD. I sent the artwork images to Janet for the cover after I hung up. Dinner was ribs, lima beans and a whole bottle of Shiraz.

Moving table legs into the newly opened stall has made the cleanup job much easier. I moved several piles of legs into the shed and also took a trailer load of twelve footers into the shed. meanwhile Libbie worked on the foam on the side wall. I partially removed the bench in the back corner for better access. We're keeping most of this bench intact to block this opening for what this is worth. I came home and rested up after lunch while working on the forms module on newavsa. I created an affiliates form which mails the affiliate update info to the target address set in the CMS. It works well. Dinner was Salmon with rice, tomato and onion in a curry spiced mixture. After dinner we went to the Dance party and seemed to do well on our rhumba and foxtrot.

While Libbie and Nancy worked on violets I went over to the greenhouse after a Home Depot trip for trash bags and Bungee cords. I picked up some 4 foot cords which I never had. Did not take the trailer, used the garden cart to move bench legs into the shed.
Came back with Libbie after lunch and cleared the vines to the side stall in the shed. I need more room to store bench legs. Dinner was leftover BBQ, salad and watermelon. This evening I put the flowers from Barbara into the header. It was HARDER than it should be because of all the CSS involved

We both went out to the greenhosue early and got to work. I moved boards while Libbie removed foam from the side wall. We packed up the trailer with foam, cool cells and garbage bags and hauled it to the dump. This was a lot of trash. We had one problem because one of the garbage bags opened and dumped pipes and flower pots all along the route to the dumpster. We went back and picked up trash along the road. Later in the afternoon we had a pretty good Swing session with Robert at our normal time of 3:30. This is getting to be fun since we're getting better. After dance we went to Trader Joes for a few items such as sunflower seeds then home. Dinner was BBQ on a bun with a salad.

Did an early morning grocery run while Libbie did an early greenhouse trip. I went out there later but she had left. I did a number of trips with the trailer taking 12 foot boards out to the shed. This is working well. Dinner was spaghetti and a salad.

We both chased a rabbit around the garden this morning but no luck. Later we found a dead rabbit in the garden. This was one I probably trapped in the drain pipe. Went to the greenhouse and moved wood, lots of it, to the storage shed. It's cool today and overcast so the job was not bad but it wiped me out nonetheless. In the late afternoon I went to Dicks and bought a Crossman Pellet rifle. It has over 1000 fps. Tried it out but the sites need alignment so accuracy is bad. Dinner was a salad with tuna fish over the top. Today is a lite eating day. The Drupal site was voted on today as being the one we will use. 9 out of 10 people voted for it.

I finished taking down the last bench in the greenhouse today while Libbie stayed home with her violets. I came home for an avocado sandwich for lunch. In the evening we went out to Fearrington for a 6:45 dinner reservation. We had the 4 course dinner. I had the beef sampler as my main with poached apricot for desert. Very nice. Tried the NC Ring of fire Bordeaux which I wasn't keen about. They treated us well with candies and granola with the check. We drove home in a thunderstorm just like last year.

More greenhhouse bench removal. We only stayed an hour since it was getting hot outside. At home I worked on the AVSA Convention pictures. There are many to be done. Dinner was Salmon with green beans and Shiraz for a nice Saturday night. After dinner we finished our wine on the back porch.

This mnorning we both went to the greenhouse and cleaned up the place. Piled it all in the trailer and made a visit to the dump. Little by little we are finishing this job. Dinner was the leftover chicken from last night then we went to the Dance party at 8. Libbie found a nice pair of shoes that Erica doesn't want and bought them for $40. We stayed until 9:20.

We both went to the greenhosue but took it easy because of tonight. I have sculpting. Went to the session and worked on the last models plose instead of the new model who started last week while we were in Toronto. Dinner was rotisserie chicken.

We both went to the greenhouse early this morning, at 8:30 am. I took down the remaining 4 foot bench and stripped the top from the remaining bench top after Libbie moved the rest of the clay pots. I did not want to work too hard since we were dancing this afternoon. I came back and started sorting through the pictures for the DVD. I also heard from Barb Pershing about the indices she is going to send in a few weeks. We went to dancing at 3:30 and practiced the twinkle for the Rhumba. I didn't think we did too bad. The media PC parts arrived today. UPS put the case in the grass under the mailbox which was bizarre. I also heard from Adafruit today that the Raspberry Pi camera is in stock so I ordered one along with another Pi. Dinner tonight was leftover BBQ with a salad and watermelon for desert. Very nice. Todays delights: 1) Working at the greenhouse early 2) Rhumba at Carolina Ballroom 3) Hoffman and Mefistofele on Sirius 4)Watermelon for dessert tonight 5)Media PC parts arrived

Libbie worked early out at the greenhouse. I went later but quickly became exhausted. Prior to the greenhouse I went to the DMV for a renewal, then hit both Trader Joes and Krogers. I also went to Northern Tool to get an impact driver but it was $20 less on the web site. I bought the impact sockets in the store but ordered the driver online from home. Later in the PM I went back out with the trailer while Libbie mowed. Used the trailer to move becnchtops into the shed. This seemed to work well. It's still a lot of work but at least I was able to move a number of the rolls out of the way. The shed will have room for the bench materials as well if I clear out some junk to make room. Casme home hot and very wet at around 5:30 pm. Dinner was BBQ and salad. Delights: 1)The hot pepper on my salad, 2. fresh garden cucumber for the salad, 3. Moving the benchtops with the trailer is going to work 4. A/C in the house 5. July 21 reservation at Fearrington House for Libbie's birthday

Left early for the greenhouse and did another bench then came home to recover on the back porch. When Libbie went to the Post Office I sprayed roach killer on the baseboards. Didd a hurry up job this time. Will the bugs know? Delights: 1. Blue sky today, 2) AVSA photos which I started working on, 3) Search for newavsa worked out of the box 4)attractive girl in tight red top and form fitted short shorts I saw in Kroger 5) Small finch sitting on top of Dahlia blossom taking it apart. Dinner was Panko tilapia with a salad. Today is eating light day.

Watched the morning programs then went out to the greenhouse to work. Removed another bench while Libbie started moving pots. Came home exhausted but I wanted to spray the gardens for mosquitoes and white fly so I mixed up 2 tanks of Permetherin and went at it. After this I mixed up 4 gals of Roundup and hit the weeds along the creek. I wanted to do this before we left but ran out of time. Delights: 1) My own delicious garden tomatoes, 2) the book I'm reading on seeing, 3) Libbie's fantastic pizza with our tomatoes and our basil 4) No rain today 5) The pictures from our Toronto trip

This morning I played around online during GMA and paid the Cap One Credit Card Bill for Libbie and I. The total was a little under $5,000 for a change. The last several months have been in the 8,000 and 9,000 dollar category. Next I went to the greenhouse to work but noticed that the Inspection Garage was not busy so I had the Corolla inspected. It's due July 31. Once at the greenhouse I took down 2 more benches. I'm hoping all the benches will be removed by the end of next week. I drove a nail into my big toe on the right foot this morning. It went right through my sneaker, possibly ruining it. Work continued since it didn't hurt too bad.
Dinner tonight was Panko crusted Tilapia, broccoli and Shiraz. It was nice to be back home. Delights today: 1. Nice dinner with Libbie, 2. How nice our garden is, 3. Sitting on the back porch watching the rain while having an Avocado sandwich, 4. Resumption of the WSJ delivery on time, 5. Two benches down in one day

Up this morning at 6 thanks to the alarm in my Google Tablet. We got in the Limo at 6:30 and made it to the airport at just after 7 am. There was no traffic, the cab fare was a flat $58 plus tip which came to a total of $72. Not bad. We breezed through check-in then on to customs where we were interviewed and filled out a form. We dropped the suitcases at the bag drop and then went through ?Security. We were completely done by 7:30 AM which was not bad. Had a Tim Hortons breakfast sandwich and coffee before taking the long walk to our gate which was as far as you could go in the airport. Our cabin attendant was a French girl who was pretty and very personable. I liked her. We got into Raleigh with no problems, got our luggage almost immediately and were met by the Relax and Park Shuttle almost immediately. We were home by Noon. Spent the day sorting pictures, eliminating duplicates and backing everything up. I did a brief tour outside and used my cart to pick up branches in the driveway. There's a pine tree across the path where I take the cart to the creek for dumping. Dinner tonight was spaghetti with fresh basil and pizza cheese.Frive delights today: the Ethiopian limo driver, 2. The French cabin attendant on Air Canada, 3. The smooth fast flight from Toronto, 4. The prompt service of Park and Relax, 5. Being home with no issues

We had another delightful breakfast in the Marriott. We had a seat by the window then at 9:15 we assembled and walked as a group down College to the Winter Garden. This theater was a beautiful sight to see. It has been painstakingly restored and improved with waiting areas and escalators. Of course the gold is fake and upstairs the theater is decorated with birch leaves but it is large, historic and unique. We walked back around noon where I used the computer to check in. We had a turkey Panini in Tim Hortons at the College subway then hopped on the subway to Dupont for the Casa Loma. We had an incredible stair climb up to the castle then did quite a bit of climbing inside this Folly from the turn of the twentieth century. I was mildly interested. The rooms have been restored but the artwork and furnishings have been auctioned off. The gardens were lovely but not very large. It was a pleasant afternoon but I wouldn't recommend this venue as a destination. We came back and crashed for a while before meeting our group for dinner at 5:15. We walked to the restaurant, The Bodega. It was in the Kensington district which we walked to yesterday. We sat with a table of 4 other couples which included our leaders. I had the Salad, Flat Iron steak and Raspberry Creme Brulee. We split a 1/2 liter of Ontario Pinot Noir which was pretty good. After dinner we slowly walked down College to go home. Five delights today: 1. The Winter Garden docent who was quite knowledgeable and dynamic, 2. The girl in the flimsy white mini skirt riding a bicycle, 3. the farewell dinner and table company, 4. the greenhouse sunroom of the Casa Loma, 5. The young Toronto-an who sat next to us in Tim Hortons and shared with us his thoughts of Toronto and the recent storm, 6. The passionate kiss shared by the couple outside our lunch window. She practically attacked her boyfriend on the street

This was a walking day. We had a nice buffet breakfast. I had the oatmeal and bagel again. We had a lecture at 9 about the Canadian political system then we left and walked down towards the Legislature Building. We walked through the building and then towards the beautiful University of Toronto. It was designed to be an Ivy League school. There was nice ivy covering gray granite walls. As usual, Bruce was entertaining in his ways. We next toured Chinatown then the Kensignton Market. This is a rundown section of town with mostly second hand stores and junk shops. It was colorful. We stopped at the Forest Restaurant for Dim Sum. We had plenty to eat on a huge turntable including a Mango Jello desert. After lunch we walked to the AGO where we had a delightful art student for our docent. Wow, she as knowledgeable about the Art. We enjoyed the Canadian Group of 7, A Michael Moline wing and then the Moore sculpture with a hauntingly beautiful music piece played over 40 speakers. 5 delights today: 1. The hauntingly beautiful symphony for 40, 2. Our art docent in the AGO, 3. the nude hot tub people across from AGO. 4.Pretty woman on the streets of Toronto, 5. The Pesto pizza for dinner with wine 6. Learning about a new group of artists, the group of 7

We slept until 6:30 am this morning which was unusual. Went down for another yummy breakfast of oatmeal with cranberries, bacon, orange slices and a bagel with cream cheese. Very nice. Everybody including the news was talking about the heavy rains yesterday. Power was out in parts of Toronto, the subways were flooded and trains were stranded. We were lucky to only have been stranded under an awning for 30 minutes. Today Bruce Bell took us on an architectural tour of the King Edward hotel, the underground PATH, some old banks converted to hotels and the St James Cathedral of the Church of England. It was beautiful. He gave us a delightful tour of the significance of each of the stained glass windows including one by Tiffany. Next we went to the old St Lawrence Hall which used to host opera and ballet. Final stop was the St Lawrence Market, an outstanding market of food vendors offering all manners of fruits, meats, cheese and vegetables. We had a very unique sandwich from the Carousel Bakery called the Pea Bacon Sandwich. It was a Canadian Bacon piled high on a bun and served warm. Very unique and very good. After lunch and a dump we headed to the harbor. We took a street car and then a 509 bus with an interesting Russian bus driver who called us his friends. At the Harbor we walked along the waterfront looking at the tour options until we settled for a tour leaving at 1:30 PM for $18 each. We met a tour group of Austrians on board. Nice people, going home to Austria today. We had a lovely skyscraper narrated tour and then into the Toronto Islands where it was calm and peaceful. Coming out we took a 509 then the 510 bus to King where we did a Trolley to the St Andrews station to the College Ave station where the Marriott is that we're staying at. Five Delightful things about today: 1. The crowds of the rush hour subways and how we waited for 3 trains as Bruce kept predicting the next will be air conditioned and empty. 2. The remarkable continuous underground shopping center known as the PATH, 3. The incredible array of fruits, meats, seafood and prepared foods known as the St Lawrence market 4. The Russian Bus Driver who took us as his charges and delivered us to the Harbor, 5. The peaceful cruise on the the Empress of Maricopo tours
For dinner tonight we met in the lobby and then took the subway down near the St Lawrence market. We had a nice dinner at HotHouse. We shared a wine and each had Salmon. I had a nice thick piece of Salmon and a chefs salad. Desert was a Lemon Sorbet. After dinner Lib and I wandered around admiring the architecture and the old buildings.

This morning we were the first in the dining room. We had a delightful breakfast
this morning at the hotel. I had oatmeal and a bagel with coffee. The meal was
great - Libbie had an omelet which looked greasey or fatty to me with the butter
and cheese. We met Bruce Bell downstairs for our lecture. He is a very dynamic
speaker with a rich command of facts, figures and dates. Our tour of the
distillery district was over the top interesting. We had a nice lunch of veggie
burgers with fries and chocolate ice cream for dessert. After lunch we hopped on
a street car to go to the ROM. We had a very interesting architectural talk
about the crystal before a docent led us on an overview of the museum. What a
nice intro to the museum. Libbie and i then walked through the museum some more
before boarding a subway back home. At the college station it was pouring rain.
We huddled under an awning for 30 minutes watching people cope with the
afternoon thunderstorm. I took a movie and some stills. It was an amazing scene
as people got drenched. We talked to a young woman soaking wet who was coming
from a job interview. A fellow was playing a classical guitar which we enjoyed
while waiting. We watched several streetcars pick up llines of soaking wet
people. We finally made a break for it and tried to get into the side locked
hotel door.

Instead of going out to have dinner we opted to eat inside and ordered a pizza
and 2 beers in the bistro. The bill was high at $41 but it was dry and good.
Five things that delighted me: the delightful couple from Scotland we met at
breakfast talking about their journey and tour to Canada, Historian Bruce bell
was dynamic and interesting, Our waitress Michele in a kilt was pretty, very
sharp and called everybody by name, The young lady who was soaking wet coming
home from a job interview and had no umbrella but a smile and great attitude,
the rain which was everywhere while we stood under an awning listening to a guitar
player and the trolleys picked up soaking people as the lightning and thunder cracked overhead.

Up early then down the street to Tim Hortons for breakfast. We have to transfer to the Marriott today. We packed up our stuff and headed down to the Lobby. The doorman got us a cab to take us to the Marriott. It was $15 with tip. The Marriott was able to get us into a room at noon. It's a crummy location near the elevator but at least we're not homeless for the afternoon. We went on the street corner and had a chicken wrap at McDonalds then got onto the North subway to Eglinton. Hopped city bus 54 where we had a very nice driver show us the Toronto Botanical Garden. It rained when we got there but we waited for the passing shower and enjoyed all the plantings in the formal gardens. We found gardens there from the Toronto AVS. On the way back we got on the 54 bus and it was the same driver. He took us to the subway where we quickly got back to the Marriott.
We napped a little then got cleaned up for dinner. Received our packets from the Road Scholar coordinators just before dinner. We had a very nice dinner in the hotel consisting of beef barley soup, a chicken breast on veggies and rice and Tiramisu for desert. We went downstairs for introductions then to bed after a loong day. Some delightful things today: The Bus Driver to the Botanical Garden, Rain and water drops on the flowers, the waterfall in the creek in the garden, The people on the subway in pretty clothes with Bed Bath and Beyond shopping bags, the fine hotel meal, our road scholar leaders.

We had breakfast today at Tim Hortons down the street. this is more budget
friendly than the Hyatt. We had the breakfast biscuit which was good then we
each had an old fashioned glazed donut for desert. The donut was a treat. We
went to a Sinningia presentation this morning by the director of the Geneva
Botanical Gardens. Wow, a lot of this was over my head but this is the kind of
stuff I want to learn. After the lecture we gathered our stuff and headed out to
the Bata Shoe Museum. We got to the Spadina subwaay stop without any problem but
we had lots of trouble getting oriented walking around. First we started walking
the wrong way on Spadina then when we got turned around thanks to the help of a
passerby, we went the wrong way on Blaar. We walked quite a ways through a nice
retail section of shops and mostly restaurants and cafs. Once we got turned
around again we decided to get lunch. We found a Tim Hortonn on the corner and
split a Panini sandwich. After lunch we walked up the street to the museum. I
had a buy one get one free coupon so we paid for one Senior admissionn for $12.
The museum was very interesting. It traced the history of shoes via a timeline
from early man and then the greeks and Romans all the way to present times. A
special exhibit traced the development of sneakers to the present. I noted some
similarities of researchers mounting expeditions into far away places to
research foot wear. This is very similar to researching the origin of Sinningias
in the remote areas of Brazil. After the museum visit we stopped in Tim Hortons
for an Iced drink. Mine was Raspberry, Libbie's was Lemon. We went to dinner at
6:!5 in the lobby where we met everyone for the short walk to the CN Tower. We
shot up the elevator to 115 stories above Toronto where we had an incredibly
nice dinner in the revolving restaurant called 360. We each had a Cabernet and
then the Salmon over a bed of rice and other veggies. It was very good. Desert
was raspberry and blackberry compote with a cream and crunchy stuff. Very nice.
We sat with Jeff and Eva, Nancy and Jerry Kast and the Karrs, Nancy and Richard.
I took lots of pictures. Jerry next to me also had a Canon 7d. After dinner we
slowly walked back to the Hyuatt. The city had changed. There was a pretty
youthful crowd in the streets on a Saturday night, having dinner, going to the
theater, etc.