Lunchtime in the garden of good and evil - day 3

Friday began with the kind of poor weather that had been promised for days. Perfect for attending conference sessions. The first session was a gem. The theme was family history. The first presentation was by Sophie Sweetman McConnell, an independent scholar in New York. McConnell couldn't make the conference so her paper was read by moderator Janet Nolan. She listed the details of a rich family history dating back to the 1798 uprising. The second speaker was Carole O'Malley Gaunt, who had just written a memoir that caused her quite a bit of dissatisfaction from family members. When she was a young teen, her mother died of cancer, and she became responsible for 7 brothers because that is what Irish women did. Most of the brothers became alcoholics, and all but one is now sober. You can find out more at http://hungryhillthebook.com/ . I spoke with her afterwards as she was autographing books and mentioned that I had written a memoir of my time at Clark Field in the Philippines, which has turned out to be the most popular thing I've ever put on the web.

Afterwards, I joined Donna for a walk up to Forsythe Park because that Friday was to be the kick-off for the St. Patrick's Day madness in Savannah. The opening shot was for parade officials to turn the fountains green. Just before we left the room, we heard a siren blowing steadily out the window. When we got to the lobby we were told that this was the tornado whistle, but it was okay because the All Clear had been sounded. On our way to the park, the siren rang again. Somebody drove by and yelled at us "There's a tornada a'comin!" Since we were standing on the steps of the Historic Museum, it seemed like a good idea to go indoors. The museum staff were in panic mode, and they told us - "Go to the back of the building. Now." Eventually, we were led down to the basement along with many other museum visitors. For twenty minutes, we waited and finally got the okay to go up. We guessed, correctly, that the fountains would probably remain clear for the time being, so we took the free Historic District shuttle up to the Pirate's House restaurant. This was built in the 1700s, miraculously never burned down, and was said the be the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.







A session in the afternoon was one based on purely scholarly discussions of Irish literature, including one from Geraldine Higgins of Emory University about how Yeats remains an important influence in our general culture today. Eventually, I was surprised that my proposal made it to the program because it was so different from eveything else, but different worked out just fine.


Afterwards, we did some more walking. The overcast day turned out to be a blessing for photography. On sunny days, it was hard to get the contrast right between the sunlit houses and the dark branches and spanish moss hanging down from the squares. In the evening, the conference hosted a traditional music concert, chiefly for the attendees. Since Donna was not registered, I had to pay $5 for her to get in. That was one of the better deals I've ever made. The trio included a young lady, Athena Fergis, who had worked for a time as the fiddler for Riverdance on Broadway. An absolute hour of magic that more than made up for the light reception the night before.