G F/Obliston Lecture COMMENTARY

[Dave]

Nice photos! I like that double door and played with it on a book cover .
I made up a title to fill in the space. It could be "on genesee Hill," of course, but with the colors I wanted something edgier.



www.windsweptpress.com/images/gf cover med.jpg[/img]

[fiona]

Oh. Wow. Thanks Dave. We are really going places here. That double door is in the back. I suppose there was a step there at one time or it was a hoist way. That's a great title. On Genesee Hill is a good title too but you are right, it denotes a softer story, don't you think? BTW: My last name is O'Downey.

[Dave]

Of course I know your name, Fiona. I didn't want to use it on the web. But come to think of it, we do have all of our full names posted elsewhere here and on the OGH web pages.
Just playing with pictures, I was.

[fiona]

Dave> no insult taken/ please feel free to play around with the photos. Who knows what you can come up with! + Ms. Oxysebic to you!

[Dave]

Fiona, in O'Connor's piece in your post #127 in the Genesee Flats/Olbiston Lecture
thread, he quotes from "Over the Ruins" and says that piece commemorates an earlier horrible occurrence, evidently an earlier fire. Do you know which fire he speaks of? And who wrote "Over The Ruins." I googled around and couldn't find much.

[fiona]

No, I don't. I could find nothing about it. I am surprised he didn't cite the source of the poem.
Perhaps there was no need to, as it was common knowledge and the poem was known by the general population of Utica. I do know, however, that Rutger B. Miller wrote poetry. I ran across a short artical citing that fact, but I never copied it. It never really seemed important. There is something familiar about the poem though, especially the last line ... the house evil starred... almost Shakesperian... isn't that line from Romeo and Juliet? Well, we know who ever wrote it died before 1896.

[Dave]

After some googling ... In Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare calls them a pair of "star-crossed lovers," evidently meaning their star positions were not compatible. But elsewhere I've found references where evil-starred is taken to mean an unfortunate fate.

An aside: I've got to start looking for a better search engine. Google is becoming too commercial and too trendy. I had to wade through a load of crap about the Evil Star comic book character, whoever he is. And if your search phrase is even remotely related to a recent Hollywood film Title, you'll be lucky if you ever find what you're looking for.

[fiona]

That is interesting. An aside: Have you tried Bing? I like it. I agree that Google is a mess. I rarely use it anymore. I also heard that there is another brand new search engine now available, but I don't know the name of it. About this poem, I have heard it somewhere... I reckognized it, but ... I don't know. I think this O'Connor is an interesting fellow. You can go into his book and read more of what he wrote. He must have been a ward boss or something.

[Dave]

Hadn't thought about Bing. Just installed the Bing AddOn for Firefox and am using it. I like it already. Thanks!

[Dave]

Fiona, I'm enjoying the tour and the walk up Genesee St. Regarding Rutger Park, Mary B said she thought the Kernans lived in the Bleecker House (the one we visited this year). And I thought so too, but the fellow from the historical society said the Kernans lived in the home to the right (west) I believe. Or at least they did when my grandmother worked for them in the 1950's, I seem to remember him saying. Am I confused? It's certainly possible.

[fiona]

I don't know exactly, Dave. Mr Bosak is a bit vague about who lived where - after the house was sold after Julia Conkling's death. The other docent, Steve, is no help either. He's a bright guy but with a large streak of flake running through. I have been on tours with him. He reads from a script and wings (makes up) the rest as he goes along. I gently suggested to Mr. Bosak that I present some talking points for the tour - based on fact - for instance - the wallpaper in the Dining Room is NOT hand painted. It is screen printed; only available after the Civil War, when the process was developed. I reserched it and gave Steve a copy. he read it; discarded the info. On the next tour he went right back to saying it was handpainted! FYI: I am no longer doing tours there! I refused to "fake it"and I agree, it is confusing. Either the Kernans or the Gilbert Butlers lived there after the Conklings. And, hey, you know what - haha! Mary B. doesn't know either! Do you think Mary B is a little snippy? Well, the truth is, she's scared to death of her new school and she hates living in the GF. Her only true freind is Annie. But, not to worry, I am going to let Mary B. redeem herself. Thanks for the liking of the tour. We'll take a walk tonight and then, after all the cards have been posted, anyone can jump in. So, I want to lock the thread for just right now, so can present the cards in some semblance of order. OK? I have about 30 of them. Any ideas?

[fiona]

oh, yes. wanted to tell you that I can longer access the site using google. it won't let me in: I just keep getting error messages over and over. So, I am accessing ot through BING with no problem. I don't know why this is, do you? Has anyone else had the same problem? Also want to point out that the Kernans were a large family - 10 children - so perhaps a portion of them did live next door, as well as in the Conkling House. The house was sold to the Dowlings around 1952 or so.

[Dave]

Fiona, I don't understand what you mean by accessing the site via google, unless you mean Google doesn't find the site when you search via Google. But the search works fine for me, I just googled "morestories proboards" and here's a picture of what I got. The Forum is right at the top of the page.



In any event, I believe Bookmark or Favorite would be easier to use to bring up the Forum.

[Dave]

Nice postcards! I hadn't seen some of them before, including the one below the canal looking north, with the railings on either side of the trolley tracks.

[Dave]

OK re Kernans. and true, by the 1950's the Kernans could have been in either house or any of them. While we were touring No. 2 (Roscoe's), I was picturing my grandmother trying to iron the curtains in the bowels of that basement that you may remember. And so was disappointed when the fellow we were with (I don't remember his name and it isn't necessary for this discussion) in a discussion said the Kernan's actually lived next door. But he might have been mistaken. My older brother remembers riding his bike down there from Cornhill to surprise my grandmother one summer afternoon, and he thinks it was No. 1 on the end. But that was a long time ago. In fact, now that I think of it, it may be my brother's tale that makes me think the Kernan's lived in No. 1, rather than my discussion with the man who gave us the tour. I don't remember.

Damn, it's terrible to get old!