Very little to report. I had a bad night of sleep - or, rather, a way-too-short night, so had no energy. I did get out for my morning exercise, but felt done-in by the time I got home.
Fred Douglass and I are still mired in the early years of the Civil War. He's still impatient with - at times, enraged by - Lincoln's administration, still harping on the need to enlist black soldiers, still harping on the fact that the war is, or should be, about slavery above all.
Abolitionists are enraged in 1862 over a ham-handed attempt by Lincoln to recruit black "colonists," the term for free blacks who agree to leave the U.S. to colonize some foreign country where they can have their own all-black society. Central and South America are both put forward as destinations, as well as the Caribbean.
Lincoln invites a group of black church ministers and other leaders to Washington, and puts forward insulting, racist rationalizations for why colonization makes sense. Douglass who has always been opposed to colonization schemes, goes to town on Lincoln and the Republicans.
Whether or not because of the constant stream of propaganda from Douglass and other abolitionists, public opinion and government policy gradually begin to come more and more in line with his views. In July 1862, Congress finally approves enlisting black troops. Months before the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, Congress frees escaped slaves who make it to Union lines - something that did not happen at the beginning of the war - and abolishes slavery in DC and in federal territories in the west.
The war is not going well for the North, though, which suffers terrible defeats at Bull Run - twice - allowing Confederate forces to invade the "border" state of Maryland (the term for slave states that hadn't seceded with the rest of the Confederacy and stand as a buffer between North and South.)
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The only other thing I found energy to do was work some more on my winter 2016 pictures. It's nearing the end of our time in Lisbon. Shelley comes for a few days and leaves again. While she's there, we visit a Fado nightclub and explore the down-and-dirty Alfama neighbourhood, the epicentre of the Fado culture.
One day, after Shelley has left, Karen and I tram over to Chiado, an upscale neighbourhood near the centre, where we have a fabulous Indian meal at a restaurant just off the main drag. We mostly visit churches here, including the Church of Our Lady of the Incarnation.
It was rebuilt starting in the late 18th century after an earthquake destroyed the previous building along with other churches in the city. It has some fabulous art, most in the main church dating from the 18th and early 19th century.
But there are also some fabulous contemporary frescoes in hallways and other areas away from the nave and chancel. Frustratingly, I have been able to find nothing about these paintings. I actually went so far as to email the church to ask who the artist is. No reply. Well, in fairness, they probably couldn't understand my Google-Translate Portuguese.
Karen and I decide to leave Lisbon early to go and visit Caitlin in Scotland. While we've been in Portugal, she has broken up with her boyfriend back in Canada. Shortly after, she admits to us she's taken up with a man who works at Mount Stuart. We figure we'd better go check him out. It's Bob, of course.
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I finished the first book in Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series about a cultured detective living in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. The series has become hugely popular, and I can see why. The writing is humorous, the characters interesting, the mystery compelling.
But I found the writing in the first book a bit ragged at times. It sometimes seems to ramble and there are some implausibilities in the plotting. Still, I'll try the next one. Given how popular the series has become, I'm guessing Penny gets better as she goes along.
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