Rained out

A dull day: mist and rain. I didn't get out in the afternoon as it was coming down fairly seriously, but did it in the morning when it was only spitting.

The Douglass story continues. It's the mid-1870s. His career is still in the doldrums. His children are in worse shape, out of work, in debt, in some cases being sued by creditors. Blight speculates that the old man had to bail some or all of them out. Rosetta has split with her ne'er-do-well husband. Ottilie Assing has finally resigned herself to not being able to lure Douglass to Europe with her and goes by herself.

The book is frankly a bit in the doldrums at this point too. When is the important work going to be done that Blight spoke of at the beginning of this chapter. 

His speeches and editorials in this period harp on ideas about self-reliance for blacks, and criticisms of the black community for its failure to produce wealth and great men and create its own cultural products. 

This is misrepresented by Democrats to justify not helping the freedmen. Even some of his allies are confused about what Douglass means and concerned that his ideas are arming their enemies. What he means, Blight says, is that blacks should be self-reliant, and work hard, but that whites should give them a fair chance: let them buy land, let them go to school, let them work in the factories and workshops. Which, of course, they are not - especially in the south.

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I finished Naoise Dolan's Exciting Times. It's an amusing read. The characters are vivid, the writing very witty. I think people of my age sometimes see the young ones as almost another species. In some ways, of course, they are. But this story, despite its being placed in a very contemporary milieu - Hong Kong 2018 or so - and with very modern themes and attitudes about sex and relationships, proves they're...well, they're only human after all.

It'll be interesting to see what she comes up with next. In the meantime, I'm on to the latest Donna Leon mystery.

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A down day photographically. I kept working through my 2012 pictures but only found a few I thought worthy of renovation. In August that year, we visited the McCann's new cottage in the Bruce Peninsula. I think it might have been their first year there. One day we went for a walk on a rocky promontory not far from their place. I was taken with the wild flowers, some of which I'd never seen before.

Back home in London, I was always, when at a loss for anything else to photograph, shooting the blooms in Karen's garden. I don't think I really intended what I got in this one. Sometimes the autofocus on my camera has a mind of its own. In this case, instead of focusing on the petals of the blossoms on this plant, it focused on the pistils. Kind of an interesting effect.

In November, I was invited to a press conference at a newly opened wing of the Royal Ontario Museum with displays of Asian artefacts. I can't remember why I was invited. I don't recall a technology angle, but I was happy to go. I took a few pics in the new exhibit hall, including this one, which I had previously not thought worth spending any time on.