Rosa 'Princess Alexandra of Kent' - 1 June 2024

Alexandra Elizabeth & Rosa 'Princess Alexandra of Kent'

 

The Argentine Navy lieutenant commander when I stupidly told him, “I flatly refuse to follow your order,” told me, “Conscript  in time of war I could have you shot or I could send you to the Argentine Antarctic where the only women will be female penguins. I will do you a favour because we need you as a translator. I will have you arrested for two weeks and you will spend evenings in the navy brig. Furthermore I will advise you to go now to a bookstore and buy some books. You will need them.”

I did not know then that this lieutenant commander was singularly responsible for transforming my life that to this day is a thinking one. At Librería Pigmalion I purchased Dag Hammarksjöld's Markings translated into English by W.H.Auden.  A month does not go by that I don’t remember some passage that I underlined or one that I cannot forget and I can quote in my head.

There are these writings of Hammarskjöld that come to mind today.

What makes loneliness and anguish’

Is not that I don’t have anyone to share my burden

But this:

I have only my own burden to bear.

 And this:

What I ask for is unreasonable: that life shall have a meaning

What I strive for is impossible; that my life shall acquire meaning.

I dare not believe, I do not see how I shall ever be able to believe: that I am not alone.

Writing this blog has an ancillary and positive function. I am going pleasantly crazy scanning the roses of my garden. Here I have a reason for using them to illustrate the blog. The rose in today's scan is 51/2 inches wide. And the scent is lovely. She is an English Rose that was one of Rosemary's favourites in the garden. When I look at this rose it is like seeing Rosemary smiling at me and saying, "Isn't she lovely?"