6 March 1996
Dear Dan and Robert,
I am back at home from my million-mile tour. If there was any justice to these things, I would get so rich that I would never have to do it again. But there is no justice and there never will be, so there. It was wonderful to see you both, though, and then to see Dan in California. My purchases from Western Hills Nursery in Occidental, California, returned with me all safe and sound. I felt very sorry for them being locked up in a box as I made my way from one luxurious hotel to the next, but I just pretended they were in the post office. I
heard about Dan’s purchases at the Strybing Arboretum the next day; they were that noticeable. I am only sad that I wasn’t there to witness it. To see a top desirer (is there such a word?) of flora in action is quite fun, I think.
To speak of desire: is there anything I should have that I do not know about and you are about to sell the last of? Please add it to my list. I trust you both completely. What about that rose with the scarlet canes? Ooowww. Two things, requests. Dan, I am going to Holland in the middle of April, would you still like to send me to those nurserymen to see their plants and their gardens? If you are too busy to bother with it just now, pay it no mind; I will be happy anyway seeing masses of tulips. I love tulips. And what is the best time to see a garden in England, just before the end of June or just after the end of June? I am bearing in mind the symposium, and the chance to see Dan (though I will be sad not to see Robert) and feed him Edna Lewis’s corn pudding.
Is it March where you both are? It is March here and winter is behaving like me when I am somewhere I like to be and can sense that I am making all my companions miserable by not behaving and not knowing it is time to leave. I shall go now.
Love to you both, Jamaica