Lady Alexandra Naldera Curzon (1904-1995), nicknamed Baba by her father's Indian servants, was "born into circles of great power and pomp," the youngest of the very rich and beautiful Curzon Sisters who came to epitomize British Upper Class life and love in the fast lane during the glittering twenties and thirties.

  Baba on holiday, 1936.  By the time this picture was taken she'd married Major Edward Dudley Metcalfe, always known as "Fruity" (in 1925).  Although Wallis Simpson loathed him, Fruity would be the Duke of Windsor's most loyal friend and equerry.  He and Baba would attend the wedding of the Duke to Mrs. Simpson in 1937.  And then, of course, came the War.

 

Whenever I think of the War -- which was always referred to when I was growing up as though it had ended last week -- I think of Mary McCarthy.  And that doesn't make me as old as you think; it simply means that in some parts of this country, WWII lingered on, in not-quite-repressed and curiously oblique remarks, and in black-out shades and fading stars in your front windows -- a star meant you had a man overseas.

There been times, gentle reader, when I've wished I could put a star in my window.

In any case, Mary McCarthy (author of the so-called dirty book "The Group") had a phrase she always used in her reviews which my Mother would read to me off the backs of Reader's Digest Condensed Books: "The Greatest Novel Since the War," was a classic Mary McCarthy endorsement.  "The Most Important Writer Since the War."  "The Darndest Thing a Kid Has Said Since the War."

You see?  I'm telling you this because of the countless inquiries flowing in recently, all asking the same question:

"Why 1904?"

Well, why refer to any time period, any event, any milestone, right?  Since the Kennedy Assasination.  Since I got my wisdom teeth out.  Since I lost my virginity at that truck stop on Route 80.

Or how about Who was Starving when you were a kid your mother would make you feel guilty about, even when she couldn't even name one?  Never "Billy would be happy to eat his vegetables.  If he HAD any.  Or a MOTHER to cook them for him." 

No, it was always some nameless bunch of kids in

China
Biafra
Korea
Darfur
Armenia -- and yes, I'm mixing it up here a little bit time-wise, but take your pick.  You know who wasn't getting green vegetables when you wouldn't eat yours.

Just another marker, another signpost to show how old you are?  Self-Referential, then?  If that's how you want it to be.  Heaven knows I've tried on numerous occasions to explain to you the significance of 1904 as a reference point.  I've been literary about it, and even mystical [1904 plus 108 makes 2012, remember?  See my post on Quetzalcoatl and the Sacred Number]...

Okay I confess, along with the biography of the Curzon Sisters, I've been reading Daniel Pinchbeck's book "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl" and it has got me thinking about Time and the measurement of Time and the Signifcance of Time and its Markers and so here's what I want to say this morning about 1904:

It doesn't matter whether you're Mary McCarthy or the daughter of the Viceroy of India.  It doesn't matter what frame of reference you use, as long as you have one.

So pick a date.  I bet you already have, if you think about it.  I bet you've got a few milestones up your sleeve.

Is that a milestone in your pocket?

In your dreams.