quince

To bring you up to speed, this year has so far been a roller-coaster. 

My mom, who had COPD took a turn for the worse in February, so I dropped everything and took the next flight back to the UK. I ended up staying for 2 months, helping my brother sort out care options and getting the house in order, decluttering, sorting paperwork and whatnot. As well as keeping up with my work. Which fortunately, I can do from anywhere. 

Oh yes, and a few days after I landed, that orange idiot in America declared war on Iran which meant flying back through the Middle East - my usual route was a hard no and all the flight prices shot up.

In the end I had to leave because I had a medical appointment and needed a top up of prescription pills which I couldn't get in the UK.

Not long after mom passed away, in her sleep, peacefully, for that I'm grateful for. She had had enough and just wanted to 'pop off' (her words), she wasn't going to get better so it was for the best. But still hard.

She hadn't wanted a funeral so that side of things was fairly quick and easy to deal with, I'll be going back in September - assuming I can due to the war. And we'll have a celebration of life then. 

My original plans had been to go over in June for my brothers wedding but that all got scuppered. My youngest brother is a bit of a Viking hippy, love the earth type of guy. He is looking for land to buy to start his own farm and homestead. 

I didn't want to buy a gift that was just going to clutter up the house, and decided on a couple of trees so he could plant them on his land when he gets it. I know he has a few fruit trees already and didn't want to get them something they already had. So I had to put my thinking hat on.

I decided weird was the way to go. He loves learning about plants and so when I stumbled upon the medlar tree I knew I had a winner.  The other one I found was quince, which you can make a great jelly from to go with cheese, always a winner in my books.

I ordered the trees and then painted some quince fruit to make into a card, I tried medlar fruit but well, if you read the line from Shakespeare below you'll understand why it wasn't really suitable for a wedding hard! Lol.

For thousands of years quince has been a symbol of love, marriage and fertility. It was a favourite of the Greek goddess Aphrodite! The ancient Greeks gave quinces to newly weds as a wish for happiness and prosperity. Clearly a better gift than an airfryer!

Medlar trees on the other hand...

Are gloriously old trees that refuse to do things the normal way. (Which seems fitting if you know my brother). Their fruit has to go through a process known as 'bletting' before it becomes sweet enough to eat. And the old romantic William Shakespeare preferred to call it open arse fruit! Make of that as you will.

So yes, keeping it weird and in the family. Nothing new there.

We also decided that we'd get a tree for mom and bury her ashes under it, perhaps a cherry blossom as they were always in bloom for her birthday. I think she would have liked that.

Stay creative!

Jo xx

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