Today in the Winter Writing Sanctuary with Beth Kempton the colour is orange. One of the two colours I use in my business Quiet the Hive (Jane Galloway). Usually, for this reason, it makes me think of the joy I get from my work.
Today, it brought up seville oranges. My mum made the very best marmalade. She died in September 2019, and in the freezer, we found oranges she’d chopped up and labelled for us to create more after she’d gone. I still have the end of a jar in my fridge. I can’t bring myself to finish it.
The smell of marmalade will always remind me of her in the kitchen, massive, steaming pot on the go, most likely The Archers in the background.
Marmalade
By Jane Galloway, Small Liberations
Once a year, you made marmalade.
The year you died
we found boxes of Seville oranges
ready sliced in the freezer
awaiting water, sugar
time
there was not enough
never would be enough
marmalade
to light that year
the jammy richness
left in the freezer
until we could bear
to smell you
in the kitchen again.
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Oh my goodness, so moving and so real. Sending all the love xx
Heart wrenchingly beautiful❤️🩹