This weekend I’m hoping to make some mediocre date scones. I’m going to follow my grandmother’s recipe, I’ll wrap them in this tea towel and I’ll enjoy them with a more than generous spread of butter.

 

Although, this hardly sounds mediocre. A grandmother recipe & butter – how can it be anything but great?

Well.

Some of you know my Grandma Marie.

Some of you have read about her.

The Marie I love to remember is the woman that rushed around her house like a headless chook. Her hair would be up in rollers, dressed in the signature blue and orange scarf. Sewing pins would be stuck in her cardigan and the smell of those bloody Peter Jacksons would be wafting from one room or another. Half drunken cups of tea would scatter the work room, and opened envelopes with the days chores would be on the kitchen table amongst the cross words and meerkat ornaments. A jug of milk would be on the bench, and you’d question how long it has been there.

My point is – order was not my Grandmothers thing (and it seems she passed it on to my dad, and my brother too).

So I’m convinced that whilst she had a date scone recipe, her heavy hand and bullet-at-a-gate nature didn’t follow it to the T. I could be wrong. It could just be my scone making (It’s probably my scone making). But when I make Grandma Marie’s date scones, they are not Grandma Marie’s date scones.

They are only mediocre.

So this weekend I’m going to make some mediocre date scones. I’m going to follow my grandmother’s recipe, I’ll wrap them in this tea towel and I’ll enjoy them with a more than generous spread of butter. I’ll even have a cup of Lipton tea. You know, I hated the stuff while she was alive, but now there is something nice about a cup. I won’t finish it though, she never did.

It will be nice.

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I’m holding on to the memories Grandma (and the taste and texture of those scones).

We’ve come a long way since that chilly bloody freezing day in August, but I still think of you.

I can’t help myself from calling out ‘Yoo-hoo it’s only me’ when I’m home, and a colleague said to me the other day ‘I’m going to have to love you and leave you.’ I couldn’t not smile.

The Mariemobile is still running well & I promise Ben is looking after it. I can’t believe it, but it actually goes faster than 90 km/hr.

I was at Grandma Wendy’s the other day, she had a packet of Tina Wafers. They remind me of you. And Ben has started buying ginger nuts. They also remind me of you.

Your mobile number is still in my phone, I can’t help but wait for the early morning birthday phone calls, and I really like to use the orange retro patterned cake tin I stole from your garage. Sorry.

Oh, and Aunty Dawn passed on a bunch of your recipe books to me a while back. I went through them the other day, it was nice. They smelt old, and I can see you attempted to make a Pavlova several times. Although, Dad said they weren’t your forte?

I also hear you have a new friend up there. I hope you’re showing Fairl the tricks of the trade and making her some scones. I’m sure you two have a lot to catch up on.

Everyone is going really well Grandma. Mum thinks Dad’s turning into Grandpa Henry, and Ben really needs a hair cut. And Lisa, well I watched her finish her half marathon the other weekend. She’s pretty amazing. I saw James at the pub too.

Rest in peace Marie Biscuits, I hope they aren’t serving too many cucumber sandwiches up there.

Emma xo.