Melting...

...but not gone!

Today would have been my Mum's 88th birthday. She died on 2 August 2002 and I still miss her dreadfully. We were lucky to have had her for so many years though and mentally bright right to the very end. She started work in her teens and got a job in London with 'Woman's Realm' but when the war started her Mum (my Gran) was worried about her during the bombing raids and she left the magazine to work in the Food Office in Epsom, Surrey where she eventually met my Dad. They married in 1941 but didn't have their first child (me) until well after the war finished as they waited until they had their own home. There was a big housing shortage during the late 1940s and much of the 1950s and they lodged with my great aunt and uncle for several years before finding a flat to rent.

Memories of Mummy: once my sisters & I were married we always got dishcloths (so useful) & bags of salt (for the icy path) as Christmas presents (not the only presents!). Her fruitcakes, casseroles & pavlovas were legendary. Trifles were another speciality and she would decorate them with a glace cherry (just one as she didn't like them herself), cut up into such small pieces that it covered the entire top. Her house was always immaculate - as children if your behind got anywhere near the sofa you were handed a duster and had to go and dust surfaces that didn't have a speck of dust on them. I'm ashamed to say my rebellion continues to this day and while not adhering to Quentin Crisp's principles ("after the first year the dust really doesn't get any worse") there's definitely a dusting generation gap evident in my house.

Mummy loved weeding too - once tackling the roof garden of a hotel when she and Dad were on holiday in Italy. She was always busy and we had such happy times and lots of laughs togeher. We all love you Mum xxx