Quince in Flower

I have been so busy and not had the time to do another post! October is half gone already and the year is smashing through to Christmas at a rate that scares me! How can time go so fast? I cannot understand how days used to go slowly by and a day seemed to be a day rather than a few hours, a month took ages and a year well that was forever. I cannot help but think that my Grandmothers would not approve of out life today too many demands placed on us by the other people or systems now and this leads to huge stress in our lives. No wonder vintage, recycling and frugal are buzz words at the moment, these are the words in the language of the time we lost in the name of progress which led us to this GFC we had to have! Who could blame anyone for yearning for an age when we had the time to do the mending, make the jam, repurpose clothing and save bits of string! Reading around the blogs I enjoy, so many of them are making choices I have not seen so many women take up since the seventies. This time though they are proud to proclaim it! Edna would have loved this reappearance of so many of her daily skills.

This week I was outside walking over to my office through the back and stopped to take a photo of the Quince Tree in flower. It always brings back memories of Edna, in fact I planted this tree in her memory.
Edna loved quinces and she was the best quince jelly maker even though she did not fuss about her jelly making like some of the women I have listened to. I used to make a real effort to call in to visit her about the time the quinces would be ready just so I could watch her turn these hard inedible fruit with a fur all over them turn into the most beautiful red and fragrant jelly. She used them in desserts as well, stewed quince, baked quince, quince and apple pie all delicious. I remember Vera using quinces too but not as much as Edna. Vera would make quince and apple jam but I do not recall her making jelly, perhaps she did but it did not come out on the table when I was staying.

Quinces will always bring back memories of Edna to me for another rather sad reason. Edna had a huge quince tree right out the back porch, you could see the huge trunk from the back kitchen door. On her last weekend before she was tragically killed in a hit run accident we stood under that quince tree chatting about making quince jelly . It was January and I was almost 8 months pregnant with my third child. Nana always made quince jelly for me each year since I married and I asked her when would these quince be ready because they look so big to me already. She replied that this year the quinces will be ready when your son is born and that she would be able to bring some to the hospital for me. I remember looking at her and she was chuckling with that I know more than you do attitude  she could have! My husband was convinced that this baby would be our third daughter, I felt that it was a boy but did not want to say this out loud and yet here was Nana looking so convincing that she knew this baby would be a boy. I reminded her that it may not be so and we will be happy no matter what sex the baby would be, but she repeated she was sure I  would have a boy, Autumn was the time for boys she said you wait and see. She did not get to see our baby and she did not make the quince jelly that year, but she was right we did have a son and I have had a few tears every year the quince tree flowers for it will always remind me or how precious every moment should be with the people who are close to us.

The flowers do not last  for very long but they are huge and so beautiful  and look like they are just sitting on the tree. I cannot wait for the quince to be ready next year as I am going to make quince jelly again after years of being too busy and I am going to use Edna's recipe! There might even be a baked quince or two! Such a long time to wait, five months, but then again why rush once I have the new batch on the pantry shelf it will last a year (well if I do enough jars!)