Have been away in switzerland and france, travelling on trains with leo and delia. It was quite a journey, inside and out. On returning home, from sunny southern france to the heavy rain of lewes, we noticed some small lilac shoots in the front garden which we overturned ths summer after pulling up a dying rosebush which was taking it over.
Kate next door told me, with a spooky undertone, that they are saffrom crocuses - crocuses in autumn? A small gift from mum: I pulled out the saffron stamen from one and rolled it between my fingers until they went deep yellow then took a deep sniff. They are the exact kind Mum and I saw in Mashad when we travelled to Iran in 1992- a memory of the smell of saffron, burnt crimson bunches in huge, shiny glass jars, lodged on shelves in immaculate white and mirrored stores came back to me. She grows all around me, in nature and through it..