Blackberries bottled in 1946
Blackberries bottled in 1946.
Just after the war, when food was scarce, my Mother used to go out walking, collect wild fruits and bottle them.
She gathered these wild blackberries from hedgerows over 70 years ago to bottle for Christmas as a treat for the family.
As she was bottling them, my uncle passed the comment that "They won't last until Christmas. You'll give in and eat them before then."
My mother took umbridge at that and just said, "We'll see"
My Mother was a woman of very strong willpower and to prove my uncle wrong, they stayed on the top shelf of our old stone larder and became a firm family favourite talking point about the battle of wills between my mother and my uncle.
My uncle would always ask when he visited, "Have you eaten those blackberries yet?" and my mother would take down the jars to prove she hadn't.
This is a family "in joke" now. My uncle is dead as is my mother and when clearing her house, I came across the jars that the family have laughed about for over 70 years.
My uncle never stopped hoping my mother would relent and open the jars and my mother was equally determined to prove she had the willpower to open the jars when she was ready.
71 years later, they have never been opened. More out of fear of what they might taste of or smell like than of upsetting my mother.
So Mum, if you are looking down, the sodding blackberries are still not opened and because of their history, the family can't bring themselves to throw them away.
The bottled blackberries provided me with a good lesson in life.
Do not expect someone with strong willpower to give in easily. They just might never, ever give in at all.
And, if they have the strength and resolve of my mother - don't hold your breath.
Blackberries bottled in 1946
Blackberries bottled in 1946.
Just after the war, when food was scarce, my Mother used to go out walking, collect wild fruits and bottle them.
She gathered these wild blackberries from hedgerows over 70 years ago to bottle for Christmas as a treat for the family.
As she was bottling them, my uncle passed the comment that "They won't last until Christmas. You'll give in and eat them before then."
My mother took umbridge at that and just said, "We'll see"
My Mother was a woman of very strong willpower and to prove my uncle wrong, they stayed on the top shelf of our old stone larder and became a firm family favourite talking point about the battle of wills between my mother and my uncle.
My uncle would always ask when he visited, "Have you eaten those blackberries yet?" and my mother would take down the jars to prove she hadn't.
This is a family "in joke" now. My uncle is dead as is my mother and when clearing her house, I came across the jars that the family have laughed about for over 70 years.
My uncle never stopped hoping my mother would relent and open the jars and my mother was equally determined to prove she had the willpower to open the jars when she was ready.
71 years later, they have never been opened. More out of fear of what they might taste of or smell like than of upsetting my mother.
So Mum, if you are looking down, the sodding blackberries are still not opened and because of their history, the family can't bring themselves to throw them away.
The bottled blackberries provided me with a good lesson in life.
Do not expect someone with strong willpower to give in easily. They just might never, ever give in at all.
And, if they have the strength and resolve of my mother - don't hold your breath.