Rose Petal Picking

My mum used to make jam filled doughnuts. They were the most delicious doughnuts I ever tasted and her secret was that she would add wild rose petals to the jam.
There was a pink wild rose growing in our neighbourhood so whenever she was making jam she would send myself or one of my siblings to pick up some petals. You needed to pick quite an amount so It would take forever and you’d get scratches from thorns on your hands and forearms. My brother and sister hated this job but I loved it and couldn’t understand how one could pick washing up or hanging out laundry or other chores over rose petal picking. I loved the whole romance of it, the beauty of the roses themselves and the fragrance, the fragrance I remember the most.

Every time I smell a wild rose now it brings me back to those rose petal picking days and how I would dream up of a perfect world with no thorns in it! But then I think maybe the odd scratch made the doughnuts all the sweeter. And then I start thinking about the doughnuts! 🙂