Hydrangea

It is said that our olfactory sense can give rise to memories, but I'm sure it's visual stimuli that works on me subliminally. Yesterday I saw an exquisite small teapot and cup set made by Maxwell and Williams with pink and lilac 'Hydrangea' design in my local op-shop and I just had to have it. I wasn't aware that the flowers were Hydrangeas until I looked at the bottom of the cup when I got home. It was then that I remembered the myriad of pink, blue, lilac and white Hydrangeas that grew in my grandmother's garden in Hawthorn where we lived until 1959 - their faint honey odour, the ants that were attracted to them, the endless summer nights so we could play till dusk. Everyone is remembered for something they did or something they evoke. I'm always going to associate my grandmother with flowers. Not only did she love the fragrance of 'Cashmere Bouquet' powder, but she often took on piece-meal work assembling artificial flowers for a little extra money. All the component parts - stems, leaves and buds, were brought together to form a perfect flower in the hands of my grandmother. But it's the beautiful gardens that she made in every house that she lived in, that will remain forever in my memory.