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The Scone I Am Still Trying to Make

Some recipes are a way of remembering someone we love.

I love Mary Berry. I watch her on YouTube, collect cookbooks, and keep attempting what should be a very basic thing: a proper scone.

I have not had one that tasted quite right in almost ten years, since I was in Ireland with my mum before she passed away.

This is, frankly, annoying. Flour and butter should not be capable of defeating a reasonably competent adult. Yet here I am, another batch in, still chasing the same taste.

Maybe part of what I am chasing is not the recipe at all. Maybe it is that time with her, the place, the conversation, and the memory of being together.

I love Women Who Run With the Wolves and the writing of John O’Donohue. I keep returning to books that make room for memory, instinct, and the strange ways a little thing can hold an entire world.

I am still going to perfect those scones. The kettle is on. There is always another batch.

By Mary · Chronic Optimism