It is twenty-five years today since my mum passed away. I am now just three years younger than she was then. Tomorrow would have been her 92nd Birdthday.

Each year, I make a wreath and take it up to the Garden of Remembrance at the Crematorium.

This is today’s offering, using – as usual – what is to hand.

The basic wreath was made from twisted and woven climbing bean stems back in October; the dried flowers are from my onions, and I included some of the strawflowers I grew this year. I added sprigs of rosemary, seed heads from Japanese Anemones, and some ivy berries filched from next-door’s wall.

I had to glue the strawflowers in place as I didn’t want to leave wire in the wreath , or anything that might harm wildlife (the glue is child-friendly).

I transported it inside a bin-liner to avoid covering my car in in onion seeds. It survived!

Although I’ve made wreaths for several years, I only have photographs from 2018 and 2019.

We weren’t allowed into the room to look at the Book of Remembrance, but they’ve digitised the books and they are available online.

If the wreath looks a bit rushed, it’s because I made it yesterday morning – in between trying to defrost our upright freezer and clean the window and blind behind it, which I can’t usually reach because both freezer and washing machine are in the way. That means the window was last cleaned in 2018.